Price inflation and delays in sourcing materials continue to affect the UK construction industry, so it is essential for contractors and housebuilders to explore ways to overcome these issues. These challenges can bring projects to a halt and threaten profitability, placing many businesses at risk if they have no strategies in place to mitigate these dangers.
Understanding why these issues are continuing to affect the industry can help in creating plans for overcoming them. From building a diverse supply chain, to adopting new ways of working, there are a number of ways construction companies can thrive despite the challenges affecting the industry.
Understanding Materials Procurement Challenges
Several interconnected issues are contributing to high prices and poor availability of construction materials. Disruptions in the global supply chain have impacted the production, transportation and distribution of materials. Such disruptions have led to shortages of key materials, including timber, steel, cement and plastics.
Other issues, such as increased demand for materials, shortages of raw materials, and changing regulations can also affect availability and pricing.
Strategies For Thriving Despite These Challenges
Construction companies need to put a solid strategy in place for sourcing materials to help overcome the issues of price inflation and material delays. Diversifying supply sources, investing in local suppliers, promoting sustainable practices, and adopting digital technologies can help mitigate the impact of the issues facing the industry.
Diversify Your Supply Chain
Relying on a small number of suppliers for materials leaves businesses particularly vulnerable to high prices and delays. By diversifying the supply chain and increasing the number of suppliers worked with, contractors and housebuilders can increase the likelihood of receiving the most competitive pricing and reduce the chance of not being able to obtain the required materials.
Choose Local Suppliers
A solid network of local suppliers can also protect against price inflation and poor availability of materials. Local suppliers can often get materials to site more quickly and mitigates the risks posed by disruptions in the global supply chain. It also boosts the local economy.
A local supply chain has the additional benefit of improving the sustainability of your projects by reducing the carbon emissions associated with transporting materials to site.
Adopt Digital Solutions
New technologies can be used to prevent price inflation and delays in sourcing materials from negatively impacting construction projects. The Build Chain online materials procurement platform was specifically designed for this purpose.
The solution removes the need for the manual, time-consuming, and error-prone tasks in construction materials procurement and replaces them with a simplified and efficient process.
By enabling users to submit a single enquiry form for materials that is automatically distributed to relevant, local merchants, the process of finding the required materials from suppliers close to site is significantly faster than more traditional methods of procurement.
Quotes received can be compared in a centralised dashboard which makes it quick and simple to benchmark pricing, compare distance from site, and ensure the best value for materials is being received.
The Future Of Construction Materials Procurement
Investing in resilience leads to long-term benefits like increased competitiveness, enhanced reputation, and improved sustainability. Embracing digital solutions to assist the process of diversifying and localising the supply chain will allow construction companies to thrive in the face of challenging industry conditions.
Read more: The Future of Construction Procurement
