The individual challenges for each player in the construction industry become more and more demanding. Although the European market differs per country, there are also important similarities. For example, almost every contractor is currently struggling to find well-qualified personnel. In addition, the (cost) efficient organization of planning, logistics and quality checks does not remain a core business of the contracting company. To provide further support, we continue to expand our Construction Services program. Construction services cover everything from technical consulting, contracting, and planning to logistics, security, engineering, installation and after sales. The benefits for all parties are obvious: careful planning, quality control, expert knowledge of the products used, efficient work processes and fully transparent budgets. Although we offer these services for all our brands, customers see the boost in efficiency, especially when applying large formats: enormous time advantages can be generated here.

First pilots in the Netherlands Construction Services

Several services include product advice, engineering, planning, logistics, assembly, finishing and quality control. The first country where Construction Services has been implemented is the Netherlands. The proven concept of mounting Xella products has come under increasing attention within the Xella Group.

In the Netherlands, there always has been a long tradition with the construction department, which has been assisting customers there with the assembly and finishing of their products for over forty years.
"By taking responsibility for the project right from start to finish and ensuring excellent quality, our partners can be sure of achieving outstanding results," says Niels van der Wouden, Head of Construction Services

The idea behind Construction Services
The idea of Construction Services is that technical and commercial colleagues work closely together, says Niels van der Wouden, Head of Construction Services. "They are jointly responsible within Xella for the solution delivered. That means that salespeople will go deeper into the content of a customer question. It is important that they know the question behind the question. It's really teamwork to provide a solution that adds value to the customer."

But this is not specific for the Netherlands. It is in general, that the sales representative work more and more technically, whereas the technicians support more and more the sales department.

Decisive in the choice
Delivering that added value is important for Xella’s growth ambitions. It seems to be a unique selling proposition to meet the customer’s needs regarding full service. The added value lies not only in the delivery, assembly and finishing of Xella materials such as Ytong, Hebel und Silka, but also in technical advice, assistance with engineering and product knowledge. Customers strive for lower failure costs and more efficient construction, with higher quality. This gives clients security and peace of mind. Moreover, customers benefit from the financial security: clients can rely at an early stage of the construction process on the total price of the construction part.

Successful projects in Poland

The Construction Services project is a part of the Effective Building strategy, which is Xella Polska’s integrated offer including large-size systems, fast assembly, mechanization of on-site work, digitalization, and BIM. “We are consistently developing the range of our services. Construction Services is our response to the difficult situation on the construction market, where it is increasingly onerous to find professional contractors. We offer our large-size technologies, such as Silka Tempo or Ytong Panel, as a full package: building material combined with a BIM design and labor. This approach sets us apart from the competitors and strengthens Xella’s position as a comprehensive supplier of innovative construction solutions,” says Robert Turski, CEO of Xella Polska.

The by far largest project executed to date in Poland by Construction Services was completed in October 2021. It is the Przedwiośnie Housing Estate in Warsaw at ul. Płochocińska, comprising six multifamily buildings with 183 apartments.
Within six months Xella Polska built all the walls there, including the filling, bearing and partition walls. The latter were assembled using five Spider mini cranes, also supplied by Xella, which allow to assemble elements just below the ceiling and were necessary due to the frame construction of the buildings.

“What convinced the investor to choose us was the completeness of our offer. The General Contractor signed an agreement with just one company, covering the supply of materials, construction design and delivery logistics as well as labor, that is all the aspects of erecting the walls of the apartment buildings,” says Paweł Łukaszuk, Key Account Manager at Xella Polska, responsible for this project. “The developer was also convinced by the bottom-line price per square meter of the walls, as fast assembly, and mechanization of work allowed us to lower the global construction costs,” adds Łukaszuk.

In this specific example, Silka calcium silicate blocks were processed, but the same service is also provided for Ytong panels: Like for instance at the Novum housing estate in Rumia: Six multi-family houses were built here. On the construction site of each building 85 m3 of Ytong panels (GHT) were used, 510 m3 of Ytong panels in total. This estate is constantly being expanded.
Xella currently supports projects in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Projects in Germany and Austria are about to follow.