The UK government’s ambitious plans to build 1.5 million homes, while not yet fully realised, present potential opportunities and challenges for builders’ merchants. This unprecedented housing target, while promising for the building sector, also brings to light unique challenges. These include a severe shortage of skilled workers and a supply chain struggling to keep up with the fluctuating demand.

The Autumn Budget 2024: Housing Measures

Chancellor Rachel Reeves vowed to “rebuild Britain” & “restore stability” to the British economy in her maiden Budget. Read the Chancellor’s key housing measures here:

• Keir Starmer’s government plans to build 1.5m new homes within five years. This equates to around 300k new homes each year – a figure never achieved by any Government in British history.
• To accelerate planning procedures & reduce delays, the Chancellor has dedicated £46m to recruit and train hundreds of graduates and apprentices into local planning departments Labour pledges to spend £5bn on housing investment in 2025-26. The Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will receive a cash injection of £500m, which equates to 5000 new affordable homes.
• A further £25m has been set aside to develop 3,000 new energy-efficient homes across the country, with a target of 100% being affordable. Timber has emerged as a sustainable house-building material, with existing capacity to achieve 1-in-3 of said homes needed each year.
• £3bn has been allocated, through housing guarantee schemes, to SME housebuilders and the build-to-rent sector. These will allow developers to access loans at lower costs.

Reactivating Dormant Accounts: Turning Past Customers into Future Buyers

Internal teams are often at capacity, focused on managing key accounts and inbound inquiries, making outbound calling an added burden. Blueberry can support these teams re-engaging lapsed customers, and qualifying new leads to quote, allowing you to concentrate on those top spenders and high-value sales.

We can win back lapsed customers and encourage those with declining spends to order from you again. As an example, for one of our customers, a national building supplies merchant, we identified that 91.45% of their ‘zero spending’ customers (i.e. those who hadn’t spent in 12+ months), were in fact still in the market for building supplies, highlighting a huge opportunity to re-engage. This resulted in live quotes for future work being identified and shared directly with their relevant branch.

“Now is the ideal time to lay the groundwork for the future. With the housing market expected to pick up and expand soon, it’s essential to stay front-of-mind with customers and be their go-to merchant when demand increases”

Pamela Welsh, Blueberry Sales Director

Building Stronger Connections: Telemarketing Strategies for Builders’ Merchants

Customer loyalty is the bedrock of any successful business. Fostering good relationships increases retention and sets the stage for cross-selling and upselling.

Our expert telemarketing team can help to keep your customers informed about changes while gathering insights into their needs and requirements. Make it easy for your customers to buy from you during busy periods, especially with the impending housing boom and supply chain management ultimately becoming more complex.

We help builders’ merchants stay competitive by managing prospect and customer databases, clearly identifying key decision-makers and contact details, gathering market intelligence on top product lines, spending patterns, and upcoming project timelines.

We build rapport with decision-makers to nurture strong connections and personable relationships. By uncovering valuable insights from your target audience, we can help drive higher lead quality and conversion rates, as well as ensuring you are responding quickly to demand and market trends.

For example, the shift towards sustainable materials like timber is gaining traction – do your customers share this focus? Are they seeking to purchase a broader range of sustainable or eco-friendly products or materials? Our telemarketers can help you track emerging preferences, refine strategies, and nurture relationships, keeping your business top-of-mind for future projects and larger orders.

Focusing on nurturing customer relations builds trust and keeps your business top-of-mind when customers embark on new projects, need more products or materials, or are ready to place larger orders.

Sustainable Solutions: The Role of Timber in the Housing Boom

Sustainable and efficient builds were key talking points in the Autumn Budget, with timber emerging as a promising material for meeting the Government’s housing demands. Andrew Carpenter, CEO of the Structural Timber Association (STA), believes timber could provide nearly a third of Labour’s ambitious 1.5m housing target. STA maintain its use could reduce the carbon footprint of new homes and allow for quicker, scalable construction through Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). 1

“Our industry requires clear, actionable policies that put MMC and carbon reduction, and therefore structural timber, at the forefront of supporting [the] Government in the delivery of their housing goals,” he said on the STA website. “The policies put in place now will have a significant impact on the UK’s ability to deliver housing targets, great places to live and reducing carbon to achieve net zero. This will be the legacy for decades to come.”

Timber merchants could build on this (no pun intended) by promoting sustainable housing products and building materials that benefit homeowners and the environment.

Let Us Do the Groundwork for You – How Blueberry Can Support Your Internal Teams & Boost Business Growth

Despite fluctuating housing markets, Labour’s housing goal offers builders’ merchants a unique growth opportunity. However, these opportunities come with many challenges like sustainable building and customer engagement that businesses must acknowledge and prepare for. Now is the perfect time to act and get ahead of the curve, setting your business’s marketing and engagement strategies in motion.

Telemarketing provides a proactive solution, helping merchants secure new clients, re-engage lapsed and foster loyalty.

Partnering with Blueberry enhances your team’s efforts, leveraging specialist skills to expand outreach and stay competitive in a changing construction landscape. With a proven track record in the sector, we provide reliable support at every stage, helping you seize opportunities and achieve long-term success, contributing to the nation’s housing goals.

Learn more about how we have supported the merchant’s sector over the years here: Telemarketing Pushes Timber Merchant Sales Through the Roof! & Builders Merchants Telemarketing Results in £19.5m Growth

BLUEBERRY HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE HELPING BUILDERS’ MERCHANTS & PROFESSIONALS IN THE MANUFACTURING, BUILDING AND DESIGN SECTOR. DISCOVER HOW WE CAN HELP YOU MEET YOUR BUSINESS GROWTH OBJECTIVES. VISIT HTTPS://BLUEBERRYMS.CO.UK, EMAIL: INFO@BLUEBERRYMS.CO.UK OR CALL: 0113 4877013

Useful sources:

https://www.structuraltimber.co.uk/
https://www.placesforpeople.co.uk/
UK 2024 Budget in nine key points
Budget 2024 summary: Key points from Rachel Reeves’s speech
House of Commons Library – Autumn Budget 2024 Summary

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) describes using modern building materials, equipment, and techniques to build a structure, building or house. 1