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Published: 18/03/2026
Estimating rates in the BCIS Building Maintenance Price Database increased by an average of 5.4% in the year to 1Q2026.
The dataset presents guide prices for maintenance repair work across a range of trades, reflecting the cost of carrying out work on existing buildings under typical operating conditions. These include working in occupied premises, access constraints, additional protection requirements, limited economies of scale, increased supervision, higher material costs, short plant hire periods and increased carriage charges.
Unlike new-build benchmarks, the rates are designed to reflect the realities of maintenance work, where tasks are typically undertaken as one-off operations. As a result, they are based on small-quantity material pricing and include additional labour allowances specific to repair environments.
BCIS data services director Karl Horton said: ‘An average increase of 5.4% across the dataset represents greater cost inflation than was seen in the year to 1Q2025, when building maintenance prices increased by an average of 3.3%.’
Annual movement in estimating rates within the dataset varies, from a 4.2% increase in roofing work to a 6.4% increase in external works and drainage.
Source: BCIS
In the 2026 update to the dataset, 217 new items have been added. The dataset now contains a total of 3,204 rates with 1,461 resources.
About BCIS Building Maintenance Prices 2026
While the prices are presented as national averages based on a contract value up to around £100,000, subscribers to the online BCIS OpX can make multiple adjustments, including applying inflation and UK location factors, adjusting the contract value, and building in allowances for preliminaries and required overheads and profit levels.
Material supply prices are current at 1Q2026 and labour costs incorporate the latest wage agreement from BATJIC, JIB-PMES and the Electrotechnical JIB.
The database is widely used to benchmark contractor rates, support measured term contracts and inform budgeting and maintenance planning. However, users should note that the published rates exclude items such as travelling time, call-out charges, pre-inspection and VAT, which should be accounted for separately depending on the contract and site conditions.
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