The combination of lockdown is causing an unprecedented demand for extensions, loft conversions and landscape gardening and supply chain breakdowns are causing the cost of building materials for home improvements has risen at the fastest rate since the 1990’s.
Demand for improvements rocketed as families stuck at home used lockdown savings to build home offices and improve homes and gardens.
Builders and contractors say that they are having to go back to customers almost on a daily basis to reprice works as builders merchants raise their fees. Figures released from the Office of National Statistics show that the basic price of a 4.8 metre length of sawn timber has risen from £17 to £29 and the cost of a 2.4m length of plywood has increased from £34 to £62. Not only have prices increased but deliveries can be now up to six months.
Photo by Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash
