The State of the Roofing Industry report for Q3 of 2023 revealed that over three quarters of contractors who have retentions held on them on local authorities projects sometimes, usually or always have problems retrieving the retention monies they are owed.
This paints just part of a picture of the late payment issues faced by sub-contractors in roofing and cladding.
The survey also indicated that although over half of firms have usual payment terms of 30 days or less, only 25 per cent felt that on average they were paid during that amount of time.
The report also covers trends in workloads and enquiries for roofing contractors, which skillsets are in shortest supply, and changes to material costs.
“This survey helps us to gather an even better understanding of where roofing contractors are facing challenges, and what they expect to face in the coming months,” said James Talman, NFRC’s CEO.
“With this knowledge, NFRC will continue to support the needs of the roofing industry, including by offering expert guidance on recruiting new operatives and staff, continuing to campaign on cash retentions, and feeding back to government on what roofing and cladding businesses need in order to thrive.”
The third quarter of 2023 saw workloads continue to climb, yet roofing contractors’ confidence began to waver surrounding future pipelines of work. 40 per cent of contractors said that they’d had more work in Q3 than in Q2 compared to only 16 per cent reporting having less.
Enquiry rates appeared somewhat less positive, with 29 per cent reporting a fall versus 25 per cent reporting an increase compared to Q2.
Market expectations in the short term were positive than those for 2024: 27 per cent expected an improved landscape in Q4 whilst 18 per cent thought things would worsen, whilst looking to a year from now, the 33 per cent expecting the market to improve were almost matched by 32 per cent expecting decline. The RMI sector overall appears to be more encouraging for contractors than new build.
Labour and skills Firms reported growing their workforces in Q3. This was most significantly done by direct employment, with 28 per cent of firms taking on more employees versus 12 per cent scaling back. Slightly more firms took on more sub-contracted individuals than cut back on them (19 per cent versus 17 per cent). This was reflected in increased costs, with 71 per cent of firms saying that compared to last year they were paying more for labour.
However, contractors continued to face challenges when trying to recruit people with the right skills. 27 per cent of firms said they had found it difficult to employ slaters and tilers, while 16 per cent said they had struggled with cladders. 14 per cent said general labourers had been hard to come by.
Material costs have continued to rise, and this was reflected in increased tender prices, with 64 per cent of firms charging more for jobs versus only 8 per cent charging less than last year. However, contractors reported that availability of materials was continuing to improve.
The only shortages reported by over 10 per cent of respondents were slate (12 per cent), steel (12 per cent) and insulation (11 per cent), with the data suggesting that the once-prominent shortages of timber battens have now been remedied for the vast majority of companies.
