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Brett Martin Ltd
With more than 60 years’ manufacturing experience in the building materials market, Brett Martin remains family owned with a 1000 strong workforce, operating from multiple sites across the UK.
Known for reliable customer service, dependable product quality and a consistent partnership approach with merchants, Brett Martin is a preferred supplier across a number of sectors, and remains the UK’s largest independent supplier of plumbing and drainage products.
Continued investment in the business is driving product innovation and supporting carbon reduction initiatives including onsite solar and wind generated renewable energy, supporting a new generation of low carbon construction products.
Visit: www.brettmartin.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brett-martin-ltd/
Twitter: @BMDrainage
Launched in 2015, the award winning monthly Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report is the only reliable measure of repair, maintenance & improvement (RMI) activity in the UK. Filling an important gap, it can be widely used in construction, and by economists, Government, national media, commentators and influencers outside the industry.
Brett Martin Comment: Q2 2025
Students of marketing may be aware of the iconic 1978 political advertisement from the Conservative party: “Labour isn’t Working”. While the employment situation which underpinned the pun is different in 2025, the punchline may seem very apt to many in construction.
We experienced a promising start to Quarter 2, coming on the back of some encouragement early in 2025, but around May a noticeable sense of concern could be experienced across the market as the anticipated seasonal spring construction uplift ran out of steam. Our daily order intake flattened at a time when we would normally see increases.
Construction relies on so many of the factors which government controls or influences, with business and consumer confidence being the vital spark which provides momentum. Both are lacking currently, and the effects play out directly in key RMI (Repair Maintenance & Improvement) project spending in businesses and homes across the country. The growing cost pressures on business are well reported and further projected pressures are now adding to the negative sentiment. Home improvements compete for consumer cash, and particularly against spending on holidays which Mintel’s Spring 25 travel report highlighted as reaching a 3-year high, with 77% of respondents intending to travel this summer.
The statistics don’t lie, 2025 has not seen any significant growth in housing starts resulting in what looks like a very flat UK house construction market this season. For manufacturers like Brett Martin, responding to the current market conditions is key to balancing the business to ensure we continue to provide the kind of service that merchants want.
Whether the market is up or down, it’s always important to remember that product users still require the same mix of service and support matched to product quality. They want the same recipe of supply certainty, product consistency and value, along with innovation.
Brett Martin’s recently announced £12million investment in our main manufacturing site gives a flavour of our commitment to the UK market and, with further investment in UK logistics on the drawing board, we are confident that this market will find its way back to growth, despite the apparent shortcomings of the current administration’s policy.