A survey commissioned by Signs Express revealed businesses in the UK construction and property sector are being let down by bad supplier practices, which may have an impact on the UK's economic recovery.

When asked what they found most frustrating about suppliers, 56% businesses operating within construction and property replied that a "hard sell" approach was top of the list with 56% of those surveyed being frustrated by this. Other irritants included "not providing a quote as promised" at 50% and "inexperience and inability to answer questions" at 38%.

183 property and construction business decision makers were surveyed. The results were as follows: 

Quote exceeding estimate - 26%

Turning up late for an appointment - 12%

Supplier not turning up for an appointment - 30%

Acting over-friendly/inapporpriately familiar - 15%

Supplier looking scruffy/unprofessional - 14%

Craig Brown (pictured), managing director of Signs Express, said: “We first carried out this survey in 2011 and were expecting that lessons would have been learned from the economic downturn. In fact, we’ve been unable to identify any significant changes in supplier practices from the data our survey has revealed. It seems that poor supplier practices are still causing problems for those in the property and construction sector. 

"Even though the UK has officially come out of recession,  today’s business world is facing many challenges, so it’s surprising that many suppliers are still behaving in a way that is unprofessional, unhelpful and that clearly alienates the very businesses that they need to attract. Property and construction is one of the sectors that is poised for recovery, so suppliers need to stop letting down businesses if the economy is to get back on its feet.

"These are basic errors that really should play no part in the modern world of business. Professionalism, punctuality, presentation and attention to detail are all basic must haves and any business not offering these as standard needs to look hard at the way they operate. These reports of hard selling, of not delivering quoes as promised and not answering questions have the potential to cause serious damage to businesses' bottom lines and the economy as a whole."