UK builders’ merchants: sales down, prices up – demand signals for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Sales by value at UK builders’ merchants slipped 1.2% year-on-year in Q2 2026, with prices up 5.8% and volumes down 6.6%, as Heavy Building Materials fell 2.6% and Renewables & Water Saving dropped 3.8% while Services grew 7.3%. June like-for-like volumes were down 10.0% with prices up 8.4%, despite an extra trading day lifting unadjusted value sales by 2.2%. ONS data show overall construction output up just 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 2.0% below Q2 2025, while NHBC new home registrations fell 4.0%, signalling persistent housebuilding weakness.
Technical Brief
- Only three of twelve Builders’ Merchant Building Index categories recorded value growth in Q2 2026.
- Services led category performance at +7.3% by value, indicating resilient demand for labour-based offerings.
- Workwear & Safetywear grew +4.5% by value, suggesting continued spend on site safety compliance.
- Miscellaneous products rose +2.3% by value, a minor positive against wider category contraction.
- Timber & Joinery Products, one of the two largest categories, was flat at 0.0% year-on-year.
- Renewables & Water Saving was the weakest category, with value sales down 3.8% year-on-year.
- Infrastructure new work was the strongest ONS construction subsector in Q2 2026, up 1.9%.
- Monthly ONS construction output fell three consecutive months: April −0.1%, May −0.8%, June −0.1%.
Our Take
The Builders’ Merchant Building Index and MRA Research data for April 2026 in our database already showed Renewables & Water Saving and Heavy Building Materials underperforming, so the Q2 2026 weakness in these categories suggests a sustained rather than temporary demand issue for UK suppliers into those segments.
The combination of an 8.4% June 2026 price rise and a 10% like-for-like volume fall implies that UK contractors are either deferring non-essential works or value-engineering specifications, which will matter for project teams budgeting from historic rates rather than current Builders’ Merchant Building Index trends.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
