FORT Fencing
Agricultural & Equine Fencing
FORT Customer Update - February 2026
13 February 2026
In January we mentioned the weather and here we are in February and guess what? Yes, it’s all about the weather! Biblical, historical, torrential….when will it ever end? record breaking amounts of rainfall, especially as you move further West, have slowed construction down.
We’re hearing all manner of reports about the impact (some bricklaying teams on new build sites not getting a single clear week since October 2025 is just one example) and of course this knocks onto Clients who are waiting for builders to start on their projects, let alone the ones that are happening now.
There was an interesting piece in The Times on February 10th setting out the poor state of workloads across the UK and the impact on pricing that contractors are achieving. The average Checkatrade quote price in 2023 was £8,000; today it’s £6,000. That’s a 25% drop. Last month we reported on how the general trend for building material prices has fallen and this shows the impact on labour rates and profit margins.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. As we reported in January, many Customers appear to have quite decent workloads. Once the weather dries up they might be able to actually get on with them!
While the rain has continued to come down and flood all it touches, spirits have remained high here at FORT in February!
With Valentine’s Day and Pancake Day in February there was plenty of cake and chocolate in the office, and it turns out that we have some prize winning tossers among us!
Enquiries through the Estimating Service have seen a real uptick, as well as enquiries about our flooring and windows, with the vans and trucks out busily delivering your goods in all weathers, and even navigating a road closure due to a World War 2 bomb found in Hungerford this week!
General Availability & Price Update
The undercurrent on material prices remains. Manufacturers are desperate to see increases and anything that knocks availability (a recent fire in an insulation plant for example) is leapt on as an excuse to try and push prices up.
The whole supply chain, including our Customers, is not in a happy place, so please continue to be careful about future pricing when quoting for work.
Please wherever possible price ahead of time and build contingency for price increases into tenders for the future.
We mitigate price increases wherever possible, but we are seeing increases come through from our suppliers on a range of materials which look like they will stick. On the other hand, some material prices are reducing, meaning that we can pass on price decreases.
The FORT purchasing team are doing a great job of ensuring that we have stock on the ground and available at the right price, but as always, please forward-plan your requirement so that you aren’t caught short.
Here’s our round up of data to help you track key indicators that affect all of us:
Timber
This is a chart for the US market. As you can see, it had been a huge roller-coaster, with highs of around $700 and lows of $500, but currently around $600. This seems to show that the real US economy isn’t as positive as what their government seems to be portraying. The European market remains dull but availability is tight; low demand is holding back any increases. Current rates are still unviable in the medium term and are bound to rise at some point; we just don’t know when!
Weather & Climate - First quarter of 2024 was very wet; 2025 was dry. 2026 has been horrendous so far with January at 186% and February a massive 271% of average rainfall. We need to see some sunshine!
Currency - The £ remains reasonably strong against the US$ (low of $1.25 and a high of $1.37 in the past year), currently at $1.36 and this affects many items bought in $ (plywood for example). The Euro is a different story, with a high of €1.22 and a low of €1.13, we’re currently at €1.15 = £1. The Swedish Krown (which affects timber) has strengthened considerably over the last year (high of Kr13.50 and now at Kr12.15). That is now ‘baked in’ and timber prices from Sweden are adjusting accordingly. This will come through in due course as higher prices. As the largest producer of softwood, Sweden is very influential.
Oil Prices - These have such an impact on costs; despite the Middle East & Venezuelan situation, oil prices remain surprisingly stable at around $63 whereas they were around $73 a year ago. That means we’re currently tracking at prices well below the rate pre-invasion of Ukraine. Geopolitics could change that figure very quickly, but in supply terms there’s plenty of oil on the market.
Containers - After a small surge in January, container prices have fallen back again, close to their lowest rate in the last 12 months. This affects goods from India (sandstone) and the Far East (plywood for example). It is an important indicator. That seems to signal a fairly subdued global market.
Steel - Steel rates seem to be very settledand haven’t really moved in the last year. A rough balance between supply and demand seems to be in place.
Inflation/Interest Rates - This is the RPI figure and it fell to 2.7% in September but has come back to around 4.2% (December). This is a concern, but it seems as if we’re now seeing a fall again. The pressure on inflation is keeping the Bank of England on its toes; we saw a 0.25% drop in early May, another in early August and the most recent in December, down to 3.75%. The likelihood of another fall seems less, because of underlying inflation.
UK GDP- The economy is not firing up, so further base rate falls are likely, but inflation still lurks in the shadows. Recent data shows that the economy is just about ‘alive’ but teetering on the edge of recession. Clearly what the UK needs is stability, so that we can focus on the day job and not the latest Westminster psychodrama!
As always, please do not assume stock availability - check with the sales office!
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Thank you very much for your ongoing support of FORT!
Best regards,
Matt, Tim & Keith
The Directors