70% construction jobs undertaken by unregulated contractors

Unregulated contractors do 70 percent of small-scale contracting jobs, such as build houses or small shops in the Kingdom, said the sector’s committee at the Saudi Council of Chambers.
Fahd Al-Hammadi, chairman of the national committee for contractors at the council, said that allowing small-scale contracting businesses to be officially recognized by citizens would take unregulated novice contractors out of the market, thus boosting the functionality of the sector and reducing the rate of violations and irregularities.
Al-Hammadi emphasized the need to establish what is known as “neighborhood” or regional businesses, which operate under official regulations.
Such businesses will be tasked with the mission of pooling small-scale contracting businesses under one umbrella and linking these businesses with citizens to build houses and serve residential neighborhoods with respect to the maintenance of houses and gardens and the provision of electricity and water.
He demanded the establishment of two regulated firms according to the census of neighborhoods to cope with rising prices.
Fahd Al-Nasban, a member of the contracting committee at the Saudi Council of Chambers, said: “Unregulated contractors recruit illegal laborers who do not take into consideration the quality of work and do not comply with the terms of the contracts,” he added.