In a report by On The Tools, 81.71% of tradespeople surveyed are busier than last year or at a comparative rate to 2022. The report, Trade Brain, uncovers current market conditions for builders and tradespeople and perceptions and confidence levels during the current cost of living crisis.
The research also found that 36.79% of those surveyed are booked up in advance with six months to over a year’s worth of work on the books. Bricklayers were identified as the trade with the busiest workload, with 65.91% of them booked up over six months ahead.
Lee Wilcox, CEO and founder of On The Tools, said: “With ongoing inflation and the rising cost of living crisis impacting the UK the report offers a glimmer of hope that tradespeople are still busy, and busy well into 2023, but, of course time will tell how long this will last.
“Another positive finding from our research was an interest in sustainability. Seeing tradespeople now consider environmental benefits as important when choosing building materials is a new shift. At On The Tools we will continue to monitor this and other trends throughout 2023.
“With huge pressure for us all to achieve Net Zero, On The Tools is committed to supporting tradespeople on this journey by sharing information on sustainable building to help them as much as we can.”
As part of the report, when asked about the factors that influence purchasing decision, environmental credentials scored highly, with 21.54% of those surveyed ranking it as a very important factor.