At a headline level, it was a mixed third quarter for firms in the construction supply chain.

Construction product manufacturers reported a second quarter of growth in sales volumes, although for the heavy side, sales remained lower than a year earlier.

The Q3 surveys showed a mixed performance, depending on areas of activity within construction.

For product manufacturers on the heavy side, a balance of 55% of manufacturers reported a rise in sales compared to Q2, which was the highest balance since 2021 Q2.

For light side firms, a balance of 8% of firms reported an increase in sales, down from a balance of 13% that reported a rise in Q2 and a balance of 24% in Q1. Also reporting a positive quarter, a balance of 25% of civil engineering contractors reported an increase in workloads, which marked the sixteenth consecutive quarter of growth.

For chartered surveyors, the headline net balance for workloads returned reading of +2% in Q3 (up from zero last in Q2), with varied results by sector. Mirroring the situation reported by civil engineering contractors, infrastructure was the strongest-performing sector, whilst both the private housing and private commercial workload metrics moved out of negative territory.

New house building remained weak for SME contractors, however, recording a negative balance along with RM&I and commercial/industrial. 

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