It’s been a year of rising prices, and UK structural steel prices are unfortunately no exception, climbing rapidly in recent months to put budgets under renewed pressure.
According to Statista, UK steel prices grew by 21% in 2015-19 before dropping in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Once the economy opened up again, prices resumed their upward trajectory.
Statista reported in October: “The prices of fabricated structural steel sharply increased in 2021, and especially in the first half of 2022, reaching a price index value of 229.”
The index value of 100 was set in 2015 – meaning UK steel prices are now about 2.3 times what they were seven years ago.
How to reduce structural steel costs in construction
There are several ways you can avoid unnecessary spending on structural steel for construction projects, and it mostly comes down to being efficient.
Choose the right steel sections for the job – visit the Technical Details tab on our Products pages for a complete list of different dimensions, thicknesses and weights of each steel section we stock.
Offsite fabrication can help too. Our General Light Fabrication service means we can assemble made-to-measure cabinets and other products, apply any required surface treatments, and deliver them for immediate installation.
This reduces the need for cutting and drilling on-site, so you waste less of the structural steel you buy. Good news for the environment and great news for your budget.
Cut costs with second-hand steel
An excellent way to save costs, reduce carbon and make steel a more energy-efficient material overall is to directly reuse second-hand steel when possible.
We covered this in our recent blog post How to Safely Reuse Structural Steel but it’s worth mentioning again, as there is often no need to buy brand new virgin steel at full market prices.
Second-hand steel can be significantly cheaper while still providing the full physical characteristics you need from it.
If you have leftover steel sections from a previous job, or a good amount of scrap steel offcuts from on-site fabrication, you could also look into selling these as a secondary source of revenue, to offset the purchase of steel for your next job.
