Our new Construction Industry Search Report (2021/22) reveals how the digital search and ecommerce landscape is changing for UK construction and building services companies in the face of the pandemic.
Fairly or unfairly, the UK’s construction industry has a reputation for being slow to embrace digital transformation. However as we hurtle closer towards 2022, it is clear that this is starting to change. According to recent research, over half of construction product manufacturers anticipate increased investment in e-commerce as we emerge from the pandemic¹.
From builders’ merchants and suppliers, to developers, consultants, contractors and sub-contractors, businesses from all areas of the UK’s construction industry are finding that their customers are turning online more than ever before.
Koozai’s Construction Industry Search Report: 2021/22 includes:
Is UK Construction Finally Embracing Ecommerce?
How Has Digital Demand For Construction Goods & Services Changed?
2021’s Construction Hot Topics Revealed
Which Construction Brands Are The UK’s Most Famous Online?
Is UK Construction Finally Embracing Ecommerce?
Real world relationships in construction will always be important. However, customers from all areas of construction are increasingly more likely to be a millennial and to turn to Google to find what they are looking for. 85% of B2B buyers now prefer using self-service tools for reordering over talking to a sales rep², making it increasingly difficult for construction companies to underinvest in ecommerce. Recent research shows that over 98% of people now prefer to conduct their research for products and services online too.
Our report reveals that approximately 2.5 million Google searches were made for building suppliers in the UK over the last year alone. This number expands into many more millions of searches for different types of construction products, services and brands.
Our research also indicates that ecommerce is playing a larger role in British construction. The estimated value of sales from UK construction businesses has grown by 228.57% (from £0.7 to £2.3 billion) over the last decade and by 64.28% (from £1.4 to £2.3 billion) in the last five years.
However, the digital world can be tricky to navigate, with the pandemic having further impacted search demand as well as how, when and why people search for construction topics online.
As specialists in digital marketing for the construction industry, we have put together this report with the aim of demystify the digital world and to give you a clearer picture of what people are searching for in UK construction.
Our digital strategists have used Google search data to group commonly searched for key words and phrases in construction over the last three months to produce this report, comparing trends against previous years and months to unveil what’s trending.
How Has Digital Demand For Construction Goods & Services Changed?
With the pandemic having had a sustained impact on search demand throughout the year, our research first looked at how demand for different types of construction companies has stood up over the last few months. The below table shows that monthly search demand for grouped keywords related to building supplies, merchants / suppliers, consultants, contractors and sub contractors has been strong. As to be expected, searches for building suppliers were highest, however searches for other types of business were also strong with intent for these keywords likely to be strong.
Sustained quarter-on-quarter demand overall
Online demand for general construction goods and services has increased by 0.09% in the last 3 months compared to the previous quarter. However, this represents strong online demand given that this figure is compared to the previous three months, which also saw very healthy search demand.
Seasonal fluctuations for different services
Online search demand for keywords related to construction consultants (-11.26%) and contractors (-6.33%) has dipped slightly, while demand for contractors has risen (5.68%). With fluctuations in search demand similar to this seen across different quarters, these small charges are likely to be down to seasonal factors rather than an indication of a substantial change in demand.
Spike in searches for building materials
Search volume for keywords related to building supplies and merchants has risen by 33.49% in the last quarter compared to the previous one. This could be a reflection of the construction materials shortage³, which is currently causing issues with product availability across the construction supply chain.
Fuelled in some part by the pandemic, Brexit, a shortage of lorry drivers in the UK and other global factors, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s latest Monthly Statistics of Building Materials and Components report shows that the year-on-year cost of materials increased by 23.6% in September this year⁴.
The below table shows how online search demand for some of the most commonly bought building materials has also grown substantially, including for cement, sand, gravel, bricks, building blocks and slate.
Search interest for keywords related to the supply chain in construction are also up by 6.92% quarter-on-quarter, illustrating either a modest increase in awareness of the issue or a wish among professionals to educate themselves about how the supply chain issues are impacting the industry.
2021’s Construction Hot Topics Revealed: Jobs, Marketing and the VAT Reverse Domestic Charge
Our digital strategists also looked at search demand around keywords related to common trends and issues that have been impacting the construction industry at large. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the below bar chart reveals that people are searching for construction jobs more than any other construction related topic in this report.
New job queries jump as searches in skills shortages drop
With over 220,000 average monthly searches in the last quarter for keywords related to jobs in the construction industry, it is the most talked about construction topic in this study. However, average monthly searches for keywords associated with the skills gap problem in construction came in at less than 1,500, having decreased by 29.73% quarter-on-quarter.
According to a recent survey of 6,000 workers⁵, 24% of workers are planning a career change in the coming months, with construction workers among the most confident that they would be able to find a new role. This, combined with the construction industry’s aging population and image problem among young graduates, could pose the sector significant challenges in the coming months and years.
Searches for construction marketing on the rise as output fluctuates
There were nearly 68,000 searches for grouped keywords related to marketing in UK construction over the past three months, representing a quarter-on-quarter rise of 15.25%. Although we have recently seen construction output rise⁶, output had slowed earlier in the year. Increased hunger for information about marketing for construction businesses may have been spurred by several factors.
What has caused this is likely to be highly context dependent. For some it may be down to the fact that B2B buyers are increasingly turning to search engines to look for the best prices on products, especially during the pandemic. Whether its to drum up business or to capitalise on a wave of increased demand, both surges in revenue and decreases in output can be impetus for businesses to seek marketing support – just for different reasons.
Rise in VAT queries follows the domestic reverse charge
Over 64,000 searches were made for grouped keywords associated with the VAT domestic reverse charge in construction in the last few months, representing a significant quarter-on-quarter rise in searches of 39.94%. This finding follows recent changes to VAT for some construction businesses which came into effect earlier this Spring.
The VAT domestic reverse charge for building and construction services was a change made by the government in how VAT for certain kinds of construction services (and related building materials) is handled. It means that businesses providing construction services to a VAT-registered client do not have to account for the VAT, with the client accounting for the VAT instead. In laymen’s terms, this means that for services they provide, sub-contractors now require the contractor employing them to make the VAT payments directly to HMRC.
Other search trends: sustainability and technology
There were also 32,000 searches related to keywords associated with sustainability in construction. However, this represents a quarter-on-quarter drop in search volume of 8.25%, which is perhaps a little surprising given the recent focus on the environment and COP26. Technology in construction was also one of the most searched about topics of the last quarter, with over 24,500 searches made for keywords related to this topic.
Although searches for keywords related to topics such as inflation and supply chain issues in construction were low, it is anticipated that interest in these topics may rise as they start to become more prevalent issues for the construction industry.
Which Construction Brands Are The UK’s Most Famous Online?
With the end of the year fast approaching, we identified the largest UK construction and building improvements companies⁷ and analysed the number of online searches for these businesses to unveil the most famous construction industry brands on the internet.
The below table illustrates that Homeserve, Balfour Beauty and Morgan Sindall are among the top three most famous brands online.
Rank
Company
Average number of monthly searches in the last year
1
Homeserve plc
49500
2
Balfour Beatty plc
22200
3
Morgan Sindall Group plc
12100
4
Colas Ltd
9900
5
Laing O’Rourke plc
9900
6
NMCN plc
9900
7
Otis Ltd
9900
8
Willmott Dixon Holdings Ltd
9900
9
Galliford Try plc
8100
10
Interserve plc
8100
11
ISG plc
8100
12
Mick George Ltd
8100
13
Bouygues (UK) Ltd
6600
14
Kone plc
6600
15
Lendlease Construction (Europe) Ltd
6600
16
Mears Group plc
6600
17
Costain Group plc
6600
18
FP McCann Group Ltd
5400
19
Kier Group plc
5400
20
Newarthill Ltd (Sir Robert McAlpine)
5400
21
NG Bailey Group Ltd
5400
22
BAM Nuttall Ltd
4400
23
SDC (Holdings) Ltd
4400
24
FM Conway Ltd
3600
25
Keltbray Group (Holdings) Ltd
3600
26
Mace Ltd
2900
27
Spie Ltd
2900
28
J Reddington Ltd
2400
29
Severfield plc
2400
30
TClarke plc
2400
31
Vinci plc
2400
32
McLaren Construction Group plc
2400
33
Rydon Group Ltd
2400
34
Winvic Group Ltd
2400
35
MV Kelly Ltd
1900
36
Novus Property Solutions Ltd
1900
37
Watkin Jones plc
1900
38
Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd
1900
39
Emcor Group (UK) plc
1900
40
United Living Group Ltd
1900
41
HG Construction Ltd
1600
42
ESSCI Ltd
1600
43
M Group Services Ltd
1600
44
Wates Group Ltd
1600
45
Axis Europe plc
1300
46
Barhale Ltd
1300
47
Henry Boot plc
1300
48
JN Bentley Ltd
1300
49
Northstone (NI) Ltd
1300
50
Skanska UK plc
1300
51
Ardmore Construction Ltd
1000
52
Gilbert-Ash Ltd
1000
53
Hill Partnerships Ltd
1000
54
Integral UK Ltd
1000
55
Speller Metcalfe Ltd
1000
56
SSE Contracting Ltd
1000
57
CCG (Scotland) Ltd
880
58
Eric Wright Group Ltd
880
59
Renew Holdings plc
880
60
RG Carter Holdings Ltd
880
61
RGCM Ltd
880
62
Robertson Group (Holdings) Ltd
880
63
Gratte Brothers Group Ltd
880
64
Esh Holdings Ltd
880
65
Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd
720
66
McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd
720
67
Engie Regeneration Ltd
590
68
HW Martin Holdings Ltd
590
69
Keller Group plc
590
70
Tolent plc
590
71
BAM Construct UK Ltd
480
72
BW Interiors Ltd
480
73
Carey Group Ltd
480
74
Ferrovial Construction (UK) Ltd
480
75
John Graham Holdings Ltd
480
76
McAleer & Rushe Contracts UK Ltd
480
77
Midas Group Ltd
480
78
Tide Construction Ltd
480
79
The Clancy Group Ltd
480
80
Eurovia UK Ltd1
390
81
Geoffrey Osborne Ltd
390
82
OHOB Holdings Ltd
390
83
TSL Ltd7
390
84
VolkerWessels UK Ltd
390
85
Briggs & Forrester (UK) Ltd
320
86
William Hare Group Ltd
320
87
Amey UK plc
260
88
Byrne Group Ltd
210
89
Caddick Group plc
210
90
Erith Holdings Ltd
210
91
J Murphy & Sons Ltd
210
92
Higgins Group plc
170
93
John Sisk & Son Ltd
170
94
Ogilvie Group Ltd
140
95
Tarmac Trading Ltd
110
96
Readie Construction Ltd
100
97
Seddon Group Ltd
90
98
Sureserve Group plc
90
99
Henry Construction Projects Ltd
50
100
Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd
50
Read More: How To Set Up Your Construction Business Online: A 5 Step Action Plan
Methodology: To produce this report our digital strategists analysed publicly available search data from Google’s Keyword Planner. We used the most up to date available date data (at the time of publication) for the last three months (August to October 2021) to provide search volumes. This data was also analysed and compared against data for the previous three months (May to July 2021) to calculate quarter-on-quarter percentage changes. Unless otherwise indicated, the search data in this reports illustrates combined approximate search volumes for groups of related keywords. To create keyword groups we started by using a few product or theme specific keywords for each area of analysis and then created groups of keywords on that area based on Google Keyword Planner’s suggestions.
Data from Statista was also used to look at the estimated value of website sales for UK construction companies. The area of this report marked ‘Which Construction Brands Are The UK’s Most Famous?’ uses search data for the last year (November 2o20 to October 2021) for the most common searches for brand terms related to each company on this list. This was done for the top 100 construction companies in 2021, as identified by the Construction Index⁷.
Sources
¹Construction Product Manufacturers to Increase Investment in E-commerce following Covid-19 (constructionproducts.org.uk)
²11 Reasons Why the Construction Industry Needs Ecommerce | For Construction Pros
³Construction Materials Shortage: ‘Demand Outstrips Supply’ | Homebuilding
⁴Building materials and components statistics: September 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
⁵‘The Great Resignation’: almost one in four UK workers planning job change | Work & careers | The Guardian
⁶Construction output shows fastest rise in four months | Construction Enquirer News
⁷Top 100 Construction Companies 2021 | Construction Company Directory (theconstructionindex.co.uk)
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