Plumbing and Hard FM Industry Insights: Healthy Growth Expected

From market drivers such as RMI, to lasting effects from the pandemic, AMA highlights plumbing and hard fm contractors industry insights from our 2022-2026 market report.

Plumbing and Hard FM Industry Insights

The market for plumbing contracting and hard FM services as with many other sectors fell in 2020 due to the effects of the pandemic. The market value dropped by 5% that year, however it recovered in 2021, increasing in value by 9%.

It is worth noting that plumbing and heating engineers were classed as ‘key workers’ during the lockdown periods in 2020, meaning that maintenance activities could still be carried out.

Driven by RMI and Maintenance

RMI and maintenance activity accounts for a significant percentage of revenue for many plumbing contractors and hard FM providers. Total expenditure on building maintenance in the UK is estimated at over £60bn per annum, which equates to around 3% of GDP.

A key difference within the market is the overall size of jobs/contracts available.

For Hard FM services the value tends to be much higher for providers. Installation and maintenance of plumbing and heating systems is often part of the larger contracts.

Plumbing Contracting VS Hard FM Market Value

Although the plumbing contracting sector accounted for 80% of total market value in 2021, the hard FM sector should increase its share in the years leading up to 2026.

There were an estimated 44,325 enterprises competing within the market in 2021, which has only increased over the last 5 years. Most of these companies are extremely small in terms of employment size and turnover, however, are also growing in numbers of people employed since 2019.

UK Regulatory Changes to Affect Market

Whilst construction output is one of the main drivers in the growth of this market, regulatory changes to assist in 2050 Net Zero goals in the UK are at play.

There are now many schemes and initiatives promoting the use of alternative heating systems for both domestic and non-residential properties. Heat pumps are the most recent example of this.

With all of this information collated Barbour ABI are expecting the market value forecast to increase by around 4% per annum during the period between 2022 and 2026.