Construction Market Data

22 December 2024

Related Information

Sub-contractor Pay Trends June 2018

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 ten regions.

Over the years, June has always been a consolidation month for freelance builders – and this time round is no exception.  Earnings are broadly speaking static, with marginal increases and decreases everywhere except in the West Midlands and South-East, which have ‘bucked the trend’ with more significant hikes in earnings. 

“In national terms, earnings are up by a slender £8 a week,” says Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield.  “June was the first month this year with neither a bank holiday nor poor weather to affect the output and it’s good to see last month’s earnings bounce-back of almost four per cent has been sustained.”

National Weekly Average Earnings June 2018:  £854

Region June 2018 Average Change from May 2018
North East £777.00 +1.29%
North West £754.00 +0.53%
Yorkshire & Humber £802.00 -0.75%
East Midlands £850.00 -0.94%
West Midlands £915.00 +2.08%
Wales £778.00 +1.29%
East of England £907.00 -0.22%
London £850.00 +0.71%
South East £872.00 +3.10%
South West £772.00 -1.30%

This month’s winning trades:

  • Demolition & Wrecking:  +5.17%

Up for the second successive month

  • Bricklaying:  +3.77%

Up overall, despite losses in the West Midlands and South West

  • Electrical:  +1.85%

Surge seen in the North East

And the losers: 

  • Steel & Timber Frame Erection:  -4.97%

Last month’s gains wiped out

  • Equipment & Operator Hire:  -1.52%

Down – but only by £13 per week

  • Mechanical & Engineering:  -1.24%

Weekly earnings still top £1,000

Also bouncing back this month from its winter slump is the latest nationwide IHS Markit/CIPS UK construction PMI survey.  Growth has soared to a seven-month high, with June becoming the strongest month for construction this year.

New orders have risen at the fastest pace since May 2017, job creation has been the fastest in a year and June saw the largest upturn in buying construction materials for two-and-a-half years.

Ian Anfield adds: “The data suggests much of the early-year weakness was caused by the ‘Beast from the East’ rather than anything more sinister.  Given the increase in temperatures this month, which has caused a few roads to melt, maybe some of Britain’s surfacing contractors will be doing particularly well!”

Hudson Contract’s ‘Window on the Construction Industry’ gives you hard figures and data that is not available from any other source, with pay averages that reflect the amounts paid by a sample number of businesses – large and small – to specific trades during June 2018.

North East

NORTH EAST Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
CIVIL ENGINEERING £768 £790 £814 £801
ELECTRICAL £548 £601 £536 £639
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £516 £555 £533 £546
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £685 £672 £787 £776
INSULATION £754 £671 £693 £662
PLASTERING £648 £596 £702 £734
ROOFING £887 £1,110 £1,028 £1,067
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £382 £406 £417 £447
SHOP FITTING £707 £677 £658 £778
SPECIALIST TRADES £545 £517 £523 £632
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £576 £612 £955 £1,087

North West

NORTH WEST Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £661 £688 £697 £711
CIVIL ENGINEERING £700 £689 £718 £735
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £787 £644 £744 £727
ELECTRICAL £841 £771 £792 £857
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £719 £672 £757 £740
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £786 £726 £782 £758
INSULATION £902 £808 £1,270 £1,111
JOINERY £753 £773 £803 £839
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,453 £1,212 £1,228 £1,183
PLASTERING £626 £581 £555 £566
PLUMBING £730 £695 £722 £709
ROOFING £734 £782 £805 £745
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £567 £550 £609 £600
SHOP FITTING £1,065 £949 £1,111 £1,028
SPECIALIST TRADES £835 £784 £780 £844
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £686 £794 £629 £600
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £686 £641 £663 £707

Yorkshire & Humber

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £674 £689 £721 £674
CIVIL ENGINEERING £696 £742 £761 £766
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £428 £421 £470 £526
ELECTRICAL £876 £813 £837 £810
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £822 £927 £988 £931
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £754 £744 £783 £784
JOINERY £797 £681 £727 £772
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £894 £942 £938 £880
PLASTERING £715 £713 £729 £741
PLUMBING £648 £613 £573 £594
ROOFING £681 £702 £698 £673
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £494 £557 £519 £564
SHOP FITTING £1,290 £1,334 £1,408 £1,421
SPECIALIST TRADES £901 £942 £973 £948
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £920 £1,010 £1,078 £884
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £813 £781 £810 £844

East Midlands

EAST MIDLANDS Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
CIVIL ENGINEERING £754 £750 £770 £781
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £724 £699 £744 £731
ELECTRICAL £1,057 £1,008 £1,019 £1,045
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £1,025 £828 £858 £859
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £1,021 £950 £994 £959
INSULATION £733 £723 £812 £750
JOINERY £749 £821 £780 £805
PLASTERING £647 £656 £618 £737
PLUMBING £933 £929 £1,073 £1,055
ROOFING £756 £837 £879 £867
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £781 £784 £814 £820
SHOP FITTING £1,028 £1,104 £1,125 £1,173
SPECIALIST TRADES £799 £772 £842 £793
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £883 £896 £1,120 £999
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £810 £781 £824 £821

West Midlands

WEST MIDLANDS Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £377 £421 £422 £351
CIVIL ENGINEERING £886 £873 £905 £923
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £636 £556 £600 £669
ELECTRICAL £1,183 £1,120 £1,135 £1,162
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £827 £809 £829 £827
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £841 £804 £808 £853
INSULATION £762 £672 £778 £786
JOINERY £1,240 £1,109 £1,163 £1,154
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,682 £1,438 £1,554 £1,489
PLASTERING £592 £738 £637 £667
PLUMBING £1,195 £1,171 £1,248 £1,187
ROOFING £568 £584 £514 £541
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £1,050 £955 £1,091 £833
SHOP FITTING £1,545 £1,317 £1,226 £1,310
SPECIALIST TRADES £876 £913 £936 £891
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £789 £787 £765 £765

Wales

WALES Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
CIVIL ENGINEERING £718 £692 £720 £729
ELECTRICAL £688 £985 £948 £852
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £1,253 £1,312 £1,276 £1,257
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £890 £803 £878 £917
JOINERY £520 £530 £415 £422
PLASTERING £1,180 £1,110 £960 £1,140
PLUMBING £787 £752 £818 £816
ROOFING £506 £443 £410 £413
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £677 £670 £678 £710
SPECIALIST TRADES £799 £695 £729 £724
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £708 £735 £652 £571
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £1,218 £1,097 £1,031 £1,104

East of England

EAST OF ENGLAND Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £748 £685 £750 £777
CIVIL ENGINEERING £802 £790 £842 £858
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £667 £651 £662 £661
ELECTRICAL £1,349 £1,242 £1,361 £1,315
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £894 £937 £954 £938
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £869 £858 £924 £898
INSULATION £1,244 £1,113 £912 £911
JOINERY £1,273 £1,051 £1,252 £1,159
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,126 £996 £1,144 £1,167
PLASTERING £878 £917 £824 £856
PLUMBING £1,296 £1,207 £1,246 £1,251
ROOFING £712 £728 £702 £753
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £802 £805 £825 £842
SHOP FITTING £1,343 £1,117 £1,279 £1,283
SPECIALIST TRADES £885 £800 £844 £833
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £771 £686 £734 £685
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £644 £655 £680 £696

London

LONDON Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £724 £745 £740 £752
CIVIL ENGINEERING £748 £732 £770 £785
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £791 £1,012 £1,033 £596
ELECTRICAL £1,031 £1,049 £970 £999
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £750 £857 £826 £875
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £909 £889 £897 £899
INSULATION £1,006 £995 £824 £1,005
JOINERY £1,109 £1,042 £1,110 £1,027
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,180 £1,116 £1,301 £1,249
PLASTERING £1,408 £1,378 £1,458 £1,423
PLUMBING £1,060 £989 £957 £938
ROOFING £715 £719 £765 £773
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £1,058 £1,065 £1,137 £1,111
SHOP FITTING £774 £872 £865 £810
SPECIALIST TRADES £1,020 £957 £989 £1,044
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £670 £578 £649 £655
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £460 £425 £450 £480

South East

SOUTH EAST Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £708 £682 £729 £792
CIVIL ENGINEERING £720 £715 £742 £759
DEMOLITION & WRECKING £1,113 £1,099 £1,154 £1,209
ELECTRICAL £1,243 £1,143 £1,138 £1,235
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £848 £749 £758 £789
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £797 £774 £823 £824
INSULATION £845 £713 £838 £963
JOINERY £988 £956 £1,006 £1,048
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £1,101 £1,150 £1,060 £1,126
PLASTERING £664 £773 £773 £804
PLUMBING £1,036 £999 £991 £1,048
ROOFING £692 £674 £710 £739
SCAFFOLDING & LIFTING £743 £768 £805 £803
SHOP FITTING £1,211 £1,205 £1,198 £1,222
SPECIALIST TRADES £781 £723 £826 £791
STEEL & TIMBER FRAME ERECTION £730 £721 £743 £780
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £729 £750 £791 £756

South West

SOUTH WEST Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18
BRICKLAYING £1,417 £1,552 £1,574 £1,169
CIVIL ENGINEERING £652 £649 £677 £663
ELECTRICAL £764 £754 £736 £697
EQUIPMENT & OPERATOR HIRE £485 £530 £553 £755
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION £791 £830 £904 £878
INSULATION £1,279 £1,215 £1,231 £1,334
JOINERY £1,059 £1,074 £1,058 £1,089
MECHANICAL & ENGINEERING £631 £589 £635 £634
PLASTERING £743 £741 £875 £647
PLUMBING £1,044 £1,133 £1,177 £1,270
ROOFING £802 £785 £760 £811
SPECIALIST TRADES £1,024 £1,052 £858 £807
SURFACING CONTRACTORS £631 £574 £602 £618