Home Services Merchant Rates

Updated weekly from London merchants

Your estimates priced at
today's rates, not 2023's.

Material costs in London move fast — timber, steel, insulation, plasterboard. BuildPilot pulls pricing from UK builder merchants weekly and applies it automatically to every cost plan. No more guessing. No more embarrassing revisions.

London Material Index — updated week of 21 Apr 2026
Structural timber C16 ▲ £312/m³
Porcelain floor tiles 600×600 ▼ £28.40/m²
Blockwork 7N ▲ £14.20/m²
EPDM membrane 1.2mm ▲ £18.60/m²
Plasterboard 12.5mm ▼ £6.80/m²
UFH pipe 16mm ▲ £1.42/m
Structural steel S275 ▲ £1,180/tonne
Insulation 100mm PIR ▼ £22.40/m²
Structural timber C16 ▲ £312/m³
Porcelain floor tiles 600×600 ▼ £28.40/m²
Blockwork 7N ▲ £14.20/m²
EPDM membrane 1.2mm ▲ £18.60/m²
Plasterboard 12.5mm ▼ £6.80/m²
UFH pipe 16mm ▲ £1.42/m
Structural steel S275 ▲ £1,180/tonne
Insulation 100mm PIR ▼ £22.40/m²

Why outdated rates kill your margin

The London materials market has moved dramatically since 2022. Working from stale rate books isn't just inaccurate — it's expensive.

18%

average material cost rise since 2022

Timber, steel, and insulation have all risen significantly. Working from 2022 rates means systematically underquoting.

£4,200

average margin lost per project from stale rates

On a typical £150k London project, that's nearly 3% of contract value lost to pricing inaccuracy alone.

6–8 wks

between most QS rate updates

BuildPilot updates 847 line items every week — so your cost plans always reflect this week's actual market.

Updated every 7 days

847 line items. Updated weekly.

Every category of material you'll encounter on a London project — tracked, priced, and applied automatically.

Structural

  • Concrete (ready-mix)
  • Blockwork 7N/10N
  • Beam & block
  • Steel sections

Roofing

  • Concrete & clay tiles
  • EPDM membrane
  • Velux units
  • Fascia & soffit

Finishes

  • Plasterboard 12.5mm
  • Liquid screed
  • Floor tiles
  • Trade paint

M&E

  • Cable & conduit
  • Copper pipework
  • Radiators
  • UFH systems

847 individual line items across all categories. See them applied to your project →

Where our rates come from

We cross-reference multiple sources every week to build a composite rate that reflects the actual London market — not a single supplier's pricing.

National builders merchants

Pricing from Buildbase, Travis Perkins, Jewson, and Selco — updated weekly via trade pricing APIs.

Local London suppliers

Regional independents and London trade counters. Captures the premiums that London location imposes.

Specialist sub-contractors

Groundworkers, structural steel fabricators, M&E subcontractors. Real quotes from active London subs.

Trade published indices

BCIS and Spon's price books. Used as a floor — where our sourced rates are below published, we use the higher figure.

Full source citation on every rate. When BuildPilot produces your cost plan, each rate shows which source it came from and the date it was last updated. Your QS can audit every number.

Estimates priced for today's London market.

847 line items. Updated every week. Applied automatically to every cost plan.

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