Freelance Builder Pay Trends: October 2022

Labour rates hit record high as building sites enter busiest seasonal period

Labour rates on Britain’s building sites hit a record high last month. Analysis of our payroll – the biggest in the construction industry – shows average weekly earnings increased by 4.3 per cent to £979 per week during October. The pay growth more than offsets the decline in September when earnings fell by 3.4 per cent to £939 per week.

Ian Anfield, managing director of Hudson Contract, said: “The figures show the flexibility of the subcontractor workforce. Their rates go down as well as up. There was a blip in September but October broke all records. We know from experience this is the most productive and highest earning period of the year for subbies with the seasonal push for project completions in the lead up to Christmas.

“We will be watching to see how the sharp rise in the cost of borrowing impacts the housing market and what happens to the government’s commitment to invest in infrastructure as ministers try to balance the books. There is still a shortage of new housing and housebuilders and mortgage lenders are coming up with ever-more imaginative ways to help borrowers such as variable shared equity schemes and longer mortgages. Combined with the cuts to stamp duty, and political pressure to invest in levelling up infrastructure outside the M25, there might be just enough momentum to shield the industry from the worst of the predicted recession.”

The best performing subcontractors last month were in demolition and wrecking (up 13.5 per cent to £949), scaffolding and lifting (up 11.8 per cent to £845) and civil engineering (up 7.4 per cent to £934).

Hudson Contract is the UK’s largest provider of tax status and employment contract services to the construction industry with annual revenues of £2 billion and a client base of 2,600 construction SMEs. The family-owned group delivers the most accurate indication of subcontractor pay trends across the construction industry, publishing the average pay for a spectrum of 17 different trades split across 10 regions in England and Wales. It supplies statistics to the Bank of England to keep policymakers updated with real-time insights on demand for skilled labour.