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The latest state of the roofing industry member survey for the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) has found that fewer than a third of invoices are paid within 30-day terms – and the figures are little lightly better for those on longer terms.
Late payment of subcontractor invoices has been a perennial problem in the construction industry but the introduction of a requirement on businesses to publish their payment practices is thought to have improved matters.
It is not doing much for roofers, it seems.
NFRC chief executive James Talman said: “We are supportive of the government’s statutory reporting duty on business payment practices and its impending update, along with the associated league tables published by Build UK. However, these measures are not improving the fortunes of the majority of our members, who also face ongoing higher labour costs.
“The knock-on impact for SMEs, micro-businesses and the self-employed is too often ignored in favour of others who are a strategic risk if not paid within terms.”
More positively, the NFRC/Glenigan survey for Q4 of 2023 also found some optimism, with 33% of firms expecting their workload to increase on the back of a slight improvement in the commercial sector.
Glenigan economic director Allan Wilen said: “Roofing contractors’ workload continued to improve during the final quarter of 2023, with commercial and domestic RM&I particular bright spots.”
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