That skip might finally be worth ordering. After two years in which a new kitchen or house extension came with the financial jeopardy of a small war, the price of builders and basic materials has retreated sharply.
The average quote for building jobs has fallen by 14 per cent over the past year and is now 25 per cent lower than its peak in 2023, according to Checkatrade’s latest home improvement index. This equates to a typical saving of £2,000 per project.
The company analysed more than 12 million quotes given on its website over the past three years and found that the average cost fell to £6,000 last year from £8,000 in 2023, when builders were still dealing with volatile supply chains, steep wage rises and materials that seemed to change price every week.
Checkatrade said the shift was being driven by a mix of cheaper materials and calmer expectations. In 2022 and 2023 many builders began adding what the industry calls a “supply risk premium”, a buffer designed to stop a profitable job turning into a loss if the cost of timber, steel or plasterboard jumped between quote and purchase. The company said those premiums were vanishing as prices stabilised and availability improved.
Official data points in the same direction. The Department for Business and Trade’s monthly report on material prices shows that several building staples were cheaper year on year last month. Steel beams were down by 7 per cent, imported plywood was down by 4.5 per cent and gravel, sand and clays were down by 3.7 per cent.
Labour costs, too, are no longer spiralling. Separate analysis from the Building Cost Information Service, drawing on official earnings data, shows that construction wages rose by 2.2 per cent in the 12 months to November last year, far below the peak rises of 10 per cent and above during the price boom. That matters because labour is the irreducible part of most domestic projects. If a job needs skilled hands for weeks, a small change in wage inflation can move the total quote by thousands of pounds.
But Checkatrade said there may be another reason homeowners were getting better pricing: increased competition. It said demand had cooled from the post-lockdown highs while the economy had stagnated. Fewer homes were also being built by the major construction firms, meaning more builders and tradespeople were looking for work.
These developments come at a time when many homeowners are opting to renovate rather than relocate. Recent research by Comparethemarket.com found that more than half of homeowners had either renovated at least one room last year or planned to do so in the next 12 months. It found the decision to stay rather than sell was driven by factors such as high moving costs, including stamp duty, and an emotional attachment to their home.
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Jambu Palaniappan, the chief executive of Checkatrade, said: “We are seeing a key shift in pricing in the home improvement and domestic construction sector. Supply risk premiums, which were required to protect tradespeople against volatile material price hikes, and double-digit labour inflation are vanishing now those risks have been largely removed.”
He added that the “return to historic norms” in labour inflation gave contractors the stability to price more competitively.
For homeowners, that means the same project that looked frighteningly expensive in 2023 may now be achievable. However, that does not mean it will feel cheap.