Mr Bentley, who has been in the role since September 2014, is keen to ensure that the image of the small and medium-sized (SME) construction sector improves and gets the recognition it deserves.
“We are driving up the professionalism of the industry because, honestly, the majority of all local builders are excellent and as honest as the day is long, but there are a few cowboys out there who are ruining it for everyone else. Of course it makes great television to focus on these cases but is nowhere near the complete picture” he says.
The FMB would like to see all its members take out warranties on their work, to protect both themselves and their customers.
Would Mr Bentley like to see this mandated through legislation? “I would love to see legislation on this issue although we are still exploring whether it’s feasible or not.”
What’s for certain is that making this type of consumer protection more widespread is firstly a matter of raising awareness and changing attitudes, he says.
“It’s a massive gap in the market in terms of protecting the public from rogue traders and that’s why the FMB is pushing for this. We’re currently exploring the possibility of making warranties mandatory for all private domestic work.”
Mr Bentley is concerned that the image of SME builders has suffered from the exposure of poor quality work and service in the media, and is calling for a much more balanced portrayal of the sector.
That is a central reason why the organisation hosts an annual awards ceremony, recognising the highest achievers in all areas of the industry; from apprentices to the overall ‘Master Builder of the Year’.
“I would love to see broadcasters make a TV programme about one of our categories in particular, which is the ‘Heavenly Builder’,” Mr Bentley says.
The Heavenly Builder category rewards builders who have “not just gone the extra mile but have gone an extra two miles.”
A previous nominee was included for taking a customer to a hospital in his van when her taxi failed to turn up, and then waiting during her appointment to deliver her home safely.
Another popular contender spent a week feeding and caring for a cat while the home owners were away on holiday.
One of the most hotly contested of the awards is for the Apprentice of the Year, which has hundreds of applications.
The issue of increasing the number of apprentices in the construction industry has been high on the FMB’s agenda for the past decade and although they are pleased with the progress that has been made they would have preferred it to happen sooner.
“We have been making noises to Westminster on the state of the apprentices and the massive skills shortage that there is going to be in the future. We have been doing this for ten years.
“Now, you will notice on all the parliamentary parties’ agenda is that they are talking about apprenticeships and making it happen, this is one thing that really has come to the fore now, but of course it should have happened several years ago.”
Although Mr Bentley sees encouraging signs that the building sector is recovering from the damage done by the financial crisis which began in 2007, he is concerned about a looming shortfall of both workers and materials.
The house building aspirations of the main political parties, though welcome, are also putting pressure on resources as the industry scrambles to catch up with increasing demand.
“We are almost half a million tradespeople short you see,” Mr Bentley says.
“We need to build more than 200,000 new houses every year between now and about 2020 to catch up with the housing shortage… Brick layers are like gold dust at the moment. We are very, very short of tradespeople…
“We are also desperately short of bricks. We can’t get materials, materials are short. We are shipping them in from all over the place,” he adds.
But for the FMB and its members the overall picture is a positive one, which is why the organisation is keen to celebrate the achievements of the sector at its forthcoming awards.
“The atmosphere at the awards is always electric,” according to Mr Bentley.
Attendees await the most prestigious gong of the afternoon, which is the overall Master Builder of the Year award, recognising outstanding work in the SME construction sector.
It gives the winner an opportunity to promote their business, with a valuable endorsement from the UK's largest trade association in the building industry.
The awards ceremony is in its twelfth year and is growing in numbers and gaining an increasingly high-profile. This year the Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis MP will give the main address on behalf of the Government.
“We don’t get the recognition that the big contractors receive and their multi-billion pound projects. So, it’s a day for our bit of the industry to show everyone what we can do. We’ve got 600 people attending… it’s massive, and this is our twelfth Master Builder of the Year awards. We are going from strength to strength,” Mr Bentley says.
The Master Builder of the Year Awards is taking place from midday on Wednesday 18th February at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. The awards will be hosted by Charlie Luxton, TV presenter and architectural enthusiast. More than 600 people will attend the awards including MPs, journalists, civil servants and industry stakeholders. For further information see the
FMB website.