Falling diesel prices helped stabilise construction costs in June, according to QV's CostBuilder database, which shows minimal movement across key building costs over the month.
It shows a 6.5% fall in diesel prices over the last month, which fed into declining overall costs in work involving heavy machinery. Costs for excavation work showed the biggest decline of 1.5% for the month.
Other work with a fuel component also showed declines, led by site preparation down 0.4%, substructure down 0.4%, exterior works down 0.3%, piling down 0.3% and demolition down 0.2%.
"Diesel prices have eased, which has helped bring down costs in the trades that rely heavily on machinery and transport," CostBuilder spokesman and quantity surveyor Martin Bisset said.
However, Bisset also said diesel prices are still up by 50% compared to prices at the beginning of this year, so they are an important factor to watch as the unfolding situation in the Middle East continues to develop.
Site preparation works weren't the only ones to show cost declines over the last month, with some concrete-related trades showing an overall cost decline of 0.3%, , mainly due to ready mixed structural concrete rates falling by 0.7%, with concrete blockwork costs down 0.5% due to grout fill rates declining 1.1%.
Going against the trend, overall plumbing costs were up 0.5% and carpentry costs were up 0.2%, due to a number of product price increases.
"Anyone planning a project should continue to allow for some movement in costs, as some volatility remains," Bisset said.
Around 11,000 individual construction costs were reviewed in the latest CostBuilder update.
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