Over half of construction firms are family businesses

The construction sector has the highest number of family businesses in the UK, according to research conducted by Cynergy Bank.

It found that there are 574,275 family firms out of a total of 1,007,500 private construction businesses with two or more family members in management positions.

SME Sector	Total number of family firms
Construction	574,275
Property	549,595
Transport	299,611
Education	274,076
Healthcare	181,057
Manufacturing	140,860
Agriculture	102,100
Hospitality & Leisure	84,865

According to the study, 78% of family business owners say family firms have a stronger culture and set of values than other types of business, but they also wish they could put more distance between their work and personal lives. 55% say there are no clear boundaries, while more than half say that disagreements about how to run the business can create significant tensions.

Two in five family business owners (41%) intend to pass the business on to a relative when they retire, with a further 37% saying they might to do so.

TradesTalk held a Twitter chat about family businesses earlier this year and lots of tradespeople joined in to share their experiences of working with family members. Most agreed that it is a good thing…