The National Federation of Roofing Contractors found that 91% of its members who responded to a survey reported being either 鈥榖usy鈥� or 鈥榲ery busy鈥�. However, 23% reported concerns around payment, with one contractor reporting to have waited four months to be paid by a particular public sector client.
Accessing materials remains a major concern, with 55% of contractors reporting material shortages. These were mostly in concrete roof tiles and timber, but also in membranes, felt, insulation and slate.
Some 277 roofing contractors responded to the survey, representing about 25% of NFRC鈥檚 membership.
The survey also found that roofers are mostly back to pre-Covid capacity鈥� 49% of contractors reported operating at full pre-lockdown capacity while 40% were operating at over three-quarters of their capacity.
Future enquiries also look positive, with 67% of contractors receiving the same number of new enquiries as this time last year and 27% seeing enquiries up on last year more.
NFRC chief executive James Talman said: 鈥淭his survey confirms what we have all been hearing鈥�roofing contractors are generally busier than ever. A combination of pent-up demand in the summer, combined with government stimulation packages, and people working from home wanting home-upgrades, has meant demand has not been a problem for roofers.
鈥淗owever, it is shocking that so many roofers are still waiting to be paid, with some reporting waiting on thousands of pounds from their clients. We all know that times are tough for some firms, but that is no reason not to pay your supply chain. I was particularly concerned to see public sector clients listed as being the worst culprits when they should be leading the way.鈥�
He added: 鈥淯nsurprisingly to those in the industry, concrete roof tiles and timber were listed as the top material shortage areas. This seems to be due to the incredible amount of demand we have seen in the last quarter combined with the lag seen in production, following lockdown earlier this year. We have been working closely with manufacturers on this issue and will continue to monitor this situation.鈥�
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