The latest industry state of trade survey covering construction product manufacturers and contractors gives a reasonable view of just how rosy things are. It is put together by the Construction Products Association. I will leave you to judge.

Here are a few key findings:
•    78% of construction product manufacturers report sales to fall in Q1 compared to Q4 2008
•    91% of construction product manufacturers report sales lower than in same quarter last year
•    82% expect sales to fall in 2009 compared with 2008 and 75% of these expect sales to fall by more than 5%
•    40% of contractors reported a fall in total output compared with one year ago when 65%, on balance

I’ve had a look and the only thing that is getting “better” is that problems over labour shortages are easing. Whether that is better or not probably comes down to which side of the employer/employee table you sit.