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 the full spectrum of 17 different trades across five regions.

With the first pay statistics for 2015, we see the end of the upward trend that the last six months of 2014 bought us. However, this not a surprising outcome to anyone in the trade as it can often take a few weeks to get all sites up to speed after the Christmas and New Year break.

In fact looking closer at the statistics, apart from the North-East, the rates have pretty much, on average, held over the three month period. And this is positive news given the shorter days currently and the uncertainty of the weather.

This month’s winners:

• Plumbers in the North-West: +18%
• Steel & Timber Frame erectors in the North-East: +17%
• Joiners in the South-East: +17%

And the losers:

• Plasterers in the South-West: -16%
• Electricians in the North-East: -14%
• Joiners in the North-East: -14%

Looking around the trade surveys this month the picture is somewhat mixed. Markit/CIPS UK shows that construction bounced back in the first month of 2015 with residential building leading the way.

Meanwhile industry analyst, Glenigan, reported that the value of projects starting in the three months to January 2015 was down 2% on the previous year, primarily due to a drop in civil engineering schemes.

Looking long term the Construction Products Association's latest forecast suggests that we will see growth of over 5% across the whole of industry in 2015, but expects a slower increase in 2016 and 2017 as a result of the general election and the general uncertainty that this brings. Whilst growth is good news there are two key factors that could affect these levels; availability of skilled workers and capacity for material production. From a freelance builder perspective this demand for labour should help see rates rise to pre recession level.