Freelance Builder Pay Trends: July 2018

Hudson Contract delivers the most accurate indications of pay trends across the construction industry, using payroll data for over 2,200 construction companies to publish the average pay for a spectrum of 17 different trades now split across ten regions.

“Make hay while the sun shines!” – The old farmers’ motto has been well and truly hijacked by freelance builders during July.  Our blazing hot summer has resulted in a significant, across-the-board, earnings hike. 

“National average earnings are now £882, which means they have reached a new, all-time high,” says Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield.  “Compared to last month, the average subbie is nearly £30 a week better off, with all regions experiencing at least 2% growth on June.”

To view our interactive pay trends map click here

This month's winning trades

• Insulation: +8.58%
  Heating engineers keeping people cool
• Plastering: +6.09%
  South-East leads the way
• Specialist Trades: +4.92%
  A lucrative month for Wales and the South-West

In terms of losers, only electricians are worse off – and then only by a marginal decrease 0.34%, which works out at £4 a week.

Looking at the wider perspective, the construction industry as a whole is entering the second half of the year with renewed optimism. 

The latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index reports the fastest rise in output since Many 2017. The housebuilding sector put in its strongest performance since December 2015, and commercial work also grew at its fastest for over thirty months.

“This is good to see, considering the year got off to a slow start,” Ian Anfield observes.  “There’s undoubtedly been some catch-up from the ice and windy weather at the start of the year, and the Carillion collapse means some large projects have been put on hold at least until next year.  But even when you take that into consideration, there is plenty of work and underlying demand seems to be heading in the right direction.  Housebuilding, in particular, doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon so this should continue to stimulate growth across the sector as a whole.”

Hudson Contract’s ‘Window on the Construction Industry’ gives you hard figures and data that is not available from any other source, with pay averages that reflect the amounts paid by a sample number of businesses – large and small – to specific trades during July 2018.