Martin Flanagan: Constructing survival is proving difficult A BUILDER sucking air through his teeth and shaking his head somewhat mournfully when assessing the cost of a proposed loft/kitchen extension, etc is a cheerless rite of passage for many householders. By contrast, the all-too-authentic woes of the small construction sector are more likely to be focusing builders" minds these days than negotiations with punters. A survey out yesterday says confidence in the building industry has collapsed like dodgy plasterboard. According to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the industry's trade body, only one in 20 small construction companies expects depressed workloads to rise in 2012. It is a disheartening finding, particularly as the FMB's "state of trade" survey says that workloads in the small and medium (SME) construction sector have already fallen in each of the 16 quarters to the end of last year. There looks to be no light at the end of the building tunnel at the minute. There are similarities with the depressed retail sector where shoppers are mainly eschewing big-ticket items in the age of austerity. It looks like repair, maintenance and improvement of property is also being thought of by many households as an unnecessarily high outgoing in these tough times. Batten down the hatches, not do up the lounge, is the watchword. And it is putting the finances of many construction SMEs under strain, with evidence suggesting the industry is at its lowest ebb since the last recession. I suspect nobody hopes that the UK government's new "Green Deal" energy-saving initiative for householders is a success more than so your small neighbourhood builders. Reality biting back THE eurozone switchback ride continues. The recent smooth ride for new sovereign debt issuance by Spain and Italy was a pleasant surprise, suggesting a corner had been turned in the European government bonds crisis. Sentiment was also helped by the European Central Bank saying it believed there were signs of stabilisation in the travails of the single currency area. Now, however, fears are rising that those positive signs were premature, a false dawn, and that normal, dysfunctional sovereign debt service has been resumed. The cut on Friday in the credit rating of France, a much bigger economy than either Italy or Spain, has spooked sentiment again - though markets made some modest gains yesterday. And Greece has been thrust back into the spotlight, with growing concerns that the country will not be able to deliver its part of the bargain for a €100 billion (£82bn) deal to bring its mountainous debt under control. The gridlock is down to what it has been virtually from the start: disagreement about how much of a "haircut," or losses, banks and other holders of Greek government bonds should take. Restructuring talks with investors collapsed on Friday and experts are again saying there is a real danger that Greece will default on its debt. The last major country to suffer this ignominy was Russia in 2008, but that country was not tied to the euro and quickly devalued the rouble to gradually claw its way back to acceptability in the court of international opinion. The best Greece can hope for is an outline deal by the next meeting of the eurozone finance ministers on 23 January. We are back to brinkmanship writ large, and if Greece does quit the euro the unforgiving bond market spotlight would again switch to the likes of Spain, Italy and Portugal. Possibly even France. Milking a rich seam it IS a veritable land of milk and honey for the Wiseman family now. The founding family of Scottish dairy company Robert Wiseman has agreed to the business being taken over by German dairy firm Müller for just under £280 million. As the Wisemans own 35 per cent of the shares, they will be looking at a windfall of nearly £100m. My guess is they will be toasting the deal in champagne rather than semi-skimmed, a sale that also leaves the family in management control but with the deeper pockets of the Germans behind them in more difficult times. The 60 per cent premium over Friday's stock market price being paid for the company by Müller is no steal, either.