UK Landscape Barometer
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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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UK Landscape Barometer: July findings
In the month of July there has been a dramatic drop in enquires with half of our respondents claiming to have seen a decrease. A fall in enquires isn’t unheard of; it typically happens around this time of year. However, with the current cost-of-living crisis and an expensive winter expected ahead, could this decrease be something more than the usual post-summer slump? There is always the possibility that people simply cannot afford to have any work carried out on their gardens at the moment, which could explain the 66.6% decrease in enquires this month from the domestic landscaping and garden…
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UK Landscape Barometer: January findings
OVERALL PERFORMANCE year-on-year As we dust off the memories of the last twelve months, we stepped forward into a whole new year. Whilst there’s a few things we are carrying over into 2022, the pandemic for starters, and the supply shortage continuing to contribute towards material price rises, participants are concerned about how these factors will affect demand this year. Nevertheless, the mild weather in January seemed to have also helped get the year off to a good start, and participants reported this helped increase their sales for the month. UK Landscape Barometer key highlights included: On average Turnover increased…
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UK Landscape Barometer: December findings
OVERALL PERFORMANCE year-on-year Focusing on the trading month of December 2021, Christmas was on the way, Omicron was spreading, and the start of the winter season was upon us. Anecdotal evidence suggested there was a strong feeling of uncertainty about what the new year could bring as many expressed their deep concern for inflation and further pressure on the industry. UK Landscape Barometer key highlights included: National turnover increased by 25% Enquiries increased by 13% Projects increased by 19% Conversion rates rose by 13% Projects for commercial landscapers rose by 42% Conversion rates for domestic landscapers increased by 30% Domestic…
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UK Landscape Barometer August findings
All statistics are based on those surveyed and compare August 2021 to August 2020, with the exception of confidence; confidence is compared at the time of survey (October 2021) to the same time last year. OVERALL PERFORMANCE year-on-year Focusing on the trading month of August 2021, it is clear the material and labour shortages are continuing to have a negative impact on the industry as participants explain, and show, they are tackling the issue. Those feeling more confident dropped significantly, which may be disappointing to see given the small increase shown last month. However, demand is still there as many…
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UK Landscape Barometer records first confidence increase after three months
All statistics are based on those surveyed and compare July 2021 to July 2020, with the exception of confidence; confidence is compared at the time of survey (September 2021) to the same time last year. OVERALL PERFORMANCE year-on-year Nationally, projects were up by 46% on average, and turnover increased by 66%. Conversion rates rose by 21%, and enquiry rates also experienced an increase, up 23%. Things have been especially difficult lately as the industry tackles the staff and material shortage. So, it was certainly positive to see that after three months of decreases, improvement could be on the horizon with…
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UK Landscape Barometer records third consecutive confidence decrease
All statistics are based on those surveyed and compare June 2021 to June 2020, with the exception of confidence; confidence is compared at the time the survey was taken (August 2021) to the same time last year. OVERALL PERFORMANCE year-on-year The UK Landscape Barometer has reported that confidence has decreased for the third month in a row, now with only 31% feeling more confident. Unfortunately, this is a huge drop when compared to figures reported in May this year, where a staggering 92% of participants stated they were feeling more confident. It was after May that things appeared to deflate,…
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UK Landscape Barometer – May findings
All statistics are based on those surveyed and compare May 2021 to May 2020, with the exception of confidence; confidence is compared at the time of survey (July 2021) to the same time last year. The material shortage, perhaps unsurprisingly, continued to have a damaging effect on the industry. As a result of the ongoing lack of material availability, things appeared to finally start to slow down. Torrential rain dampened construction output, it dipped by 0.8% according to the ONS. And in addition, the UK economy also experienced a slow-down despite major lockdown restrictions lifting. Participant comments expressed that commercial…
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UK Landscape Barometer records first confidence decrease this year
The trading month for April 2021 saw a change in the industry’s overall performance. For the first time in five months, the UK Landscape Barometer has reported that confidence across the industry has decreased. Indeed, a staggering 47% of participants have told us that they are feeling less confident compared to the previous month. Alongside this seemingly dramatic drop, the barometer can also report that there has been a drop in the number of participants experiencing increases across all areas – apart from for staff, where data remained roughly static. Nonetheless, national turnover, enquires, projects, and conversion were still receiving…
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Has the pandemic sparked an increase in garden design?
Last month Pro Landscaper’s UK Landscape Barometer discovered that there has been a significant increase in enquiries, projects, and conversion rates. Overall, there was an average increase of 90% in conversion, 92% in projects, and 97% in enquires for garden designers and the design and build industry. UK Landscape Barometer participants commented that they found the current average spend to be higher and that they are having to turn work away due to the huge increase in enquiries. So – what has prompted such a swift increase in the interest of garden design? Through-out the last year we have had…
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UK Landscape Barometer records positive performance
February 2021 saw a dominantly high performance across all industry types, displaying no declines, according to our latest UK Landscape Barometer. ONS recently released statistics stating that work in the construction industry saw an increase of 1.6% in February 2021, and our latest UK Landscape Barometer supports this. Nationally, projects were up 61% on average and conversion rose by 35%. OVERALL PERFORMANCE year-on-year Each sector experienced an increase in turnover in February 2021. On average, turnover rose by 31%. In addition, confidence has shown a continued steep increase since the beginning of this year. SECTOR PERFORMANCE year-on-year Domestic landscaping Domestic…
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