Industry experts believe the “merry-go-round” of senior staff is often the root cause of contract problems.

One senior figure told the Enquirer: “It’s definitely a pattern we are seeing more and more of.

“You get these people who come in to roles like regional directors who then start chasing work to make their division look healthy to the main board.

“Experienced staff below them will have their reservations but no-one can really stop the new person in charge.

“The directors are often incentivised with bonuses for winning new work so the order books fill up with jobs which aren’t purely focused on the bottom line.

“The nature of construction is that those schemes take years to work through and often by that time the directors have moved on to another company.

“They often leave behind a pile of problems but just walk into a new job.

“It’s a bit like being a football manager.

“Once that’s on your CV you always seem to get a new job no matter how poor your track record is.

“Obviously it’s not the only issue causing problems in construction but it’s a real factor and something which will continue to be a problem until a new generation of talent comes through.

“We’ve hired supposedly big names from major contractors before and after a few weeks it was obvious they were useless.”