Freelance Builder Pay Trends: July 2016

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 across five regions

So has construction gone into reverse in the wake of Brexit? For those who are self-employed, the answer is a definite NO! In fact, the exact reverse, with earnings up everywhere – and by the equivalent of £30 a week, on average:

• The North-East leads the way with average increases of 6.6% (£47 a week). That’s the biggest monthly leap in any region so far this year
• Freelance builders in the Midlands and the South-East have almost reached average weekly earnings of £900 a week
• Only in the South-West, where earnings just crept into the positive with an increase of 0.78%, is the trend less pronounced. Even so, the average freelance builder earned £800 a week during July

Those who are did particularly well last month – members of the £1,000-a-week-Club – are concentrated in the South-East and include demolition, electrical, insulation, joinery, mechanical and shopfitters.

Weekly Average Earnings, July 2016: £823.81

And the highest-earners of all? This month, it’s plumbers in the Midlands, on £1,360 a week.

“It’s been sunny days in all senses,’ says Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield. “While not the hottest month, the weather has been fine, with especially low rainfall in the southern half of the country, making everyone a winner in July.”

By contrast, however, the UK construction industry’s overall activity fell for the second successive month in July, with commercial building hardest hit and civil engineering falling for the first time this year.

The Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 45.9 in July, down slightly from 46 in June but above economists’ expectations of 44. A reading above 50 indicates growth.

“This was the first full month since Brexit and forecasters were expecting a bigger drop, so to maintain is actually good news,” Ian Anfield observes.

“With the new Prime Minister in place, but Parliament in recess, uncertainty and risk aversion is inevitable, and a lot of conflicting Quarter 2 data has just been published. For example, there has been an increase in the sales of aggregates and concrete yet the latest ONS stats show an overall decline in construction.

“Firms are naturally being cautious at the moment and not spreading themselves thin, but as the industry has shown many times in the past, we are always ready to respond when the time comes.”

This month’s key trend: Sunny days help earnings flourish

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 2016.