Cyclical price monitoring in construction

Price trends in the Polish construction industry

Over the past several years, the prices of construction and assembly output in Poland have fluctuated within a very narrow range, between -2% and +4%, according to the official data released by the Central Statistical Office (GUS). However, due to methodological factors, the price index of construction and assembly output can hardly be regarded as reflecting the actual scope of price changes.
The idea behind creating Spectis quarterly price reports is to present the actual pace of price changes in the construction industry, for both historical data and short-term projections for the coming quarters. To this end, Spectis researchers aggregate several hundred price indices from a number of independent sources. The analysis focuses on individual categories of building materials as well as various types of construction work.

Categories of building materials covered in the report:

• Cement
• Concrete
• Lime
• Plaster
• Construction chemicals
• Dry wall partitioning
• Wall cladding
• Pre-cast concrete units
• Roofing materials
• Architectural glass
• Thermal-insulation materials
• Ceramic tiles
• Wooden flooring
• Metal flooring
• Structural steel
• Joinery products: doors and windows
• Aggregates
• Pavers
• Mineral-aggregate mixtures
• Bitumen mixtures

Categories of construction work covered in the report:

• Earth work, foundation work
• Steel fixing
• Formwork
• Masonry work
• Roofing work
• Installation of thermal insulation systems
• Plastering
• Lightweight roof and wall cladding
• Installation of steel structures
• Painting, finishing work
• Installation of sanitary systems
• Installation of electric systems
• Construction of water mains
• Construction of sewage networks
• Construction of heating networks
• Construction of gas networks
• Finishing work

Other price indices and cost drivers covered in the report:

• Business financing costs for enterprises
• Salary growth by specialisation
• Commodity prices
• Electricity prices
• Fuel prices
• Prices of European Emissions Allowances
• Waste disposal prices

Besides objective cost drivers, the real growth of construction prices is also affected by cyclical circumstances, such as the current, or projected, volume of ongoing projects, the number of active construction companies capable of meeting market demand, the availability of labour or capacity utilisation rate for contracting companies. Spectis researchers take all those aspects into consideration when forecasting possible changes in market prices.

The report will be particularly useful when:

• Devising a pricing strategy for the coming quarters
• Estimating the scope of anticipated contract escalation
• Price negotiations with the investor or business partner
• Setting sales targets
• Conducting cyclical monitoring of price trends in individual categories of building materials or types of construction work.