Signs of improvement

18 August 2020

Napoleon may have described England as a nation of shopkeepers, but the pandemic seems to have turned the UK into a realm of home improvers.

A survey of more than 1,300 tradespeople conducted by Travis Perkins (TP) shows that half believe their workloads will increase.

They also say they will need to purchase new materials over the next two months, suggesting that more domestic projects will be getting under way. That could obviously create hire demand, too.

Higher confidence score

TP’s Repair, Maintenance and Improvement Index reports a current confidence score of 52, higher than it was following the Brexit referendum in June 2016, when the rating was 45.

The builders’ merchant adds that, at the start of the global financial crisis in September 2008, the figure slumped to minus 7.

The poll, which was carried out in July, suggests that most work (72%) will come from domestic repairs and maintenance, compared to 16% from new build housing, 15% from commercial and industrial activity and 15% from public sector projects.

Hire, hire, hire

Nick Roberts, CEO of Travis Perkins plc said, “The government may be looking to build, build, build to support the UK’s recovery, but so it seems are thousands of UK homeowners.”

Let’s hope that they also hire, hire, hire.