Freelance Builder Pay Trends: June 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.

A steady increase in earnings seems to be the order of the day for now.  Our latest data reveals the North-East is leading the way with freelance builders £20-a-week better off last month. 

Meanwhile – and slightly against the usual trends – the UK’s traditional highest earners, in London and the South-East, saw slight decreases.

“As always, the weather played a part in determining earnings,” Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield observes.  “The second half of June saw most of the country basking in sunshine, enabling labour-only subbies to work longer hours, if they chose to.  Whereas at the beginning of the month there was significant rainfall across the entire country, which hampered earnings potential for some.”

National Weekly Average Earnings June 2017: £823

To view our interactive pay trends map click here

Individual Trades - Winners and Losers:

Nationally this month’s winners are:

• Insulation:  +5.1%
  Bouncing back from last month’s drop
• Surfacing Contractors:  +4.7%
  Yorkshire & Humber making inroads
• Mechanical & Engineering:  +2.6%
  On the up, despite a downward trend in Wales

At the other end of the scale only two trades report overall reductions:

• Joinery:  -4.3%
  West Midlands, Wales and London lose out this month
• Scaffolding & Lifting:  -4.2%
  East Midlands hardest hit
• Specialist Trades:  -2.3%
  South West and West Midlands feeling the pinch

Green light for projects put on hold?

Looking at the wider perspective, the latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index reports that May’s strong growth continued last month, although the rate of expansion slowed a little due to a lack of new work to replace completed projects.

Housebuilding still leads the way ahead of the commercial and civil engineering sectors, with demand described as ‘resilient’.

Ian Anfield says:  “The general feeling seems to be that confidence was inevitably dented, due to the economic uncertainty that came with the general election and its surprise outcome.  Now we once again have political clarity, and hopefully that will translate into a green light for projects that were put temporarily on hold.” 

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 June 2017.