Roofing and cladding skill shortages are a ‘ticking time bomb’, warns NFRC

National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) has warned of worsening roofing and cladding skills shortages as research from Glenigan shows that 77% of roofing and cladding contractors reported difficulties recruiting suitable labour in the third quarter of the year.

Slaters and tilers were in highest demand by contractors, according to the NFRC/Glenigan State of the Roofing Industry Survey, with a number of flat roofing roles such as in the built-up flat roofing and single ply disciplines were also reported as being difficult to find.

Furthermore, just under one in ten NFRC members reported difficulties recruiting cladders, which could have an impact on the government’s £5 billion cladding remediation scheme.

Roofing contractors have seen the cost of labour go up as a result, with just over half (57%) of roofing companies reporting an increase on this time last year, in addition to 92% of roofers seeing material prices rise.

The Q3 State of the Roofing Industry also found that:

• A net balance of 40% of roofing contractors reported growing workloads, down from 54% in the previous quarter.
• A balance of 28% of members reported higher enquiries.
• Employment levels grew, with 12% of contractors reporting a growing headcount.
• The North of England and Scotland saw the highest levels of growth, with Wales being the only part of the UK that saw workloads and enquiries fall on the previous quarter.
• 77% of roofing firms reported a deterioration of material availability over the quarter, with 31% reporting shortages of ‘all materials’.
• 70% of roofers increased their tender prices over the period.
• Ahead of COP26, just under half (48%) of roofing contractors were developing or considering developing a net-zero strategy.

Commenting on the research, Philip Campbell head of policy at the NFRC, said: “The headlines recently have been focused, rightly, on HGV driver shortages, but the next ticking time bomb is construction skill shortages, particularly in roofing. We have seen skill shortages become a big concern for roofing contractors throughout this year, and our most recent survey found that three-quarters of our members are now having recruitment difficulties on all sorts of roles from roof slaters and tilers to cladders.”

He added: “The Chancellor this week confirmed multi-billion-pound funding commitments for housing, levelling up, and cladding remediation, but the government may fall short on these targets if the construction skills aren’t there to deliver. We saw what happened with the Green Homes Grant when government ambition and supply chain capacity aren’t aligned.

“More generally, whilst it was encouraging to see the roofing and cladding industry grow again this quarter, we saw the rate of growth slow, particularly in the domestic, repair, maintenance, and improvement sector, which could be the result of ongoing material and skill shortages. Roofers continue to remain optimistic for the future, however.”

Allan Wilén, economics director at Glenigan, said: “Roofing contractors’ workload continued to recover strongly during the third quarter, and contractors anticipate a broadening in growth over the next twelve months. The rise in workload has been accompanied by widespread disruption to material availability and higher material costs, pressures that are now feeding through as a rise in contractors’ tender prices.”