Builders

[goadyolddough]

Apparently it's been very hard to get hold of builders and they are charging a lot more than before Covid.

Bearing in mind that a lot of people are now struggling financially and mortgage rates have increased etc, do you think people may not be able to afford to borrow more on their house to have work done, so builders may start to be more available and hence drop their prices?

My friend was asking me this as he's having a huge amount of building work done (large extension and refurb etc) and wondered whether to go ahead with it now or wait a while?

Thanks

Personally, I can't see them dropping their prices - especially as we're all facing cost of living hikes which also means more expensive materials/overheads for them.

But I do think there will be greater availability. There's been quite a few people who I've heard say that they're delaying their planned work due to concerns over cost of living etc.

It's been virtually impossible to get builders out in the last year or so, even bathroom fitters etc aren't interested as they're so booked up. I think this will change - already I've had a tentative text from a builder asking if we're still planning on doing our work, but earlier in the year he couldn't even find time to answer a basic question.

So yes to better availability but no to reduced prices imo.

We are about to start work on a big project and there is more availability but prices have not yet come down and I think probably won’t, not by a material amount anyway.

I don't think we have availability because we don' t have the skilled tradespeople. The only people round here in the building trade seem to be either nearly reaching retirement age or they're very young and not skilled enough yet.

I am almost considering paying for someone to come over from Europe to fix my roof because I can't get any local people to do it and it's been leaking for a looooong time.

It's not just builders charging more , some materials have gone up 100% and are still hard to get hold of
Some trades are only guaranteeing the price for 8 weeks or so
Get someone from overseas and then what happens if something goes wrong ?
They'll still have to add the cost of travelling, accommodation and food to your bill