Rising costs threatening recovery

Recovery in the SME construction sector is under threat from rising building costs and material shortages, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has warned in its latest State of Trade Survey.

The survey, which covers the first three months of 2014, found 80% of SMEs expected rising building costs and material shortages to get worse over the next six months.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “Although our latest snapshot is the fourth successive quarter showing positive results for workloads, employment and enquiries, this could be undermined by a spike in prices and costs.”

“Materials prices are generally around 10% higher across the board with small construction firms highlighting timber products such as sheet materials and timber fencing as being particularly expensive.

“Added to this are concerns over the ready supply of particular materials such as bricks, which could scupper the ability of SME house builders to plug the shortfall in housing supply - this at a time when we need to rapidly increase the number of new homes.”