The latest UK Construction Market Barometer was published in May 2017. The survey covers areas such as changes in marketing spend levels, marketing recruitment, sales in previous 6 months and forecast for next 6 months. The barometer has been published on a regular basis since 2008 and is run in association with Construction News and the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Construction Industry Group.
The below are the conclusions of the research – taken from the Leading Edge website

Report – Conclusions from research

• Sales Performance and Market Outlook

The sales comparison index, which shows the average % change in sales in the past 6 months compared to the same period the previous year, improved in April 2017 after reaching a low in October 2016. Sales performance was good over the past 6 months with 75% of companies improving their sales compared to the same period last year.

The sales outlook index for the next 6 months also increased, with 56% of companies confident about their sales performance over the next 6 months.

The new build market continues to lead growth in the construction industry with the housing sector particularly upbeat. The overall expectation of market performance has improved since the last survey. The outlook for Repair and Maintenance is unchanged sincethe last survey but still positive.

London is the only region where market performance expectation has declined since the last survey but the outlook is still positive. The outlook for all other regions has improved.

• Marketing Focus and Strategic Outlook

The marketing outlook over the next 12 months has seen a slight fall compared to October 2016:

43% of companies are set to grow their marketing spend, while only 14% are expecting a decline. However, average increase in marketing spend over the next 12 months has dropped to 0.3%.

Expectations for marketing headcount remain positive with 20% expecting to see an increase, although this is a reduction on figures seen in the past 5 surveys.

Brexit has continued to have an impact on many companies, particularly on materials costs due to exchange rates and also on labour availability. It is causing some uncertainty in the market.

When asked which barriers would prevent them from winning work over the next 12 months, 69% of companies said it would be dueto‘aggressive pricing from competitors’ while 40% said it would be ‘a lack of resources to meet demand

Download the full report here : Leading Edge Construction Industry Barometer Report