2015 ‘busier than ever’ – report
February 2016

2015 year was busier than ever for UK tradespeople with more than 70% reporting increased revenue year on year – with one in 12 saying business was up by over 30%.

Many were so busy however that nearly a half had to turn away valuable work at an obvious cost to their business.
The findings come from the Annual Industry Review compiled by hardware supplier IronmongeryDirect, which found that 43% said that sales had increased by up to 10%, with a third claiming revenues had improved by 11-20%. 16% said revenues rose by up to 30% and 8% claimed they had increased by more than 30%.

The report, based on 600 respondents, revealed that the construction sector occupied a positive position in 2015 as tradespeople across the country declared how busy they were. 52% said they were very busy with work in 2015 and 30% described themselves as busy. Only 4% admitted they were not that busy.

Enquiries were also up in 2015 with exactly half of the tradespeople questioned saying that they received more enquiries in 2015 than in 2014. 43% reported it was about the same.

However, as a result of having a lot of work on in 2015, 45% of tradespeople said that they had to turn business away, which came at a cost to their business.

IronmongeryDirect managing director Wayne Lysaght-Mason said: “The results from our report are extremely positive for the sector and it’s great to see that business is going well for the majority of tradespeople and that revenues are strong.

“The report indicates this good news will continue into 2016 and many across the sector will be able to be more selective about the work they take on as workloads continue to increase. However, that said, it is crucial that tradespeople still operate with caution as the sector is not fully recovered and there are still underlying issues that may have an effect such as an increasing skills gap, the pricing of contracts, supply chain issues or even rising capital pressures.”

http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/industry-review