Where to live if you need a tradesperson

Londoners have the most choice when it comes to volume of tradespeople, while skills could be more in demand in areas such as the North East and Wales.

New analysis from business insurer Direct Line for Business reveals a plethora of trade talent in the South East, as the region is home to more tradespeople than any other region in the UK.

However, when looking for a tradesperson London residents have the most choice. London residents have the best tradespeople to household ratio, with one tradesperson for every 130.6 households.

The South East boasts just over 27,500 tradespeople (27,515), each servicing 137.5 households. Other areas with high numbers of tradespeople are London (26,705), East England (19,870) and the South West (16,155). Overall, people working as tradespeople make up 2,500 per million of the UK population.

According to the analysis, tradesperson help is most sparse in the North East with one tradesperson servicing 305 households, more than double the number of homes that tradesmen in the East of England attend to. Other regions in need of more handy help include Scotland (one per 286 households), North West (one per 230 households) and Wales (one per 224 households).

Nick Breton, head of Direct Line for Business says, ‘Developing electrical, plumbing, plastering and other trade skills is recognised as a valuable road to success.

‘The research provides a nice snapshot of tradespeople hotspots up and down the country, and where it’s potentially easier to source help based on the ratio of tradespeople per household. In these areas where the numbers are high, a key differentiator for tradespeople can be having the right level insurance in place to protect themselves, their customers and livelihood.’

Further reading on tradespeople

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

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