Federation of Master Builders (FMB) chief executive Brian Berry said its first quarter state of trade survey showed widespread anxiety among members about price prospects.
“Rising building costs and material shortages are causing serious concern, with 80% of SME builders expecting the situation to worsen in the next six months,” he said.
“Although our latest snapshot shows a fourth successive quarter of positive results for workloads, employment and enquiries, this could be undermined.”
FMB members reported prices “generally around 10% higher across the board”. “They highlight timber products such as sheet materials and timber fencing as being particularly expensive,” said Mr Berry.
“Added to this are concerns over supply of particular materials such as bricks, with manufacturers asking our members to wait until 2015 for new orders, and perceiving this to be to large builders being prioritised.”
But Construction Products Association economics director Noble Francis questioned the price rise figures. “There are no indications of rampant materials inflation,” he said.
“According to the government’s construction building materials bulletin, the general rise over the last 12 months was 2%.”
He also said that building materials sales rose further in the first quarter and were expected to continue to increase over the next 12 months, driven by improvement in most construction areas.
“After four quarters of growth in construction, it is not surprising there is some upward pressure in building products prices,” said Dr Francis. “But I don’t think it’s a very dark cloud, and builders themselves are better placed to pass on increases.”
He also questioned the most alarmist reports on brick availability. “Brick production is 31% ahead of a year ago and imports have doubled,” he said. A spokesperson from the FMB, said its survey reflected a specific “SME perspective”.
“Our members are not able to get the same price deals as larger business with their economies of scale,” she said. “They also don’t feel the market is in a position yet to pass on significant cost increases. We may have had four quarters of growth, but that’s after 25 quarters of recession.”
Alastair Kerr, director-general of the Wood Panel Industries Federation, said it remained a highly competitive market but where there were higher prices they had been driven by supply and demand market forces and increased fuel, energy and wood raw material costs.
