Over half (53%) of construction companies have recently had to suspend their activities due to problems with supply, the price of the materials or due to a request of the customer, according to a survey by construction confederation Embuild.
The organisation surveyed 317 contractors and discovered that 53% of construction companies have already had to suspend their activities, albeit almost always for a short period of time.
"The most worrying thing is that the problems are not being solved, and are in danger of getting even worse," Niko Demeester, CEO of Embuild, said in a press release.
"Additionally, 55% of the construction companies fear that they will have to temporarily suspend one or more construction sites in the coming three months due to delivery problems, 42% because of the excessively high material prices, 38% at the request of the customer and 31% because of the high energy prices, a new factor," he added.
Price jumps and supply issues
While there is still a lot of activity on construction sites, things no longer go as smoothly, Demeester explained. "Sometimes a site is shut down for a day or a week, sometimes for a longer period."
Sudden jumps in prices or supply issues for building materials are also resulting in potential clients becoming more hesitant to proceed with their planned projects. "They see energy prices rising and they believe that purchasing power is falling."
Due to the expensive energy, there is also a rapid rise in the price of bricks, roof tiles, steel and cement, which construction companies cannot always pass on to the customer.
"You feel that there are trust problems with the customer," said Demeester. "We will get through it, but you notice that the construction companies do not expect the problems to decrease, but rather to increase."
