The crisis in the construction industry continues to spread: a family business in the Allgäu is closing after 133 years and all employees are being laid off.
After 133 years of company history, the traditional Allgäu family business Eisen Thiermann has to close. This was announced on the company's website. It says: “The company has been in liquidation since February 22, 2024. All current orders are still being fulfilled. New orders will only be accepted if there are still goods in stock.” It was a “difficult decision,” according to a press release.
Instead of attempting to continue business operations through insolvency proceedings and restructuring measures, the owners of the construction supplier and steel processor have decided to close the company completely from April. According to a report in the “Schwäbische Zeitung”, all 32 employees were informed of their termination.
Housing construction crisis causes companies to stumble
The reason for the end of the company was primarily the crisis in the construction industry with a 30 percent drop in the number of building permits. According to the report in the “Schwäbische Zeitung”, the amount of structural steel sold at Eisen Thiermann fell by a third. “We had to pull the emergency brake,” says managing partner Patricia Thiermann-Haase to “schwäbische.de”.
As a result of the rapidly increasing construction costs and the significantly higher interest rates in Germany, construction companies in Germany are increasingly finding themselves in difficulties. The Munich Ifo Institute announced in September last year that 11.9 percent of housing construction companies are currently complaining about financing difficulties. This is the highest value in over 30 years. Economists and the construction industry expected a continued decline in residential construction this year.
