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… Read more
Quarter two 2025 has delivered encouraging signals for the UK building materials sector, with construction output growing +1.2% between Q1 and Q2 2025, reported by the ONS, and infrastructure projects… Read more
In what is still a tough market, more contractors are fighting over less volume, creating more quoting and re-quoting activity for suppliers and merchants. The inevitable war on price is… Read more
The trade paint market continues to improve as the year progresses, with volume growth so far at +2% when compared to this time last year. Exterior categories like masonry have… Read more
Demand in the fastener and fixings sector has continued to follow the general trends across merchants, with continuing soft demand driven by the sluggish levels of construction and Repair Maintenance… Read more
After a better-than-expected start to the year, the robust sales seen in Q1 did not continue into Q2, and ready-mixed concrete volumes sank to a historic low. Aggregate sales were… Read more
UK construction is in a holding pattern. The fundamentals remain positive to the upside, but in Q2 that’s been tempered by the changeable broader economic climate and the threat of… Read more
As we move beyond the half-way point of 2025, the industry is experiencing an uptick in confidence, driven by modest growth in Q2. Off the back of more stable interest… Read more
If 2025 is the first ‘normal’ year since 2020 then it is not great. While April was decent, May and June nullified any momentum that was building. There has been… Read more
After a buoyant pre-sales season and a booming Q1, where our biggest challenge was getting stock to customers fast enough, Q2 continued in the same vein – until it didn’t. April and May saw Covid lockdown levels… Read more
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.
