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Source: every figure comes from Companies House records and the accounts companies file there. How the figures are produced.

How many construction companies are there in the UK?

There are 564,305 active construction companies with a registered office in the UK, according to Companies House records. 244,225 of them are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months (data to 31 Jan 2026).

These figures last changed on and were last checked against the data on .

Active companies
564,305
With recent accounts, not dormant
244,225
Employees reported in accounts
693,751
Median net assets
£12,182
Data as of

Summary

Of the 564,305 active construction companies registered in the UK, 34,957 are dormant and 244,225 are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months. The figures below describe those 244,225 companies, unless a table says otherwise.

Together, the 185,905 companies that reported at least one employee reported 693,751 employees in their latest accounts. The median among them is 2.

By size of accounts

Construction companies in the UK by accounts category
Accounts category Companies Share
Micro-entity accounts 109,798 45.0%
Small company accounts 132,982 54.5%
Medium company accounts 337 0.1%
Medium or large company accounts 75 0.0%
Category not known 1,033 0.4%

The category is the type of accounts a company filed, which follows its size. Micro-entities are the smallest.

By number of employees

Construction companies in the UK by average number of employees
Average employees Companies Share
None or not reported 58,320 23.9%
1 to 4 158,187 64.8%
5 to 9 15,943 6.5%
10 to 49 10,737 4.4%
50 to 249 990 0.4%
250 or more 48 0.0%

Average employees in the latest accounts. Many small companies have no employees other than their directors, or do not state a number.

By age

Active construction companies in the UK by years since incorporation
Years since incorporation Companies Share
Under 2 years 157,699 27.9%
2 to 4 years 104,097 18.4%
5 to 9 years 135,657 24.0%
10 to 19 years 107,424 19.0%
20 years or more 59,428 10.5%

All active companies, dormant ones included.

By year of incorporation

Active construction companies in the UK by year of incorporation
Incorporated in Companies
2021 31,044
2022 33,015
2023 38,637
2024 44,094
2025 62,307

Companies incorporated in each year that are still active. Companies that have since closed are not counted, so these are not the numbers formed in each year.

Typical figures

Median figures for construction companies in the UK, with the number of companies each median is taken from
Figure Median Companies reporting it
Net assets £12,182 203,537
Employees (companies with one or more) 2 185,905
Cash at bank £18,160 114,756
Cash at bank per employee £9,111 93,355
Fixed assets per employee £6,936 102,309

The median is the middle company: half report more and half report less. Each median covers only the companies that reported that figure, so it describes those companies and not every company in the industry. A median is shown only when at least 30 companies reported the figure.

97,538 of the 183,181 companies with net assets for two consecutive years (53.2%) reported higher net assets than the year before.

Download CSV of these statistics Every figure on this page, unformatted.

How these figures were produced

Industry
Companies with any of these SIC codes on their Companies House record:
  • 41100 – Development of building projects
  • 41201 – Construction of commercial buildings
  • 41202 – Construction of domestic buildings
  • 42110 – Construction of roads and motorways
  • 42120 – Construction of railways and underground railways
  • 42130 – Construction of bridges and tunnels
  • 42210 – Construction of utility projects for fluids
  • 42220 – Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications
  • 42910 – Construction of water projects
  • 42990 – Construction of other civil engineering projects
  • 43110 – Demolition
  • 43120 – Site preparation
  • 43130 – Test drilling and boring
  • 43210 – Electrical installation
  • 43220 – Plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation
  • 43290 – Other construction installation
  • 43310 – Plastering
  • 43320 – Joinery installation
  • 43330 – Floor and wall covering
  • 43341 – Painting
  • 43342 – Glazing
  • 43390 – Other building completion and finishing
  • 43910 – Roofing activities
  • 43999 – Other specialised construction activities
Location
Every company on the UK register, wherever its registered office is.
Active companies
Companies whose status at Companies House is active. Dissolved companies are not in the data.
Recent accounts
Accounts made up to a date in the 21 months before 31 Jan 2026, the newest accounts date in the data.
Registered addresses
63,247 of the 244,225 companies with recent accounts (25.9%) are registered at an address shared by 50 or more companies, such as an accountant's office. Those companies may trade somewhere else.