Almost three quarters of tradesmen reported a rise in revenue during 2015, according to a new report by IronmmongeryDirect.

The UK supplier of ironmongery products conducted its annual review of the whole construction industry and found that 72% of trade businesses saw an increase in revenue in 2015.

The majority of tradespeople (43%) said that sales had increased by up to 10%, with a third claiming revenues had improved by 11-20%. Meanwhile, 16% said revenues rose by up to 30% and 8% claimed they had increased by more than 30%.

The report revealed that the construction sector occupied a positive position in 2015 as tradespeople nationwide declared how busy they were. 52% said they were ‘very busy’ with work in 2015 and 30% described themselves as ‘busy’. Only 4% said they were ‘not that busy’.

In addition, enquiries increased in 2015 with exactly half of the tradespeople questioned saying that they received more than in 2014.

However, as a result of having a lot of work in 2015, 45% of tradespeople said that they had had to turn business away.

Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “The UK’s booming property market, coupled with a rise in house building and renovation projects, certainly had a positive effect on the construction industry in 2015. And our research appears to correspond.”

He continued: “The report indicates this good news will continue into 2016 and many across the sector will be able to be more selective about the work they take on as workloads continue to increase. However, that said, it is crucial that tradespeople still operate with caution as the sector is not fully recovered and there are still underlying issues that may have an effect such as an increasing skills gap, the pricing of contracts, supply chain issues or even rising capital pressures.”

For more information visit http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/industry-review