Kingfisher soars as 15% of tradespeople are seeing their highest client demand ever

Kingfisher PLC, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, has reported in an unscheduled announcement that in the final quarter of 2020, their like for like sales have risen by 16.9%, reinforcing evidence for a home improvement boom across the UK.

While the UK is experiencing the third national lockdown in just 12 months, this home improvement boom has fuelled a spike in business for tradespeople. With the work of tradespeople still deemed essential, nationally representative research study by mobile-based billing service, Powered Now, has unveiled that 15% of the nation’s tradespeople are experiencing their highest client demand ever.

Furthermore, the results of Powered Now’s research clearly suggest Brits are taking matters into their own hands to restore the currently decimated private sector, with 81% of Brits not allowing COVID-19 to get in the way of home improvements projects.

Key statistics:

18% agreed that the threats of COVID had influenced them to commence home improvement projects sooner rather than later
15% of tradespeople agree that their client demand is the highest ever
18% of Brits are planning to commence home improvements after the COVID-19 lockdown
81% agreed that despite Coronavirus, they won’t postpone home improvement work because of a reluctance to have other people in their house
25% of the population are now looking to use cash less frequently to avoid the spread of infection

Ben Dyer, CEO of Powered Now, comments on the research and discusses the sentiments Brits have towards home improvements during the winter lockdown:

“The economic recovery we have seen recently is indeed welcome, but of course with Britain in a state of national lockdown, this month and the subsequent winter season are of course going to present yet more challenges. That’s why it would prudent to look towards sectors that remain open, such as construction and the trades, to provide the kind of stability we need at the moment.

Now, with a third national lockdown upon us, and with the construction sector continuing to remain open, we are really expecting to see a push in the trade sectors during the winter months. As we have seen from the sentiments established in this research, the weather and lockdown are undoubtedly helping the trades bounce back even quicker as people are now rushing to hire a tradesperson for their desired work.

The new restrictions have had a negligible impact on the construction sector so far, and overall activity around construction has to be welcomed. Given the bonanza that housebuilders are currently experiencing from the stamp duty reduction, it’s no surprise that they are the best performing sector of the construction industry. Whether this boom for the housing industry will be followed by a bust is unknown. At the moment, most firms are just grateful for the good business they are getting right now given how much other sectors are suffering.​”