The builders’ merchant sector has never stood still, but in recent years the pace of digital change has accelerated. Trade customers increasingly expect the same level of convenience and transparency online as they experience at the trade counter. For many merchants, the challenge is delivering this without disrupting the ERP …

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water I was at an event a few weeks ago with some merchants and suppliers. All more or less agreed on two things. 1, that things are, and have been for some time, about as bad as anyone …

Roadworks season regularly disrupts transport routes across the UK. Lane closures, diversions and temporary traffic systems can slow deliveries and create uncertainty for businesses that rely on dependable logistics. Builders’ merchants feel this pressure every day. Construction sites rely on materials arriving when expected, and even short delays can interrupt …

If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment There are a few things that mark one out as a proper grown-up. Utterances that make you realise that the age of innocence is over, and the cold hard reality of getting through life is …

International Plywood (Importers), C & W Berry and Isover Saint Gobain’s Andy Fletcher were the overall winners at the Fortis Building and Timber Conference Supplier Awards last night (March 3). The gala awards night was held in the middle of the buying group’s two-day event, which saw over 4,000 meetings …

Through me you enter into the city of woe. I don’t know where to start on all this. As a small child I remember asking my parents why there were such long queues at the petrol station, to be told it was because of the Yom Kippur war in the …

Builders merchants trade association the Builders Merchants Federation is urging the government to introduce targeted measures to galvanise the market and tackle the malaise in the housebuilding sector. The rallying call was made at the organisation’s annual Parliamentary Reception, where attending MPs included The Rt Hon Caroline Nokes, Deputy Speaker …

SR Timber has unveiled a new logo and branding as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations. The new branding is on show throughout its literature and on a new website at sr-timber.co.uk The new strapline, ‘Our Gold Standard – Correctly graded batten you can trust’, feeds off the company’s long-standing …

The inaugral Midlands Construction Charity Ball, organised by Tippers, EH Smith, Friel Homes and M. Lambe Construction, has distributed all the £160,000 raised at the event last year to four Midlands-based charities. Held at The Masters Suite at The Belfry, the 2025 Ball brought together Midlands independent and family-owned construction businesses …

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all It is – or it should be – a truth universally acknowledged that the yard-sale of government owned utilities has not been an unmitigated success. Far from …