Last Tuesday I was pricing a lime mortar farmhouse renovation on a remote estate in Argyll, Scotland. The week before, a stone villa renovation in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. The week before that, a 39-unit ICF housing development in Co. Mayo, Ireland. And sandwiched between all of that — extensions in Milton Keynes, loft conversions in Fulham, a listed building conversion in Somerset.
Twelve months ago, RapidQS UK was a UK business. Now it’s something else entirely. We price jobs in four countries, in two currencies, across markets that have almost nothing in common except the fact that contractors in all of them are trying to make money building things — and most of them are underpricing the work.
This isn’t a rates guide. There are plenty of those. This is what we’ve actually observed from being in the weeds on real jobs across four very different markets, and what we think is going to matter in the next 12 months.
Ireland — The Boom Nobody Planned For
I’ll start with Ireland because it’s the one that surprises people the most.
Ireland’s residential construction market is moving at a pace that the industry isn’t fully ready for. Planning permissions are being approved. Government housing targets are being taken seriously for the first time in years. Contractors are busy — genuinely busy — and the result is that labour availability is tightening and rates are moving.
When we first started pricing Irish jobs, the standard tradesman rate was €35/hr. That’s still the starting point in regional Ireland — Connacht, parts of Munster, rural Leinster. But in Dublin, we’re now seeing €42–48/hr for trades on competitive residential schemes. And specialist trades — structural steel installers, ICF supervisors, MVHR installers — are higher again.
The other thing happening in Ireland that most builders haven’t fully absorbed yet is the ICF revolution. Insulated Concrete Formwork is taking over from traditional cavity blockwork on new residential schemes, especially in the west and midlands. We priced a 39-unit development in Co. Mayo — the Charlestown AGK scheme — entirely in ICF. And the pricing methodology for an ICF build is genuinely different from a blockwork build. The materials come in differently. The wall build-up is different. The first floor structure often gets missed entirely because it sits between the ICF superstructure and the roof, and it’s easy to assume it’s included when it’s not.
We’ve seen ICF BOQs from other parties that are missing: the first floor I-joist structural floor, the concrete pump hire for every core pour, the ASHP at gross cost (not net of SEAI grant), the radon barrier (mandatory in high-risk counties), the BC(A)R assigned certifier, and the Homebond warranty. That’s €15,000–25,000 per unit missing from a price. On a 39-unit scheme, that’s a €600,000 error.
Ireland’s construction output is going one direction. If you’re an Irish contractor and you haven’t updated your rate card in the last 18 months — you’re behind.
What we’re seeing in Ireland: Labour rates rising 8–12% year on year in Dublin and commuter belt. Material prices up 4–6%. ICF the dominant system for new residential. Biggest risk: underpriced prelims and missing statutory compliance items.
Scotland — Where Location Changes Everything
Scotland is a market we’ve come to understand deeply in the last year, and the thing that defines Scottish construction pricing more than anything else is geography.
A standard tradesman rate in central Scotland — Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling — is around £42/hr. That’s below London, roughly comparable to the North of England. Reasonable. Manageable. A contractor working out of Edinburgh or Glasgow can build a competitive business on those rates.
But go 90 minutes west of Glasgow and you’re in a completely different world. Single-track roads. Ferry logistics. Remote rural communities where the nearest builders’ merchant is 45 minutes away on a good day. On the Lochnell Estate job in Argyll, we applied a 15% labour uplift for remote rural location and a 12% materials delivery premium. That’s not a token gesture — it’s based on the real cost of getting trades and materials to site in that part of Scotland.
And then there’s heritage. Scotland has an enormous stock of historic and traditional buildings — stone farmhouses, estate buildings, Georgian townhouses, Victorian tenements. When you’re working on any of them, the specification changes completely. You’re using Natural Hydraulic Lime mortars (NHL 3.5 or 5) instead of cement. You’re specifying breathable internal linings — Fermacell rather than standard plasterboard in key areas. You’re paying a conservation specialist at £52/hr rather than a standard bricklayer at £42/hr. And your prelims are carrying specialist heritage insurance, photographic records, CDM notifications, and potentially Historic Environment Scotland involvement.
The Lochnell job came out at £2,637/m² on a 220m² farmhouse. That’s not because Scottish builders are expensive. It’s because heritage specification in a remote rural location with a 28-week programme, full-time PM on site, and breathable construction throughout costs what it costs. A contractor who quotes £1,500/m² on that job and wins it is going to have a very bad year.
What we’re seeing in Scotland: Central belt rates competitive with North England. Remote rural uplifts significant and non-negotiable. Heritage work commanding 15–25% premium on labour. Biggest risk: underestimating logistics and spec requirements on rural and heritage projects.
Portugal — Cheap Labour, Complex Reality
Portugal is the one that looks the most straightforward from the outside and turns out to be the most nuanced in practice.
Yes, labour is cheaper. A tradesman in Viana do Castelo or Braga costs around €30/hr. A PM is €45/hr. Compare that to London at £55/hr and the maths looks obvious. But there are three things that complicate the picture significantly.
First, specialist materials are not cheap in Portugal. The country imports a significant amount of high-specification building material. Structural steel, certain insulation systems, high-end glazing — the supply chain isn’t as deep as it is in the UK or Ireland, and lead times can be genuinely challenging. We priced one job in Viana do Castelo where the window specification required a 14-week lead time from a European manufacturer. That affects your programme, which affects your prelims, which affects your total.
Second, IVA (VAT) in Portugal is 23% for standard construction, but drops to 6% for rehabilitation works on older properties. The definition of “rehabilitation” matters enormously and it’s worth getting clarity from a Portuguese tax adviser early. We’ve seen contractors assume 23% and overbid by a significant margin.
Third, and this is the one that catches overseas contractors and clients most often — the Portuguese construction market operates on different cultural rhythms to the UK. Procurement works differently. Payment terms work differently. The relationship between contractor, client, and architect has different dynamics. We’re not experts on that dimension — we price the work, we don’t manage the contracts — but it’s worth knowing going in.
For a renovation project in northern Portugal, a realistic benchmark is €1,400–2,200/m² depending on specification. New build in the Porto metro area: €1,800–2,600/m². These are materially different numbers from what you’ll find on most Google searches, which tend to recycle old data.
What we’re seeing in Portugal: Labour costs genuinely lower but material costs closing the gap. IVA rate critical to get right. Programme risk around specialist materials. Biggest risk: underestimating lead times and assuming UK supply chain logic applies.
UK — Inflation, Fragmentation, and a Market That’s Separating
The UK is our biggest market and the most diverse. A rear extension in Fulham and a loft conversion in Bradford are technically the same product category. In practice, they’re priced completely differently, built by completely different contractors, and occupied by people with completely different expectations.
London remains in a category of its own. Central London tradesman rates — SW, W, EC, SE postcodes — are sitting at £52–58/hr. Add ULEZ charges (£12.50/van/day), CPZ parking suspensions (£600–800 per application), scaffold street licences, and the carrying cost of operating in a zone where everything takes longer and costs more, and you’re looking at prelims of 20–25% of total build cost as a baseline. We’ve seen extensions in Fulham where the prelims came to £39,000 on a total job of £154,000 — that’s 25%. Not unusual. Just London.
Outside London, the picture is more fragmented. The East Midlands and North are seeing trades at £38–42/hr. Materials are the same price — maybe 2–3% cheaper on some lines, but not dramatically so. The gap is almost entirely in labour and logistics.
What we’re seeing across the UK in 2026 is a market that’s separating. There’s a cohort of contractors who are pricing properly — full prelims, correct regional rates, statutory fees included, everything itemised — and they’re winning jobs at the right price and making money. And there’s a cohort who are still pricing off instinct and a back-of-envelope calculation, submitting round numbers, and then having difficult conversations with clients at week four when variations start landing.
Material prices have risen 2–4% in the 12 months to January 2026 according to BCIS data. New housing materials specifically up 4%. That’s not catastrophic but it’s real and it compounds. A job priced in Q1 2025 and built in Q4 2025 has already felt that movement. Anyone quoting fixed prices on long programmes without allowing for inflation is carrying a risk they may not have fully quantified.
What we’re seeing in the UK: London rates holding firm at premium levels. Regions competitive but margins tighter. Material inflation 2–4%. CIS monthly returns now mandatory from April 2026. Biggest risk: fixed-price contracts on long programmes without inflation provisions.
The One Thing That’s the Same Everywhere
I’ve talked to contractors in all four of these markets. And despite everything that’s different — the rates, the regulations, the materials, the culture — the one thing that’s consistent everywhere is this: the contractors who are making the most money are the ones who price properly.
Not the ones who are cheapest. Not the ones with the slickest website or the most Instagram followers. The ones who send a proper document with every line itemised, every rate justified, every Provisional Sum clearly labelled, and a programme that reflects the reality of the job.
That document builds trust. It wins repeat business. It protects you when things go wrong. And it means you know, before you start, whether the job is worth doing.
That’s what we do. For contractors in four countries, in two currencies, across 60+ jobs in the last 12 months. If you’ve got a project coming up — anywhere in the UK, Ireland, Scotland, or Portugal — send us the drawings. We’ll have a proper estimate back to you in 48 hours.
→ rapidqs.co.uk or david@rapidqs.co.uk
David Baker, RapidQS
