Aibu to think builders work must be slowing down?

[Roastpotatoesat3]

Cant help but notice that our Towns facebook page and a few guys in my friends on Facebook have been stating things like “just had a job delayed, free for two months , contact for quotes” type messages. Also seems to be a lot of responses to requests of work saying they are free. Last few years nobody ever responded to the tags on these kind of posts and if they did it would be along the lines of “very busy”

Ive really noticed this in last two weeks and we know that the building trade is often first to show signs of weakness.

I probably notice this more than others as started a huge project just as Covid hit so know first hand how difficult it was to get tradesmen in those years.

We know new building and renovations have slowed down but everyone seemed to think there was such a shortage of builders that this wouldn’t touch them this time.

Anyone else noticed this or have builders in the family?

Just interested from an economic point of view.

Certainly noticed an increase in posts saying decorators, roofers and handyman having availability and before Christmas too. Even this September these trades were like hens teeth.
something has definitely changed as these are from established businesses, not new start ups.

Unavailability of some building supplies

Sorry didn't mean to post on this one

I am an architect and haven't noticed a slow down but that may be area dependant?

Im in the south east.

Cant comment on the ransoms in Towns Facebook but the ones from fb friends were busy builders that you couldn’t get near for weeks or months before.

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin
I know an architect and she’s said “it’s slow” but to be honest she’s one of those people that always struggles with work or always says it’s slow so wasn’t sure what I could take from that.

I am also south east just out of London, things still seem busy and it's normally us that get hit first followed by the builders (because we're not issuing anything!)

Partner is a builder, he's not been without work this year but where before he would get 9 offers out of 10 quotes, he is now lucky to get 2. People try to get work done cheaper, delay due to lack of funds and generally aren't as keen to engage in large projects. We are keeping afloat with a string of smaller bits of work but our income shrunk 70% compared to 2019.

A friend of mine is a quantity surveyor and he is definitely finding work is drying up.

To be fair, a few projects I have done the drawings for haven't proceeded due to the massive rise in material costs so I wonder if that's a reason?

We want building work doing but have just had the mortgage hike so have delayed. We can’t be the only ones?

It only seems to have been happening within last month!?

They'd be a lot more work if planning permission was relaxed . Down my road even sensible applications are being refused , also South East .

A lot of jobs get delayed at this time of year because of the weather.

Both the Builder and Electrician I no have appreciably less work on right now.

Definitely not noticed this, we can’t book a builder in for a loft conversion and extension for another 2 years!

It always slows down pre-Christmas and picks up again around the start of March. Funnily enough I was only talking about this today to my brother who is a builder.

We’re in the South East and DH has jobs lined up until summer next year at least. Turning lots down too. He often works 7 days a week too.

@TheresaCrowd it hasn’t slowed down at all for 3 years, not for Christmas, weather or anything!! Also cancelled jobs had not been creating gaps as their were jobs booked a year or more in advance so someone else got shifted into that gap.

@WreckTangled what kind of builder? I’m seeing plasterers/ landscapers and decorators asking for work mostly. Although the one I know that said they had a job delayed is a successful general builder that’s made ALOT of money over past ten years. It was that one that made me first start noticing.

General builder - usually extensions, groundwork, bricklaying, carpentry etc.

Joinery company- it tends to slow down now as people don't want to spend thousands on home renos near Christmas we have found, or they unreasonably want it before Christmas. Luckily booked until January and hopefully more enquiries will come in.

This is really interesting

My man’s a bricklayer. He has no problem finding work. He’s self employed. He’s been on a site for roughly 2 years and still had more than a year left to go there. The weather will be his biggest concern in terms of earning potential this winter

We need some work done on the house but when you need to remortgage to get a full grocery shop, old window frames and crumbling plaster slide down the list.