COMMENT
Confidence tricks
W
ell, here we are again. According to the Summer edition of that notoriously upbeat tome, the CPA Construction
Industry Forecast, total construction activity is going to fall by 3.3% in 2026, with housing expected to fall by around 10%.
Yes, another 10%. You, like me, have heard too many good people say that we are in as tough a market as they’ve ever known to think that this is an exaggeration.
It’s not just about housebuilding, though if that were moving at even a bit of a jog then the outlook would be much brighter. Across the wide glorious landscape that is the UK construction sector, contractors of all sizes are bemoaning the length of time it’s taking projects to start, to get going and to complete. For those further down the supply chain, that’s clearly something of a problem. This isn’t an industry that can just wake up one morning and decide to ‘be busier’. Manufacturers, merchants and their builder customers need to plan ahead, to invest in equipment, or people, and those sorts of decisions tend to rely on an idea of what might happen next. It’s difficult to justify investing in, well anything really, when the pipeline of work is more like the dripping of Chinese water torture than a steady flow.
Then there are costs. Energy, transport, employment: All are heading in one direction only. Up. Yet more and more merchants are telling me that the pressure from customers to keep their prices low is increasing. You can be busy without making much in the way of profit margin for a while. But not forever. Companies across the building materials sector are having to think hard about what
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EDITORIAL
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they do. Recruitment? – maybe not. Production capacity? – let’s go slow on that one. Lose a manufacturing plant or a merchant branch and you lose jobs, skills, investment and spending power in the community. You also lose the ability to react quickly when things do eventually pick up. That’s something we’ve seen all too often with previous downturns and recoveries.
The squeeze is coming from all sides, and if the government isn’t careful, it may well find that when confidence picks up again, when housing and infrastructure projects really get motoring again, the industry isn’t quite as ready as everyone had hoped. The Government has ambitious plans for housing and infrastructure. Great. Ambitious plans are what we need. But – as plenty of industry commentators have pointed out – those plans require a functioning building materials supply chain to turn them from manifesto-fillers into actual buildings, roads and infrastructure. Small wonder then that across the sector businesses are looking at where they are, at what their prospects are, and making some tough decisions. Or, as in the case of three of the biggest independents, deciding to try something new. As the hackneyed phase has it– if you do what you’ve always done, you tend to get what you’ve always got. What this industry needs more than anything is a shot of confidence, and maybe that will come when it sees evidence that the government is going to pay more than lip- service to the idea of building the homes that it’s promising. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
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“ Things are not
always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many. Phaedrus
”
CONTENTS 4 Newsround
What’s happening in the sector 8 News Extra
Bradfords, JT Atkinson and Lords come together
12 People
Who’s moving where 14 In Person
BMJ sat down to chat with Travis Perkins’ managing director Richard Lavin
16 Business Helpdesk How to write restrictive covenants correctly
18 Viewpoint
Our guest columnists share their insights 23 IT
AI in customer service
24 Company Focus: Timco Helping merchants manage stockholdings
26 Merchant Focus Burrells builds for the future 28 Sustainablity
Trialling the use of recycled aggregates
30 Landscaping Landscaping trends and more
41 Rainwater Management Preparing for the rainy season
46 Plumbing and Heating Standards and certification in plumbing
50 Industry Voice The latest news from the BMF
52 Product News What’s new from suppliers 54 And Finally
Sector news and the Prize Crossword September 2026
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3
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