Fix Radio analysis shows Wales is already feeling the strain, with urgent repairs taking nearly a week on average as pressure on the trades deepens

  • Wales records an average 6-day wait for an urgent tradie fix.
  • The East of England records the shortest average wait in the dataset, at 3 days, while the East Midlands records the longest at 9 days.
  • Across the cities surveyed, the average wait for an urgent fix is just over 6 days.
  • CITB says the UK construction industry needs to recruit the equivalent of 239,300 extra workers between 2025 and 2029.

Analysis from Fix Radio shows that homeowners in Wales are facing an average six-day wait for an urgent tradesperson fix, leaving many households waiting nearly a full week for essential repairs to be dealt with. Based on Fix Radio’s analysis of city-level urgent repair wait-time data from Markel Direct’s Censuswide survey of UK homeowners, the findings point to mounting pressure on trades capacity, local demand and labour availability across Wales, as shortages continue to feed directly into slower response times.

The national picture remains highly uneven. The East of England records the shortest average wait at three days, followed by the North East on four days, the North West on 4.5 days and London on five. Wales and the South East each average six days, Yorkshire and the Humber sits at 6.5, while the South West, West Midlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland all come in at seven days. At the other end of the scale, the East Midlands records the longest average delay at nine days, leaving a six-day gap between the fastest and slowest regional averages in the dataset.

The research also found that 44% of homeowners have already delayed repairs because of the cost of hiring a tradesperson, underlining how affordability pressure and limited availability are now colliding at the same time. In Wales, that leaves households facing a difficult combination of rising costs, slower fixes and a trades market already under strain. CITB forecasts that the industry will need to recruit the equivalent of 239,300 extra workers between 2025 and 2029, with the UK construction workforce expected to reach around 2.75 million by 2029, reinforcing the scale of the labour challenge still facing the sector.

From Fix Radio’s perspective, the findings reflect a wider problem around availability, local demand and the difficulty of keeping enough skilled people in the pipeline. Waiting times are not only a sign of homeowner frustration. They are a visible symptom of a stretched workforce, overloaded order books and a skills gap that is becoming harder to ignore. In Wales, where urgent repairs are already taking close to a week on average, that strain is no longer theoretical. It is being felt directly in people’s homes.

About Fix Radio

Fix Radio, the Builders Station is the home of entertainment, music and information for UK tradespeople. Since 2017 the station has been built from the ground-up with tradespeople in mind, providing a mixture of authentic trade voices, up-beat music and a schedule designed around the tradesperson’s day.

The station’s schedule includes some of the biggest talent in the industry, including social media influencers the Bald Builders, Clive Holland of the BBC and formerly Cowboy Trap, the country’s most famous plasterer Chris Frediani from DIY SOS, plumbing influencers Andy Cam and Todd Glister, decorators Joel Bardall and Todd Von Joel, electrician turned YouTuber Thomas Nagy, Roofer of the Year Danny Madden, carpenter, craftsman and social media influencer Robin Clevett.

Broadcasting nationally on DAB since May 2022, Fix Radio has an average reach of 833,545 tradespeople each week. The Builders Station also boasts 27.9 average weekly listening hours. Fix Radio’s audience reach and listening hours are audited by Nielsen.