Building materials increased by more than 10 percent last quarter, according to Buildiro.com pricing data
Published: 23 June 2022 - James Mead
The average price of building materials and home improvement supplies in the United Kingdom increased by more than 10 percent between March and June, according to pricing data monitored by Buildiro.com, an online marketplace for UK merchants, tradespeople, and DIY enthusiasts.
The biggest jump in retail prices was in wooden cladding, which registered a 15 percent spike from the previous quarter. Wall and floor tiles increased by an average of 14 percent (and as much as 30 percent for some product lines) across products that Buildiro.com monitors.
Other materials that surged during the period included sawn timber (13 percent), Vinyl flooring (10 percent), and garden-related items – such as outdoor furniture, paving stones, and some hand tools (6 percent to 10 percent).
“Builders and home-improvement hobbyists in the UK have not been spared the impact of inflation, supply-chain challenges, and other causes of consumer price hikes,” said Luke Polach, Buildiro founder and CEO. “For an industry with razor-thin margins, every price hike, no matter how small, makes it that much harder to do business.”
Buildiro.com helps builders navigate these cost surges by aggregating inventories from the UK’s leading marchants and pinpointing the best deals. Eighteen of the country’s biggest online retailers – including B&Q, Tooled-Up, Plumbworld, Robert Dyas, Make My Blinds, and Lights.co.uk – are already part of the Buildiro affiliate program.
The price hikes observed by Buildiro.com, which tracks over 1,000,000 products across more than a dozen home improvement categories, continues a trend of steadily increasing material costs in Britain. In May, the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy reported that prices for aggregates, ready-mix concrete, piping and other essential materials increased every month in the first quarter of 2022.
It wasn’t all bad news, however. Some of the categories the Buildiro.com tracks saw prices stay level or decrease. For instance, sheet materials, such as OSB boards, dropped by 6 percent during the monitoring period, while power tools keep on the same price level.
“With so many merchants trading on Buildiro.com, we can monitor pricing trends across the entire home-improvement sector to determine where the best deals are,” said Polach. “It’s a great time to buy power tools.”