UK Landscape Barometer – Full Report
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Barometer June 2023: Is a slump in the housebuilding sector having a domino effect?
The housebuilding sector has had a tough year so far, if Marshall’s half-year results are anything to go by. The building products supplier reported a 30% drop in its profit before tax for the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2022, leading to it taking “decisive action” to save £9m a year. CEO Martyn Coffey blamed tough market conditions being “challenging” and announced that Marshalls had to axe around 250 jobs as a result. Commercial landscapers are also feeling the pinch; 60% are less confident this month than the same time last year. One commented:…
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Barometer May 2023: Are nurseries feeling the heat from the hosepipe bans?
There’s little change in confidence from last month, it would seem. Only 20% said they were feeling more confident, whilst the majority (60%) of respondents said they felt the same. This includes nurseries, despite 60% saying that their quotes were up from the previous month. It might be down to relief that there’s “no sign of a slow down” as one nursery put it, adding that their enquiries and orders are “still on the way up”. Nurseries are facing a series of ongoing challenges, though. There’s the incoming peat ban, which is a “big challenge for UK nurseries, with many…
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Barometer April 2023: Is high inflation continuing to take its toll?
The number of respondents more confident than last month has nosedived this week to just 19%. That’s not to say confidence has dipped, though; 67% said they feel the same as last month, and 44% reported feeling more confident then. As one domestic landscaper told us, “The industry is picking up.” They have experienced an “influx of new clients” recently, as well as existing clients wanting more work. A design and build company said that it “seems to be back to business as usual after an unusual and prolonged winter break,” with temperatures now starting to hit the late 20s…
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Barometer March 2023: Are garden designers feeling the pinch?
In the month of the King’s coronation, confidence had increased for nearly half (44%) of our respondents, up from 41% last month – not that the coronation had anything to do with it, as far as we know. And it’s unlikely the economy would have either. It remains smaller than pre-Covid levels by 0.5%, growing only 0.1% between January and March. And now, the Bank of England has increased interest rates to 4.5% in an attempt to put the break on rising prices. Read the full report here.
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Barometer February 2023: Could confidence rise along with temperatures?
It was starting to look as though confidence was growing as the year went on; from only 21% feeling more confident than the previous month back in January, to 27% in February, and jumping up to 50% in March. It’s now taken a bit of a tumble, though fortunately not back to the same level as the start of the year; 41% reported feeling more confident compared to last month. Only 9%, though, reported feeling more confident than the same time last year. “Overall spend is down,” says one design and build company. “Anyone in the middle of a construction…
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Barometer January 2023: Has the cost-of-living crisis hit the landscaping industry?
It was bound to take its toll eventually. Since 2021, the cost-of-living crisis has been a constant cloud hanging over the heads of UK consumers. And despite the news that Britain’s inflation rate could drop to below 2% by the end of the year–having reached a 41-year high of 11.1% last October – the landscaping industry is starting to feel the pinch. A trend of “phasing work” has appeared, says one domestic landscaper, “so that people can save funds for unknowns such as fuel bills and mortgage rises.” They added that more clients are now paying by credit card than…
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UK Landscape Barometer: December 2022 findings
This month, the barometer has brought to light some positive news: confidence is on the rise from last month, and enquiries and turnover from December 2022 are either the same or on the up from the previous year. With spring around the corner, could the rise in the confidence this February compared to January be an indication of a spring market boost? This February saw 29% of respondence claim that they felt more confident (graph below) which is 12% more that the 17% we saw in January. Despite this jump being lower than last year and in 2021 – when…
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UK Landscape Barometer: November 2022 findings
As the new year begins 17% of our respondents have reported an increase in confidence. Despite this increase being only 1% more than the previous month, this could suggest a positive start to the year, despite an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the loss of two large commercial landscaping companies towards the end of last year (read more on page 83). We are also seeing many respondents reporting increases in other areas of their business for the trading month of November 2022. Take projects, for example; 20% of respondents reported an increase and 50% are reporting that there has been no…
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UK Landscape Barometer: October 2022 findings
There has been a steady fall in enquires this year, similar to that of the lack of confidence in the industry. However, as the year comes to a close, we are seeing 6% of our respondents gain confidence in just one month (from 10% of respondents feeling more confident in November 2022 to 16% in December 2022). Enquiries are also slowly going up, with 27% of respondents reporting an increase in enquiries in October 2022, compared to 16% in August. One respondent commented that “since the economic turmoil of the mini budget has subsided, enquiries and conversions have increased again…
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UK Landscape Barometer: September 2022 findings
Confidence has taken another dive across the sectors compared to the previous month, but even more so compared to the same time last year, when confidence appeared to be on the up. Design and build seems to have taken the biggest hit during September 2022. All respondents in this sector reported that their turnover had decreased from the previous year and that there had been no change in the number of enquiries, projects that they’re working on, or staffing numbers. They also all reported a decrease in their conversation rate from last year. One respondent said that they now had…
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UK Landscape Barometer: August 2022 findings
The number of factors contributing to the lack of confidence within the landscaping industry keeps growing; the cost-of-living crisis, the threat of recession, the summer heat waves and overall uncertainty from clients themselves. Yet despite all of this, turnover remains steady with 50% of respondents reporting no change compared to last year and full-time staff continue to grow with 45% of respondents having more full-time staff than last year. The main consensus among our respondents is that they’re waiting for the new year to come with one stating, ‘I think clients are holding off with the uncertain times ahead and…
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