Freelance Builder Pay Trends: February 2017

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.

It’s back to ‘business as usual’ this month, with earnings pushing back towards pre-Christmas levels after their seasonal January dip.   And more importantly in terms of the general trend, February’s earnings are up four per cent year-on-year.

“The monthly rise across all regions averages out at about ten per cent, which is equivalent to almost £90 a week,” says Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield.  “That’s significant, and higher than we anticipated, given that Storm Doris wiped out work on so many sites during February.  Firms seem to be shrugging off their post-Brexit uncertainties and moving forward with increased confidence.”

National Weekly Average Earnings February 2017: £842

To view our interactive pay trends map click here

Individual Trades:  Winners and Losers:

Nationally this month’s winners are:

• Demolition and Wrecking:  +24%
  Those in the South-East leading the way

• Insulation:  +22%
  South-West and East of England with the biggest gains

• Steel and Timber Frame Erection:  +16%
  East Midlands building a strong start to the year

Only plastering is showing a decrease nationally this month and then only fractionally at less than one per cent or £6.00 per week.

Looking at the wider perspective, the latest Markit/CIPS survey echoes Hudson Contract’s latest data. The ‘Confidence Index’ remains in positive territory, with output increasing slightly due to an upturn in the civil engineering sector.

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 February 2017.