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Data study · Companies House · September 2026
32,801 new home-improvement companies were registered in January to August 2026 and are still trading, up 33% on the same months of 2025. Trades now make up 6.3% of all new UK companies, reversing a five-year slide.
Key findings
Companies registered in each period and still active on 1 September 2026.
By trade
Change in new company registrations, and how each trade compares with growth across all new UK companies.
| Trade | 2025 | 2026 | Change | Vs economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joinery & carpentry | 980 | 1,529 | +56% | +27.1% |
| Roofing | 1,412 | 2,030 | +43.8% | +17.1% |
| Plumbing & heating | 2,953 | 4,216 | +42.8% | +16.3% |
| Domestic builders | 5,297 | 7,556 | +42.6% | +16.2% |
| Flooring & tiling | 607 | 843 | +38.9% | +13.2% |
| Painting & decorating | 944 | 1,281 | +35.7% | +10.6% |
| Furniture makers | 293 | 391 | +33.4% | +8.7% |
| Electricians | 3,575 | 4,689 | +31.2% | +6.9% |
| Other building finishing | 2,357 | 2,911 | +23.5% | +0.6% |
| Landscaping & gardens | 1,480 | 1,804 | +21.9% | -0.7% |
| Other specialist trades | 3,220 | 3,915 | +21.6% | -0.9% |
| Glazing (windows & doors) | 339 | 404 | +19.2% | -2.9% |
| Plastering | 498 | 582 | +16.9% | -4.8% |
| DIY, paint & hardware shops | 157 | 163 | +3.8% | -15.4% |
| Kitchen furniture makers | 192 | 177 | -7.8% | -24.9% |
| Carpet & flooring shops | 298 | 264 | -11.4% | -27.8% |
| Furniture & lighting shops | 63 | 46 | -27% | -40.5% |
“Vs economy” compares each trade's share of all new companies in 2026 with 2025, so it removes the general rise in company registrations.
Hotspots
Share of all new companies (September 2025 to August 2026) that are home-trade firms. Towns with at least 1,500 new companies.
Volume
New home-trade companies registered September 2025 to August 2026, by post town.
Month by month
Size of each trade
The UK has 42,070 plumbing and heating companies, 50,120 electrical companies and 62,200 domestic building companies on the Companies House register (1 September 2026), out of 330,436 active home-improvement companies in total.
These are limited companies only. Many tradespeople work as sole traders or employees, so the number of individual plumbers or electricians is higher than the number of firms.
| Trade | Active companies |
|---|---|
| Domestic builders | 62,200 |
| Electricians | 50,120 |
| Other specialist trades | 46,998 |
| Plumbing & heating | 42,070 |
| Other building finishing | 35,379 |
| Landscaping & gardens | 16,982 |
| Joinery & carpentry | 16,007 |
| Roofing | 13,757 |
| Painting & decorating | 11,013 |
| Flooring & tiling | 8,655 |
| Plastering | 6,589 |
| Glazing (windows & doors) | 5,768 |
| Furniture makers | 5,053 |
| Carpet & flooring shops | 4,304 |
| DIY, paint & hardware shops | 2,500 |
| Kitchen furniture makers | 2,296 |
| Furniture & lighting shops | 745 |
Method
We analysed the Companies House Free Company Data Product (snapshot 1 September 2026, published 7 September 2026), covering 5,171,600 active UK companies. Companies were classed as home-improvement firms by their first listed SIC code: domestic builders (41202), electrical (43210), plumbing and heating (43220), plastering (43310), joinery (43320), floor and wall covering (43330), painting (43341), glazing (43342), other finishing (43390), roofing (43910), other specialist trades (43999), landscaping (81300), furniture making (31020, 31090) and home retail (47520, 47530, 47591).
The file lists live companies only, so counts are of firms registered in each period and still active on 1 September 2026. Recent periods have had less time for closures, which is why we also compare each trade's share of all new companies over the same months. Towns are Companies House registered post towns; towns dominated by company-formation agents are excluded from the hotspot ranking.
Davendra Patel, Founder · [email protected] · 07973 135243
Town-level and trade-level breakdowns are available on request.
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