FORT Fencing
Agricultural & Equine Fencing
FORT May Newsletter - 2023
19 May 2023
So, we’ve been enjoying the Coronation celebrations, or maybe just the opportunity for a break, what it did show is that even the King doesn’t get guaranteed weather – he got a share of what we’ve all been coping with throughout 2023! We keep hoping that this will ease off and in general terms that is finally starting to happen. With just one more bank holiday to go, the building trade can ‘crack on’ without interruption. We continue to develop FORT and anyone that has seen our showroom at Unit B in the last month or two will have seen the displays starting to go in. There’s also exiting news to come on the service front which we’ll share in next month’s update! In general terms availability is no longer an issue – lead times are good across most lines and with our huge commitment to stock, FORT has got what you need, ready for rapid delivery.
We continue to urge all of our customers that inflation continues to cause major issues. While in general terms material price rises have calmed down (or indeed seen significant falls in some areas) there’s still a risk of price hikes as manufacturers look to recover costs, especially on labour.
Demand remains strong in our sector. Volume new build is still quite weak, but some new incentives look to be coming through which might stimulate demand.
General Availability & Price Update
Our roundup of key indicators is shown below:
Currency: The £ has seen a decent improvement since April which has continued and is currently back where it was a year ago. Against the Euro, things have improved but are still relatively weak.
Containers: Having dropped from incredibly high rates, the price appears to have levelled off, thereby easing the cost of imports, especially heavier items (an example being sandstone).
Steel: A brief spike in price caused by the terrible earthquakes in and around Turkey has fallen back and overall prices have levelled.
Timber: While this is a US index, it shows the trend. Timber has returned to somewhere close to 2020 (pre-pandemic) levels. Operational costs and the shortage of logs (due to sanctions on Russia and Belarus) are starting to kick in and we anticipate small increases as the year progresses.
Inflation: Inflation remains stubbornly high, but seems to have finally begun to drop. This has taken a lot longer than anticipated, but energy costs have fallen and increased interest rates have taken money out of the system, so it looks as if the UK will see far lower levels of inflation during 2023.
May Highlight
FORT Bathrooms
This month, we’re showcasing our new Bathroom offering, from a design service to a variety of styles to choose from, we have the options to suit all budgets. Our all-new bathroom showroom display contains brands from the likes of RAK & Bayswater, with tiles from all the latest tastes to match your bathroom design. As part of our Estimating Service, we can help you with your kitchen design, discuss this with our friendly team by contacting us on 01488 505 800 or at office@fort-m.com. To find out more about our offering of Bathrooms, head to our Bathrooms page for more information.
As always, please do not assume stock availability - check with the sales office!
Our reputation relies on word of mouth and testimonials from our valued customers, and as such we'd love for you to share reviews of your experiences with us on either Google, Facebook or TrustPilot if you have the time.
Thank you very much for your ongoing support of FORT!
Best regards,
Matt, Tim & Keith
The Directors