Construction might look busy, but UK tradespeople say the pressure is piling up.
New data from TradeBrain, powered by construction community On The Tools, reveals a growing gap between how the industry is talked about and how it actually feels to work in it.
Jobs are coming in, day rates haven’t collapsed, yet financial uncertainty and mental strain are rising fast.
Report findings
The TradeBrain Q4 report for 2025, based on responses from 2,080 UK tradespeople, shows an industry running flat out while confidence in security, margins, and wellbeing slips.
Almost four in 10 tradespeople say stress or difficulty switching off is likely to affect them in the next year. Nearly a third are worried about low mood or mental health issues. Both figures are higher than last quarter.
That pressure isn’t coming from a lack of work; it’s coming from uncertainty over money.
Almost 30% of tradespeople don’t know what their next job will actually be worth, making it harder to plan, invest, or say no to risky work.
Day rates are holding steady (most charge between £150 and £249 a day), but rising costs of materials and irregular workloads mean annual incomes remain flat.
Material and tool costs are now squeezing nearly two thirds of the trade, while late payments, tool theft, and being undercut are eating away at already thin margins.
Shifts in behaviour and attitudes
Lee Wilcox, co-founder and CEO of On The Tools, says, “On paper, construction looks busy; on site, it feels very different. There’s still work coming through, but fewer jobs are paying what they used to – and that’s hitting people hard, when everything from fuel to food has gone up again.
“The wider economy’s still putting pressure on household budgets and trades are caught in the middle: facing higher material costs, tighter margins, and record levels of stress. They’re grafting hard just to stay steady, but the gap between the headlines and what’s actually happening on site is where the real pressure sits.”
The data also shows behaviour shifting. Tradespeople are being extra careful with spending, spreading purchases across multiple merchants and placing more weight on quality, guarantees, and service, not just price.
In short, the sector isn’t collapsing, but it is under strain.
TradeBrain’s latest Pulse report suggests that growth on paper doesn’t automatically translate into confidence within the trade.
Without better margins, clearer visibility of job values, and stronger support for mental health, “busy” risks becoming the new normal, without the security tradespeople need to sustain it.
For more from On The Tools, click here.