The optimism of late 2025 didn't make it into the new year. Here's why.
Geopolitical shocks, rising price forecasts and growing cost pressures have changed the mood across the construction supply chain. Our Q1 2026 report gives Scottish social landlords the intelligence they need to plan and respond with confidence.
Twice a year, we go directly to manufacturers, merchants and contractors and ask them to tell us honestly what’s happening in the market. Not what they think we want to hear, but what they’re actually experiencing, forecasting and worrying about. We share those findings with PfH Scotland members so you can plan ahead rather than react.
This quarter, the findings make for sobering reading. The war in Iran has rattled confidence, copper prices have reached record highs, and suppliers who were cautiously optimistic just a few months ago are now bracing for a more difficult trading period. Scottish social landlords need to understand what’s driving those changes and what to do about them.
What you’ll find inside:
- How the outbreak of conflict in Iran shifted market sentiment almost overnight, and what that means for energy-intensive materials and supply chains that depend on stable global shipping routes.
- Why price forecasts have jumped sharply, with contractors now predicting increases of 7.5% over just six months, up from 5% over twelve months in our last report, and how to approach those conversations with your supply chain.
- What’s happening with copper, which has risen from around £9,500 to over £13,000 per tonne in six months, and why this matters for a wide range of materials used in social housing repairs and maintenance.
- The pressures building in the kitchen manufacturing sector following the collapse of Moores Furniture Group, and what that signals about resilience further down the supply chain.
- How the gap between construction output and output prices is growing again, what that means when demand eventually picks back up and why now is the time to lock in agreements while the market is still relatively stable.
- Practical guidance throughout on which supplier price rise requests are justified right now, which aren’t, and how to challenge increases from a position of knowledge rather than having to simply accept them.
Get market information at your fingertips
Download the Q1 2026 Supply Chain Sentiment Report and make sure your next procurement decision is based on what the market is actually doing, not what suppliers tell you it’s doing.