Fix Radio’s 2025 National Construction Audit shows worsening trade shortages and slowing new builds as tradespeople face rising costs and frozen tax thresholds

Key findings:
• One in nine homeowners waited over a year to book a roofer
• 75 percent haven’t hired a decorator in three years
• 17 percent are renting because mortgage rates are too high
• Only 6 percent of parents encourage children to consider construction careers

With the Autumn Budget now delivered, the announcement arrives as Fix Radio’s 2025 National Construction Audit sets out the reality facing the UK’s trades. The Audit shows homeowners waiting months for basic repairs, new build projects slowing due to labour shortages, and parental encouragement for construction careers has fallen from 18% last year to just 6%. It paints a clear picture of a workforce already stretched before this week’s tax and cost decisions.

The Budget confirmed continued pressure on take home pay and business costs. Frozen tax thresholds, rising wage obligations and higher overheads now sit alongside new long term measures on vehicle duty, pension contributions and fuel duty. For tradespeople, these decisions directly influence whether they can stay viable, take on work and bring apprentices into the industry. Policy choices on council tax, transport and incentives for skills and green home upgrades are now feeding straight through to how local builders, electricians and plumbers operate day to day.

Robin Clevett, tradesperson and Radio Show Host at Fix Radio, said:

“This Budget will be judged not by political reaction but by whether tradespeople can actually take on work and hire apprentices. Builders, electricians and plumbers are facing a triple squeeze: frozen National Insurance thresholds, rising wage costs and higher overheads. Keeping the personal allowance, higher rate and additional rate thresholds frozen until 2030-31, and maintaining the employer NICs threshold at £5,000, means more of every pay rise is absorbed by tax. From April 2029, salary sacrificed pension contributions above £2,000 will attract NICs – money that many would otherwise put into training or equipment.

The new Electric Vehicle Excise Duty will add a mileage charge of three pence per mile for electric vans and 1.5 pence per mile for plug in hybrids from April 2028, raising over a billion pounds in its first year. This makes running electric work vehicles more expensive at the very moment trades are being encouraged to decarbonise. Fuel duty is only frozen until September 2026 before staged rises resume. Combined with uncertainty surrounding the new high value council tax surcharge, these measures make it harder for trades to invest in apprentices, vans and tools. If the Chancellor wants to strengthen the economy’s foundations, he must support the people who literally build them.”

Further information from Fix Radio’s 2025 National Construction Audit is outlined below.

Trade waitlists at breaking point

General builders and handymen now report the longest queues, with 12 percent of homeowners waiting more than a year, followed by landscape gardeners (12 percent), roofers (11 percent) and bricklayers (11 percent). Roofing demand remains at record highs: 43 percent of homeowners waited two months or longer for a roofer, driven by severe weather and ageing housing stock. Bricklaying shows similar pressure, with only 1 percent securing help within a month.

Discretionary projects are being delayed or abandoned entirely. Three in four haven’t hired a decorator in three years, and almost two thirds haven’t brought in a landscape gardener. Even essential trades are under strain: 5 percent waited more than a year for plumbing or heating support, while 8 percent waited over a year for electrical work.

Cost pressures reshaping Britain’s housing choices

Affordability is dictating how and where people live:
• 20 percent chose a less preferred location to save money
• 17 percent are renting instead of buying because of high mortgage rates
• 11 percent have downsized to reduce costs
• 6 percent moved home this year specifically to cut expenses

Energy efficiency is rising as a factor in buying decisions (11 percent), although upfront costs remain a barrier.

Construction delays slowing new builds

Labour shortages are now affecting the new build supply chain, causing:
• 4 percent to delay moving in due to unfinished construction
• 3 percent to see mortgage offers expire
• 5 percent to abandon new build plans for older homes
• 3 percent to pay for temporary accommodation

Although the percentages seem small, they represent tens of thousands of disrupted moves, adding further pressure to completions and budgets.

A generational workforce crisis

Only 6 percent of parents are encouraging their children to consider construction careers, while 40 percent say they are not. With one in five workers now over 50, the lack of new entrants threatens to deepen existing backlogs and derail future housing delivery.

Year on year comparison

Wait times have lengthened across every core trade. Roofing and bricklaying backlogs now stand at 11 percent waiting more than a year, up from typical waits of 2–3 months in 2024. Shortages seen in major cities are spreading into smaller towns, and affordability pressures continue to intensify.

Clive Holland, host of The Clive Holland Show on Fix Radio, said:

“The Autumn Budget is being framed as a growth plan, but there’s no growth without the workforce to build it. This year’s Audit shows the same pattern across the board: long waits, fewer trades, and only six percent of parents encouraging their kids to consider construction. That’s a national alarm bell.

“Homeowners are waiting months – sometimes a year – just to get basic repairs done. If we don’t rebuild pride in the trades and properly invest in skills, Britain’s housing ambitions will stay stuck on paper.”