Brexit: Are building costs gone nuts?

[Masterpieceontheshelf]

I'm hoping to build a fairly big extension this year, I'm now worried I won't be able to afford to if costs have gone through the roof.
Those of you building now or planning to build - have the costs increased loads?

Ours have gone up but not massively. Lots of demand though since loads of people want to get work done

We are half way through a self build, I haven't noticed price rises. Most materials are taking slightly longer to deliver, so it pays to be ordering stuff a bit quicker.

One thing I would say is that the council, if you need a building warrant or permits for anything are even slower than they usually are!

That's a relief to hear.
Food prices have gone up so much, I worried that building materials were going to be the same.
So we don't have to pay extra customs on imported materials then?

Why would you need to import anything? Yes importing costs more. (Well DD says so). Lots of materials are available here except for some imports (eg steel might be imported).

The builders would be importing the materials, like tiles and windows and doors etc.
It's well known that GB buys lots of things from Europe and we don't make everything ourselves.

We are hearing that costs have doubled from talking to architects/contractors. Bricks alone up 25%.

We are considering holding back from doing the building work we need to do.

But we do make lots of building components here. We really do! However with the importing difficulties I expect there are waiting times. We have done extensions and bricks were made here. Wood rafters here. Windows and doors here. But they were not cheap or bargain basement.

It's not as simple as "we make things here" though. Various things are difficult to get hold of or in short supply which means potentially having to use alternatives, which may then be more expensive or have a knock on effect on schedules/down time.

Even if some things are made in the uk, sometimes the raw materials come from abroad. One small component can hold things up . And most construction timber is usually imported from other countries.

Our quotes were ridiculously high. Annoyingly they came through just as the first lockdown happened and plaster bags were quadruple price. We put everything on hold a year and I’m going to get quotes from different builders next week to see if there’s any change. They’ve got availability to start work within next 2-3 months, so they’re not jammed with jobs