Spring 2022 UK Market Report
Site productivity and labour
Estimates of site productivity slightly worsened in our Spring 2022 survey. Although the same percentage of contractor respondents, 60 percent, to our Winter survey said that site productivity is within the 81-100 percent range, some respondents said site productivity was less than 60 percent of the pre-pandemic level.
In Autumn 2021, there were issues with deliveries and materials availability impacting site progress and the Russia-Ukraine conflict is causing similar problems again.
The latest S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) release for May reported that around 45 percent of the survey panel noted longer lead-in times, with only two percent indicating an improvement.
Issues with labour supply continued in the first quarter of 2022, with 70 percent of contractor respondents reporting issues.
Respondents noted recruitment challenges across most trades, particularly cladding, brickwork and mechanical and electrical installers.
Increases to labour rates were highlighted by 84 percent of contractor respondents in the past quarter (1Q22), up from 70 percent for the previous quarter (4Q21).
The latest data from Hudson Contract shows that average pay to freelance tradespeople generally increased in the year to March, with increases of over 10 percent seen in London (13.1 percent) and the East Midlands (10.5 percent).
