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Tiling Trade News: Repair Work Up 1.7%, Headlam Fails

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July’s construction figures, published on 11 September, show homeowners still paying for repairs while new housebuilding slows. Add a major flooring distributor in administration, a new government code for home improvement firms and merchant prices running well ahead of volumes, and it has been a busy fortnight for anyone quoting tiling work this autumn.

Private home repair work rose 1.7% in July

The ONS construction output bulletin for July estimates that monthly output grew 0.1%. All of that growth came from repair and maintenance, up 0.8%, while new work fell 0.4%. The biggest single contribution was private housing repair and maintenance, which grew 1.7% in the month. Private housing new work fell 4.9%.

The three-month picture is weaker. Total output fell 0.5% in the three months to July, ending four consecutive rises, and private housing repair and maintenance was the main drag over that period, down 1.7%.

Why it matters to you: one good month is not a trend, but the split matches what the trade has been saying all summer: bathroom refits and floor replacements in existing homes are holding up better than new-build fit-out. If most of your diary is housebuilder work, it is a good time to chase more private refurbishment. The next ONS release is due on 15 October.

Source: ONS, Construction output in Great Britain: July 2026.

Headlam goes into administration, Domus Tiles unaffected

Headlam, the Birmingham-based floorcoverings distributor, appointed administrators from Interpath on Tuesday 8 September after announcing its intention to do so the previous week. It has cut 154 jobs and closed 28 trade counters. The business, which employs around 1,300 people, plans a Company Voluntary Arrangement that will close more than a third of its 76 trade counters, leaving 17 distribution centres and 48 trade counters open. It is continuing to trade during the restructuring.

Tilezine confirmed that Headlam’s other subsidiaries, including Domus, Melrose and CECO, are outside the process and trading as normal. Domus Tiles, part of the group since 2017, told Tilezine it remains in a “strong position”.

Why it matters to you: if you buy flooring, underlay or accessories through a Headlam trade counter, check your branch is one of those staying open before you promise a customer a delivery date. Tile supply through Domus carries on.

Sources: Perspective, 9 September 2026 and Tilezine, 3 September 2026.

A government code and staged payments for home improvement firms

On 28 August the government announced a crackdown on rogue traders in home improvement. A new Approved Code, delivered by the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, will let firms show they meet higher standards on customer service, transparency and dispute resolution. Alongside it, a Trusted Payments app holds the customer’s money and releases it against agreed project milestones.

The government’s case: more than one in four UK adults who had home improvement work done in the past 18 months had problems, 37% of those faced extra costs averaging £750, and people lost over £10.3 billion on home and garden maintenance in 2024. The release said the app would go live the following week, with over 100,000 traders able to access it before the end of September, and that the Approved Code would be fully live by December 2026.

Both schemes are voluntary. The roofing federation NFRC welcomed the move but warned that “the requirements for the new Approved Code must be meaningful enough to distinguish professional businesses from those simply looking for another badge to put on their website.”

Why it matters to you: staged payments are how most tiling jobs are already priced: materials, then the fix, then completion. If the app catches on, customers may start asking for it by name, so read its terms before one does. Nobody has to sign up to the code, so its value will depend on what it actually demands.

Sources: GOV.UK, 28 August 2026 and NFRC response.

Merchant prices up 5.8%, but cost inflation is slowing

The Builders Merchant Building Index, posted on 1 September, shows like-for-like merchant sales in the second quarter down 1.2% on a year earlier, with volumes down 6.6% and prices up 5.8%. June was starker: volumes fell 10.0% while prices rose 8.4%. Heavy building materials fell 2.6%.

The S&P Global UK Construction PMI for August, released on 4 September, points the same way on demand. The index registered 44.3, down from 44.7 in July and below 50 for the twentieth month running, and residential work was the weakest area at 37.6. The better news is on costs: input cost inflation eased to its lowest for six months, subcontractor rates rose at the slowest pace since March, and subcontractor use rose for the first time in just under two years. “Encouragingly, input price inflation eased to its lowest since February and supply chain performance was broadly stable,” said Tim Moore, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Why it matters to you: merchants are selling less material for more money, which is why adhesive, grout and board prices look higher on a quote than they did a year ago. The PMI suggests the rate of increase is now slowing, so a fixed-price quote for autumn work carries a little less risk than it did in the spring.

Sources: BMBI, Q2 2026 and S&P Global UK Construction PMI, August 2026.

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