DOCTOR ON THE HOUSE

Artists and ex-convicts rub shoulders on construction sites. Jeff Howell considers the qualifications vacuum

The term "cowboy" has come to mean an untrained worker, especially in the building industry. But the original cowboy builders were actually Wild West cattle herders, who earned their keep during the winter months, when there were no cattle drives, by doing odd-jobs around the farmstead.

There are no records to suggest that their manual dexterity or attention to detail were less impressive than other workers' efforts. After all, you'd think that anyone who could saddle a horse, ride the range, and hog-tie a steer - whatever that means - could probably make a decent fist of putting up some shelves. The modern equivalent of the cowboy is the farm worker who builds and repairs agricultural buildings, most of which do not appear to be any the worse for it.

A recent discussion on site revealed that one of the labourers was a sculptor, and another a script writer. This is not unusual; as a bricklayer I have been supplied with mortar and bricks by teachers, solicitors, musicians and, on one memorable occasion, a Portuguese opera singer. The building industry is a bit like the French Foreign Legion - people come to it from all kinds of backgrounds, with no questions asked. Some stay, others move on.

There are always plenty of students, of course, and they get to rub shoulders with men with prison records. They all look the same - tattoos, earrings, ripped jeans. Once a foreman announced he had to take the next day off to appear in court. "Speeding?" I asked sympathetically. "Attempted murder," he replied quietly.

Building work is like no other occupation. Where else, these days, can you turn up at the gate and offer your labour and be taken on, on the spot, and given a chance? To that extent the organisation of building work is a survivor from the agricultural and manufacturing work practices of years gone by. These other industries have moved on, in terms of skills and the size of the workforce. But building has remained roughly the same.

The itinerant workers who used to turn up at the docks and farms and factory gates can now really only turn up at buildings sites. If they can do the job they'll stay; if not, they'll be down the road by tea time. Qualifications, or the lack of them, don't really come into it. Nobody ever asks; it could lead to arguments.

Most people can understand being sacked for making a mess of something - the evidence is usually pretty damning - but being refused work for lack of a certificate? Well, it just doesn't happen. It used to, when building workers were actually employed by contractors, but the past 18 years have seen the demolition of that system, so everyone now is self- employed.

The Construction Industry Training Board has recently turned attention on the qualifications issue by starting up the Construction Skills Certification Scheme. Workers with existing construction qualifications, like City and Guilds, qualify automatically, as do unqualified but experienced workers, who get in under "grandfathers' rights" if a contractor will vouch for their abilities. From later this year, all new entrants to the scheme will need a National Vocational Qualification.

The scheme is a laudable attempt to tackle the qualifications vacuum in the construction industry. But, as long as everyone remains self-employed, its effects will remain peripheral. Standards in the industry will only improve when building workers are given proper conditions of employment, with training, sick pay, holidays and pensions.

But in case you were starting to despair about the lack of qualifications in the building industry, take comfort from the proposed joint honours degree in Building Surveying and Equine Studies (yes, really) at Northampton. This is clearly designed to appeal to a different class of cowboy.