Construction Market Data

Fri March 29 2024

Related Information

Sub-contractor Pay Trends June 2017

Hudson Contract delivers the most accurate indications of pay trends across the construction industry, using payroll data for over 2,200 construction companies to publish the average pay for a spectrum of 17 different trades now split across 10 regions.

A steady increase in earnings seems to be the order of the day for now. Our latest data reveals the North East is leading the way with freelance builders £20-a-week better off last month.

Meanwhile – and slightly against the usual trends – the UK’s traditional highest earners, in London and the South East, saw slight decreases.

“As always, the weather played a part in determining earnings,” Hudson Contract Managing Director, Ian Anfield observes.  “The second half of June saw most of the country basking in sunshine, enabling labour-only subbies to work longer hours if they chose to.  Whereas at the beginning of the month there was significant rainfall across the entire country, which hampered earnings potential for some.”

National Weekly Average Earnings June 2017:  £823

Region June 2017 Average Change from May 2017
North East £716.00 2.79%
North West £740.00 1.35%
Yorkshire and Humber £761.00 0.92%
East Midlands £837.00 1.08%
West Midlands £848.00 1.18%
Wales £700.00 1.29%
East of England £904.00 0.66%
London £827.00 -0.85%
South East £834.00 -0.84%
South West £758.00 0.26%

Individual Trades:  winners and Losers:
Nationally this month’s winners are:

  • Insulation:  +5.1%

Bouncing back from last month’s drop

  • Surfacing contractors+4.7%

Yorkshire and Humber making inroads

  • Mechanical and Engineering+2.6%

On the up, despite a downward trend in Wales

At the other end of the scale only two trades report overall reductions:

  • Joinery:  -4.3%

West Midlands, Wales and London lose out this month

  • Scaffolding and Lifting-4.2%

East Midlands hardest hit

  • Specialist trades-2.3%

South West and West Midlands feeling the pinch

Green light for projects put on hold?

Looking at the wider perspective, the latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index reports that May’s strong growth continued last month, although the rate of expansion slowed a little due to a lack of new work to replace completed projects.

Housebuilding still leads the way ahead of the commercial and civil engineering sectors, with demand described as ‘resilient’.

Ian Anfield says:  “The general feeling seems to be that confidence was inevitably dented, due to the economic uncertainty that came with the general election and its surprise outcome.  Now we once again have political clarity, and hopefully that will translate into a green light for projects that were put temporarily on hold.”

North East

NORTH EAST Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
CIVIL ENGINEERING £867 £773 £773 £865
ELECTRICAL £637 £746 £671 £610
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £439 £466 £514 £393
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £737 £732 £719 £719
INSULATION £670 £654 £715 £674
PLASTERING £619 £594 £561 £643
ROOFING £501 £854 £916 £653
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £449 £381 £351 £372
SHOP FITTING £696 £614 £724 £807
SPECIALIST TRADES £661 £505 £631 £604

North West

NORTH WEST Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £683 £688 £669 £719
CIVIL ENGINEERING £721 £679 £720 £712
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £750 £699 £723 £776
ELECTRICAL £813 £749 £800 £804
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £765 £671 £804 £787
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £740 £780 £757 £776
INSULATION £1,069 £1,266 £1,225 £1,250
JOINERY £766 £727 £742 £774
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £607 £515 £502 £543
PLASTERING £550 £515 £536 £462
PLUMBING £760 £588 £709 £686
ROOFING £830 £772 £745 £814
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £518 £496 £561 £533
SHOP FITTING £1,040 £918 £857 £1,079
SPECIALIST TRADES £760 £734 £712 £718
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £880 £650 £561 £743
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £593 £548 £624 £614

Yorkshire & Humber

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £642 £660 £647 £629
CIVIL ENGINEERING £725 £670 £681 £701
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £535 £486 £523 £516
ELECTRICAL £910 £799 £814 £769
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £876 £893 £938 £969
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £756 £707 £745 £755
JOINERY £926 £760 £791 £844
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £968 £943 £978 £966
PLASTERING £706 £692 £735 £660
PLUMBING £706 £685 £697 £674
ROOFING £636 £635 £636 £667
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £535 £513 £516 £491
SHOP FITTING £1,012 £1,111 £1,302 £1,067
SPECIALIST TRADES £915 £954 £934 £893
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £821 £927 £813 £1,042
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £819 £748 £706 £856

East Midlands

EAST MIDLANDS Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
CIVIL ENGINEERING £771 £712 £738 £749
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £663 £583 £605 £657
ELECTRICAL £989 £930 £927 £979
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £1,093 £915 £981 £855
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £987 £969 £975 £983
INSULATION £780 £696 £689 £718
JOINERY £849 £752 £770 £786
PLASTERING £738 £693 £705 £700
PLUMBING £906 £867 £870 £900
ROOFING £853 £756 £892 £948
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £757 £724 £767 £705
SHOP FITTING £1,040 £1,465 £1,303 £1,326
SPECIALIST TRADES £940 £887 £916 £823
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £1,269 £862 £1,209 £1,120
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £828 £740 £774 £806

West Midlands

WEST MIDLANDS Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £571 £691 £889 £810
CIVIL ENGINEERING £854 £835 £842 £844
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £666 £685 £696 £736
ELECTRICAL £1,170 £1,126 £1,079 £1,066
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £949 £854 £939 £872
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £819 £818 £809 £859
INSULATION £726 £624 £816 £791
JOINERY £795 £804 £888 £754
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £723 £705 £696 £716
PLASTERING £766 £616 £680 £642
PLUMBING £1,223 £980 £1,218 £1,183
ROOFING £528 £557 £478 £470
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £631 £696 £679 £712
SHOP FITTING £1,405 £1,086 £1,314 £1,136
SPECIALIST TRADES £907 £959 £935 £861
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £811 £736 £686 £731

Wales

WALES Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
CIVIL ENGINEERING £706 £671 £660 £662
ELECTRICAL £705 £697 £617 £617
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £1,204 £1,221 £1,183 £1,175
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £771 £742 £752 £769
JOINERY £476 £341 £533 £392
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £539 £427 £512 £426
PLASTERING £1,200 £1,163 £1,050
PLUMBING £817 £840 £769 £804
ROOFING £459 £496 £520 £523
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £679 £620 £568 £603
SPECIALIST TRADES £915 £698 £709 £754
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £621 £596 £600 £623
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £1,329 £1,830 £1,142

East of England

EAST OF ENGLAND Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £720 £706 £714 £682
CIVIL ENGINEERING £831 £775 £799 £814
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £650 £653 £638 £686
ELECTRICAL £1,286 £1,224 £1,266 £1,287
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £941 £910 £913 £968
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £870 £838 £840 £849
INSULATION £1,259 £1,210 £1,131 £1,238
JOINERY £1,152 £1,094 £1,207 £1,282
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £950 £886 £989 £1,080
PLASTERING £917 £1,006 £881 £1,022
PLUMBING £1,442 £1,358 £1,409 £1,377
ROOFING £694 £703 £719 £724
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £807 £753 £813 £809
SHOP FITTING £1,215 £1,253 £1,184 £1,205
SPECIALIST TRADES £1,024 £950 £892 £923
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £659 £626 £642 £721
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £681 £621 £652 £668

London

LONDON Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £709 £673 £685 £683
CIVIL ENGINEERING £783 £730 £765 £756
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £655 £465 £677 £956
ELECTRICAL £942 £912 £953 £969
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £1,371 £1,512 £750 £753
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £905 £887 £907 £922
INSULATION £903 £830 £821 £758
JOINERY £1,003 £918 £1,139 £907
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,136 £1,041 £1,044 £1,087
PLASTERING £1,272 £1,104 £1,138 £849
PLUMBING £937 £905 £863 £856
ROOFING £744 £769 £657 £636
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £1,084 £1,098 £1,166 £1,126
SHOP FITTING £858 £963 £841 £718
SPECIALIST TRADES £982 £900 £976 £973
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £740 £639 £732 £735
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £1,558 £1,403 £475 £500

South East

SOUTH EAST Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £760 £741 £731 £726
CIVIL ENGINEERING £738 £695 £724 £725
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £1,280 £1,161 £1,163 £1,170
ELECTRICAL £1,236 £1,186 £1,167 £1,122
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £838 £745 £751 £759
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £846 £790 £799 £801
INSULATION £800 £692 £816 £808
JOINERY £974 £978 £1,005 £980
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,120 £1,011 £1,089 £1,076
PLASTERING £699 £637 £716 £748
PLUMBING £1,092 £1,016 £955 £1,024
ROOFING £688 £663 £693 £668
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £786 £746 £773 £770
SHOP FITTING £1,265 £1,255 £1,279 £1,268
SPECIALIST TRADES £776 £744 £814 £810
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £741 £700 £708 £687
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £780 £716 £798 £787

South West

SOUTH WEST Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
BRICKLAYING £500 £300 £300 £440
CIVIL ENGINEERING £693 £647 £687 £682
ELECTRICAL £687 £668 £718 £708
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £595 £532 £551 £571
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £794 £774 £796 £808
INSULATION £1,298 £1,198 £1,112 £1,224
JOINERY £1,204 £1,063 £1,096 £1,071
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £635 £557 £614 £637
PLASTERING £691 £756 £791 £821
PLUMBING £1,142 £1,137 £1,228 £1,025
ROOFING £729 £730 £748 £762
SHOP FITTING £1,184 £1,203 £808
SPECIALIST TRADES £1,069 £1,072 £1,267 £1,175
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £683 £613 £670 £645