Over three in four engineering services organisations (77%) say turnover increased or remained steady in Q2 2018, despite rising material and labour costs.
These are the findings of the latest BESA/ECA/SELECT/SNIPEF quarterly sector-wide Building Engineering Business Survey, sponsored by Scolmore.
Compared to Q1 2018, almost two thirds (62%) of respondents reported an increase in material costs, and nearly half (45%) reported an increase in labour costs in Q2. Retentions were held against 61% of businesses, and late payment remains an issue for over half of respondents in commercial and public sector work.
The overall outlook for Q3 appears positive and optimistic: nearly nine out of ten (88 per cent) respondents predict their turnover will grow or remain steady for the quarter.
ECA deputy director of business policy and practice, Rob Driscoll, said:
“As we move into the second half of 2018, the effects of Carillion’s January collapse are still surfacing but overall, the second quarter showed further steady growth, with a positive outlook for the next quarter.
“We will continue to push for industry improvements on payment and retentions and we anticipate that new Government requirements for transparent payment reporting will help the industry to address its ongoing poor payment performance.”