Will building work be more or less expensive afterwards?

[SnowyTeatime]

Currently finalising our building plans and the tender pack for getting quotes in future.

Do you think building work will get more or less expensive?

More. Self employed builders will want to make up what they have lost out on.

Less. People will be watching the pennies more and having less non-essential works done, and so builders will be trying to get as much business as they can.

I think it will get more expensive in most areas.... there will be significant pent up demand -for domestic work as everyones stopping now..
also works will need to be finsihed that are in build now.
theres generally a shortage of semi/skilled labour in construction already and combined with Brexit at the end of the year a lot of the workforce may/may not find it tricky to work....

If I was in talks with a builder already think I wouldbe discussing retainer/contract price with a bit of leeway for both parties...

I’m tending to think more as the supply of labour will be a key problem to start with - a lot of builders have returned to their home countries. The pound is also knackered so cost of materials is likely to go up, this will also put off labour returning to the U.K.

Potentially there’ll also be a backlog of work stopped/deferred by the shutdown but equally people may continue to defer non-essential work for economic reasons.

“Builders making up what they’ve lost out on” won’t be the issue - the building industry doesn’t work doesn’t work that way, margins are very thin in good times.

Probably more, I expect there will be a huge backlog of people who've been putting work off all wanting to get it done at the same time, especially if this goes on for several months (as it likely will).

Less. There will be less demand. Because many people will have lost their jobs and won’t be able to afford building work.