Industry Statistics
The UK’s home improvement market is worth an estimated £39 billion with an estimated £14 billion being spent with tradespeople each year.
Rogue Traders cost the UK homeowners an estimated £1.9 billion in botched jobs. It is estimated that the figure is much higher than this but a lot of people fail to report bad experiences due to the embarrassment of having been caught out by a rogue trader.
Consumer’s fears over cowboy builder’s costs UK economy £10 billion as quoted and researched by the FMB.
Whilst everybody talks about rogue traders, nobody really considers the problems the tradespeople encounter with rogue customers who pay late, look for discounts or simply have no intentions of paying at all. This results in the tradespeople ending up in financial difficulty, not being able to pay suppliers and being put on stop so they can’t get the materials for the next job. In more serious cases the tradespeople lose their business. In 2016 It was estimated that the UKs SMEs faced £2.16 billion in unpaid invoices, prompt payment is an ethical issue.
DIY is on the rise:
Due to the economic climate people are staying in their homes and improving as opposed to moving which has led to a rise in the DIY sector. Market research carried out by Local Heroes claims that Brits spend a staggering £34 billion each year calling on professionals to help rectify botched jobs around the home. One of the reasons for consumers having a go at doing the work themselves is simply because they are wary when it comes to finding a quality tradesperson they can trust.
Decline of quality tradespeople:
In 2013 the Daily Mail published a survey that showed the UK was in decline of quality tradespeople due to tradespeople leaving the building industry for other trades or other careers. I don’t believe these numbers have changed, if anything they have got worse. If we don’t start to address these issues then this industry will suffer and affect the UKs home improvement market.
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