Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Hard year ahead’ for north and north-east builders as costs hit a six-month high

Post Thumbnail

Rises in construction costs have soared back to a six-month high with one north-east builder predicting a “hard year ahead” – for businesses and their customers.

Construction businesses around the country had seen a nearly year-low in the costs they were facing in February.

But last month things looked very different with prices rocketing again.

Hard year ahead

Steven Thomson’s family business Deeside Construction Banchory, was founded more than 40 years ago.

Mr Thomson, who currently employs four people at his firm, wasn’t surprised by the survey findings.

He said: “Everyone is having to extra money for everything nowadays.

“Material costs are rising.

I think it’ll be a hard year ahead.”

Steven Thomson, owner of Deeside Construction Banchory

“There is increases every month and I’m expecting more in the summertime.

“The price of steel you are only guaranteed for one week and even your concrete products have went up.

“It all has a knock-on effect. When you are pricing a job you are covering yourself saying there could be price increases for the raw materials.

“Everyone is doing it.

“I think it’ll be a hard year ahead.”

Fastest rise in six months

The S&P Global/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) construction purchasing managers index for March showed despite increased costs for materials and staff, the survey showed that activity is still rising in the construction industry.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global, said: “Escalating fuel, energy and commodity prices led to the fastest rise in costs for six months. Intense inflationary pressures appear to have unnerved some construction companies.”

The index is a good estimate to measure whether the sector is growing and what sentiment is like. A score above 50 represents growth.

In March the sector was given a score of 59.1, unchanged from February. Anything above 50 is deemed to represent growth.

But while the headline score was the same, the data showed many changes, including the rising costs and a drop in business confidence.

Dip in confidence

Like their colleagues in other sectors, construction bosses are worried about the war in Ukraine, spiralling costs and a worse outlook for the global economy.

The sentiment was the worst for around a year and a half, researchers found.

Mr Moore added: “Business optimism slipped to its lowest since October 2020 on concerns that clients will cut back spending in response to rising prices and heightened economic uncertainty.”

CIPS group director Duncan Brock said: “A heartening result in March overall where new order levels were the highest since August last year, but not all the sub-sectors offered an equal contribution to output this month.

“Commercial projects were the most abundant, with the strongest rise in almost a year, but residential building became the laggard of the pack as affordability concerns were a factor in holding back progress, particularly in new housing and refurbishment work.

“The crippling rise in inflation ramped up again as transport and raw materials went up in price.

“Longer wait times for deliveries were reported by a third of supply chain managers.”