Material Shortages & Inflation

The finishes and interiors sector is facing unprecedented material shortages and inflation in a number of areas (including gypsum products, steel, fixings, insulation, sealants and adhesives and timber).

Over the past two years the finishes and interiors sector has faced intense supply issues, these have continued into 2023 and FIS is urging the supply chain to heed the advice of the Construction Leadership Council and apply the lessons learned in 2020 about working in partnership and collaboration.  This is a issue for the entire supply chain, but specialist contractors are reporting these acute challenges are being ignored in the wake of pressure to simply maintain programme and adhere to a fixed price contractual culture that is not designed to cope with inflation at current levels.  This situation is unacceptable, we need to be working together, alert and reactive to the challenges on the ground and focussed on the very real risks of undermining specifications, warranties and even compliance and, at the same time, destroying businesses in our rush to get the job done.

You can access the latest FIS Statement and guidance on Material Shortages and Inflation (which provides a backdrop and links to available price index sources) here.

You can access the latest Construction Leadership Council Product Availability Statement here.

Managing your business in a time of shortage

Managing your business in a time of shortage

This month we have seen further announcements on price rises, whilst at the same time we can see in the latest tender price reports from MACE showing that current tender price inflation is running at just 1.5% at the moment and expected to rise to a meagre 2.0% next...

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Managing shortages

Managing shortages

With shortages dominating conversations, today, FIS hosted a webinar to help review where we all sit contractually. To kick us off we were joined by Ruth Wilkinson, Legal Director at Hill Dickinson who discussed the challenges that businesses in our sector face,...

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