Since our last update, the UK Government has delivered their Autumn Budget. In doing so, they have managed to deflate confidence with new fiscal rules that seem to have pleased no one.

Positively, the budget outlined plans for £5 billion in housing initiatives, including increasing the supply of affordable homes and hiring additional planning officers to support housing building. These measures align with Labour’s target of delivering 1.5 million homes over the next 5 years.

Against this backdrop, the industry is seeing a cautious sense of optimism. According to the latest National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) report, nearly half of roofing contractors expect their workloads to increase in the coming year. However, this is from a low base and won’t happen without consumer confidence.

The impact of NIC and Minimum Wage increases will have a substantial and detrimental effect on the profitability of manufacturers, merchants and builders, at a time when depressed volumes are already making it more difficult to cover their overheads. Tough decisions will inevitably be made, none of which are likely to boost growth. These will need to include price inflation at a time that we would prefer to be driving volume.

We need well thought out, well executed growth initiatives. The want and need for an increase in construction activity is beyond doubt. The cost of borrowing is much more affordable now, driven party by competition in the lending market.  We just need potential home buyers to have the confidence to make the big decision to move home.

At Keylite, we remain focussed on what matters most – our customers. We aim to continue to grow our market share by further enhancing our product offerings, particularly with a new offer on flat roof products coming to market to support a growing category, and by maintaining a strong commitment to service.

With innovative, patented design features we offer quality products, award winning service, and margin enhancing opportunities for merchants across our full range of pitched and flat roof windows, associated flashings, blinds and accessories and timber loft ladders.