The overall picture of the UK’s flooring market is one of slowing demand and a, not unexpected, bias favouring the south of the country. While not signifying anything like a major downturn in overall business levels, the focus for many contractors is generating new business, as opposed to recruitment concerns that were top of the list of priorities last year.
North-South divide continues
As is usually the case, the south of the UK proved to be the most bullish, with 79% of respondents to the survey indicating they were as busy or busier than at the same time the previous year. This is in contrast to the national picture, where the figure is a slightly reduced 70%.
As we move north, the picture starts to slant in the opposite direction. In the Midlands and Wales half of the people surveyed reported that they were as busy or busier than a year ago and half not. Interestingly, a third of respondents said they were substantially busier. Of the contractors who reported that they were less busy, this was only on a moderate scale and nobody said they were substantially less busy.
In the North and Scotland, however, only 33% of respondents said they were as busy as 12 months ago. Although, again, those people who were less busy said it was only on a moderate scale.
Sector split
In terms of the sectors that contractors are working in, those involved in residential work continue to be the most optimistic about that sector for the year ahead.
Non-residential sectors are not expected by contractors to be as buoyant as they are this year, with the shopping/retail sector expected to be the hardest hit – being under pressure by both competition from Internet retailers as well as the economy.
The office sector is expected to be the least affected in terms of reduced opportunities for contractors (although the majority do expect some decline from present levels) and it fares more favourably in terms of contractor confidence than healthcare, education and hospitality.
Glass half full or half empty?
Despite the expectations of contractors in relation to individual sectors, 84% of contractors surveyed were actually optimistic for the forthcoming year when asked if they expect to be as busy or busier than the previous year. While this is down on the 90% figure of 12 months earlier, it still represents a positive outlook.
Employment
However, whatever workloads they do face during the year, it seems that most contractors expect to tackle it without adding to their current workforce.
Only 4% of contractors said they expected to take anyone on during the year, with 63% saying they didn’t.
So while overall levels of confidence amongst contractors is slightly down from a year ago, the picture seems to be one of a market softening, rather than showing any major signs of decline. The residential sector appears to be the one that most contractors are backing to grow, while offices lead the way in the non-residential market. And while there is still a marked North-South split in terms of activity and outlook, the overall levels of confidence for the year do appear to be still quite positive.