Freelance Builder Pay Trends

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.

Welcome to our new-look pay trends for 2016.   You’ll see we are continuing to monitor 17 prime construction trades on a regional basis – and from now on, we will analyse them to identify trends throughout the year.

The data we collect embraces all payments made under CIS and reported monthly to HMRC under Onshore Employment Intermediaries (OEI) legislation.  Figures relate to gross sums, and you’ll be able to see at a glance average regional and national earnings, which are key performance indicators to the state of our industry on a month-by-month basis.

Here’s what Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield says about 2016’s first set of figures:  “Historically, January’s figures are some of the lowest in the calendar year,” he explains.  “This year is no exception.  Whether it’s due to a slow start after Christmas, payments delayed due to the bank holidays, the good old British weather – or sometimes, a combination of all three – January always shows some of the worst figures for the year.”

However, once we drill down into the data, it’s not all doom and gloom.  This year’s January earnings showed a clear pick up for the last two weeks of the month, indicating the dip is most likely purely seasonal.

Weekly Average Earnings, January 2016: £761.76

Regional Averages

• North-East: £710.08

• North-West: £730.44

• Midlands: £816.83

• South-East: £791.74

• South-West: £759.70

Ian Anfield adds: “Over the past few weeks, wind and rain have taken their toll on freelance builders’ ability to earn.  January weather statistics show 152% of average rainfall falling, the fourth wettest on record.  And because rain was falling on already-saturated ground, the impact has been nationwide.  Meanwhile, there have been high winds to contest with, along with temperatures plummeting to below –8C.  So everybody working outside during January has definitely felt the effects, on their person and in their pockets.”

The latest Markit/CIPS survey also reports a slowdown during January, and after a strong period of growth in 2015, the general feeling is that expansion will steady in 2016, although forty-six per cent of businesses still expect a rise in activity in 2016.

This month’s key trend:  Self-employed earnings capacity handicapped by bad weather

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 January 2016.