Struggling to find a builder to work on your home? Here's the reason why

The long wait to find a builder, plumber or electrician is only going to get worse, according to a website that matches homeowners with reliable tradespeople.

A new report by Checkatrade has highlighted the critical shortage of skilled workers throughout the home improvement, repairs and building sectors.

The UK needs more than one million new tradespeople and apprentices to meet growing demand from homeowners and to fulfil ambitious government plans for house building and energy efficiency, it warned.

Checkatrade has forecast a 40% rise in demand for expert building workers over the next ten years, thanks to an improving economy, lower interest rates and accelerated planning processes.

However, it said this promising growth is at risk due to a severe skills deficit, exacerbated by an ageing workforce, with more than a third of current workers planning to retire within the next decade.

The report estimated the sector would need to recruit 377,000 new skilled workers, coupled with an additional 734,000 apprentices, to meet current demand.

Jambu Palaniappan, chief executive at Checkatrade, said: “The home improvement and repair sector is a crucial one, not just when it comes to delivering meaningful results against our Government’s Building Better plans, but also in order to shore up and future-proof existing housing stock.

“The potential benefits for both individual homeowners and the wider economy are immense. However, this vision of modern, energy-efficient homes that are fit for 21st-century Britain will remain out of reach unless we tackle the critical trade skills gap head-on.”

Andrew Evans at Capital Economics, which helped with the research, added: “Addressing the Government priorities of increased housebuilding and reaching Net Zero will require a skilled construction workforce with the capacity to deliver the associated increase in activity.

“Our modelling shows the scale of the challenge. Among many striking findings, 377,000 new recruits are needed over the next decade for home improvement and repair work alone.”

Checkatrade’s findings coincide with a new demand for the government to develop a long-term strategy to boost the UK’s skilled workforce.

A joint report released on Monday by the skills development organisation, City & Guilds, and the Lifelong Education Institute, called it “a once in a generation opportunity” to tackle the country’s skills shortage.

“Because if we don’t get this right now, we will never resolve our productivity and growth problem. Not only is this critical to solve in multiple industries in need of skills, it’s also critical to the delivery of this Government’s missions.”