Man on a mission - Matt Faizey at the M&G movers and storers' premises in Shirley, West Midlands.
Matt Faizey, someone who is not known for keeping his opinions to himself, is on a crusade. Steve Jordan caught up with him at his company’s office in Shirley to find out what it’s all about.
It was at least five years ago since I last interviewed Matt Faizey. At that time he was an angry young man, driven by a genuine passion for the moving industry. Five years on he’s still angry, but his vitriol has been tempered a little by experience, and education. What’s more, he’s recently been elected as a member of the BAR Board (British Association of Removers). Now he’s seeing the workings of the Association from the inside out.
Matt would not call himself a supporter of BAR or of the Guild (of which his company is also a member), or of any body. He is, however, a supporter of the trade. “Everything I do is from the angle of supporting the trade,” he said. Matt is frustrated at the constant ‘us versus the world’ angle everybody seems to take. He makes it clear too that, although he doesn’t set out to upset anyone, he doesn’t worry about being liked. If cages need rattling, Matt is prepared to rattle them.
He is currently working on a crusade. It’s one that, if he’s right and if he can pull it off, could have significant benefits for the trade and the public. Although he feels strongly about many issues, and is happy to voice his opinions (a little more considered than in the past), it is this one subject that is occupying his thoughts right now.
“What’s the biggest headache we have?” he asks. “For me it is the mess that is completion dates. How we are expected to run companies with staffing and vehicle requirements that can differ day to day with an average notice period of around 14 days if we are lucky, and three if we’re not. It is, and has been for decades a nightmare.” Matt believes that this inability to forecast is costing the industry a fortune and holding the professional members back. “How can you accurately forecast financially or operationally? I wonder how different it would have been, going into the recession, if companies could have seen what was in their diaries a month, or even six weeks in advance. It would change everything if you knew, accurately, what business you’d have a month and a half in advance.”
Asked specifically about the benefits Matt sees from better forecasting, he was clear. He said that it would help people plan vehicle maintenance schedules, keeping unwanted vehicles off the road until they were needed. It would make staffing easier, especially when companies employ agency staff, as booking earlier means better rates and the pick of the most experienced people. But, most of all, it would help all those small companies, those turning over £5,000/month and less, to plan and to sleep at night. “There are firms out there who are unable to prepare financially. The people who are influential in the industry are not those small companies. They are the ones we should be helping. They are the ones that need the leg up. Many firms were crippled when the work dropped off with barely 10 days notice and then were unable to make hay during the periods when the sun shone because they had no clue the clouds were about to break.”
For the customer there are huge benefits too, mainly that it would remove much of the stress of negotiations. A longer lead time between exchange of contracts and completion would allow people to prepare for their moves better, make all the necessary arrangements like booking time off work and arranging childcare, getting the packing done on time, and would make the whole process much more relaxing. “It would also bring the decision about buying the move forward outside the last-minute outlay that see’s many choose the ‘cheap and cheerful’ companies as opposed to the more expensive pro movers . We wouldn’t be under so much price pressure.”
The blame, Matt puts primarily at the doors of solicitors who push people to move on Fridays so they can hold the cash in their client account over the weekend. £500,000 held over a weekend, even at today’s modest interest rates, nets the lawyer around £100. Easy money. And most people don’t realise that they can claim back that interest from their solicitor. Add this to the natural wish for people in rented accommodation to move at the end of the month and the last Friday in every month is chaos. “Sometimes there are not enough moving companies,” said Matt. “I rarely see anyone who really wants to move on a Friday. It’s just that’s the completion date they have been given by their solicitors. Of course the solicitors suggest this is what the public wants, but after six years of asking the same public that question, I can confidently say that is codswallop.”
The solution, Matt feels, should be part brokered by BAR. And this action would solve another problem that causes Matt more than a little heartburn. “It is totally unacceptable that an organisation that has been going for over 110 years is still unknown to most of the public,” he said. “If BAR could be seen to be leading a move to solve this problem, for the benefit of the public, it would put BAR on the map, show the public that it is a strong association with the interests of the public at heart, and do something positive to help its members. If we could find a way of changing for the better one of the most stressful times in a person’s life, can you imagine the reaction?”
The process would be to get all BAR and Guild members to write to their MPs every three months to alert them to the problem and ask for the introduction of a compulsory 21 days between exchange and completion. Or to put it more accurately request a firm change to the conveyancing protocols born from legislation through parliament.
When you add on the additional time choosing dates and going through the signing process Matt believes this would give firms of removers around five to six weeks notice of the moving dates. It wouldn’t cost much, but the biggest problem (as always) is apathy. “I would like to see a lot of heads pulled out of the sand,” said Matt. “I propose that on this one issue, the Guild and BAR ask its members to do the same thing at the same time. We have nationwide coverage. Let’s use it to our advantage. Once it’s going you will also get companies that are not members of any association along too.”
“If we can get a question tabled in the house of commons that would be fantastic. I think it’s unlikely but it doesn’t stop us trying. Plus, we just might create a greater level of respect for the associations from those removers who at present look at both and see no reason to be bothered to join. If we can lobby the Law Society to change those protocols and get the support of estate agents we have the tipping point. We just might be able to get some press coverage, the press love stories about the housing market! Then we have the snowball effect. We might kick something off. Then it will have BAR’s name plastered all over it and the public will then know BAR. We will achieve more in terms of public recognition for BAR at a stroke than in the previous 50 years. BAR would have to take the lead as it holds around 12% of removers as members as opposed to the Guild’s 5-6%”
Do you agree? Is it possible to rally the combined force of the whole industry to do something about this problem? Is it really that much of a problem anyway? Send in your comment to The Mover.
In part two of Matt’s interview next month, he shares his opinions on standards, inspections, and on being on the BAR Board.