It's way too early to make predictions on rising costs, but Covid-19 has been around for a year already and many projects are being delayed due to shortages of materials and the fact that most of the country is in lockdown. Brexit will only worsen this, as the majority of our building products are manufactured in Europe and further afield. Some of my clients are reporting price increases of 15% on timber, steelwork and insulation in January 2021.
My advice is to plan ahead, place early orders, allow for wastage and breakages, try to source from stocks in the UK and advise your clients of any delays as alternatives may always be a possibility. Any delays on projects must be notified to the contract administrator in writing and in accordance with the contract provisions, giving full and detailed reasons for the delays (many are outside the control of the builder at present). MGA can help you with this.
Hopefully when the lockdown is eased UK manufacturing will have a boost. I think we all need to buy British, and support local small businesses. It would be great to see some of the UK brick factories return to the market.
Please get in touch if you need any procurement or contract administration help at Info@michaelgarnhamassociates.co.uk