# UK Building Materials Price Index (`robert-white/uk-building-materials-prices`) Actor

Official UK construction material price indices (DBT/ONS) as clean monthly data: 30 materials plus All Work and New Housing indices, with % change since any base month for fluctuation claims.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/robert-white/uk-building-materials-prices.md
- **Developed by:** [Robert White](https://apify.com/robert-white) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 price indices

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## UK Building Materials Price Index

**The official UK construction material price indices as clean, ready-to-use data, updated every month.** This Actor automatically finds the latest GOV.UK *Building materials and components statistics* release (Department for Business and Trade, using ONS producer price indices) and turns it into one tidy row per material.

- **30 materials and components:** cement, ready-mixed concrete, precast concrete, reinforcing bar, fabricated structural steel, timber, plywood, insulation, plastic pipes, aggregates, paint, doors and windows, boilers, sanitaryware and more.
- **Headline indices:** All Work, New Housing, Other New Work, Repair and Maintenance.
- **Changes already worked out:** latest index, month-on-month %, change since the start of the series, and year-on-year % for the headline indices.
- **Change since your base month:** enter your tender or contract date and get the % movement for every material. This is useful for fluctuation claims, price adjustment and cost forecasting.
- **Always the latest release:** no hunting for this month's spreadsheet on GOV.UK.

### Who it's for

- **Quantity surveyors and cost consultants:** cost planning, inflation allowances, fluctuation and price adjustment calculations
- **Contractors and subcontractors:** tracking material cost risk on fixed-price work
- **Estimators and buyers:** timing purchases and checking supplier price rises
- **Analysts, journalists and AI agents:** current construction inflation data in a machine-readable form

### How to use it

1. Click **Start** to get every index from the latest release.
2. Optionally list **materials** to keep, by keyword (e.g. `reinforcing`, `timber`, `cement`).
3. Optionally set a **base month** such as `2025-09` to add the % change from then to the latest month.
4. Download as Excel, CSV or JSON, or **schedule a monthly run** so your sheet or dashboard always has the newest figures.

### Example row

```json
{
  "category": "Cement and concrete",
  "material": "Concrete reinforcing bars (steel)",
  "onsCode": "CRB",
  "latestPeriod": "2026-04",
  "latestIndex": 144.4,
  "monthOnMonthChangePercent": 3.6,
  "firstPeriod": "2025-07",
  "changeSinceFirstPeriodPercent": 1.7,
  "baseMonth": "2025-09",
  "baseIndex": 136.7,
  "changeSinceBasePercent": 5.6,
  "indexBase": "2015=100",
  "annualAverages": { "2021": 152.5, "2022": 210.4, "2023": 166.7, "2024": 148.7, "2025": 141.6 },
  "monthlySeries": [ { "period": "2025-07", "index": 142.0 }, "..." ],
  "sourceRelease": "Building materials and components statistics: August 2026",
  "nextPublication": "7 October 2026"
}
```

*(Illustrative figures. Your run returns the current release.)*

### Output fields

| Field | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| `type` | `headline` (All Work etc.) or `material` |
| `category`, `material`, `onsCode` | What the index measures, with its ONS series code |
| `latestPeriod`, `latestIndex` | Most recent month and its index value (2015 = 100) |
| `monthOnMonthChangePercent` | Change vs the previous month |
| `firstPeriod`, `changeSinceFirstPeriodPercent` | Change since the first month in the release's series |
| `yearOnYearChangePercent` | Change vs the same month last year, where the release covers it (headline indices) |
| `baseMonth`, `baseIndex`, `changeSinceBasePercent` | Only when you set a base month |
| `annualAverages` | Annual average index by year (headline indices back to 1996) |
| `monthlySeries` | Every monthly value in the release (headline monthly since 2021, materials for the latest ~14 months) |
| `dataQualityRating` | The ONS quality rating shown in the release |
| `sourceRelease`, `sourceUrl`, `sourcePublished`, `nextPublication` | Where the figures came from, and when the next update is due |

### Pricing

A small fee per index row (see the Pricing tab). A full run of about 50 rows costs well under a pound. Filter by keyword to pay only for the materials you need.

### Notes

- Data: **Building materials and components statistics**, published monthly on GOV.UK under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This Actor isn't affiliated with DBT or ONS.
- Recent months are often **provisional**, and ONS may revise them in later releases.
- Some series are confidential (`[c]` in the source). They come back with `null` values.
- The latest figures usually lag publication by a few months. For example, the August 2026 bulletin runs to April 2026.
- For individual materials, the monthly release covers roughly the last 10 months, so year-on-year is only available for the headline indices. Base months earlier than that return `null` with a note. Use `annualAverages` for longer comparisons.
- Index figures show relative price movement, not actual prices.

### Related

By the same developer: **UK Subcontractor Health Check** and **UK Construction Payment League Table**.

# Actor input Schema

## `materials` (type: `array`):

Keywords to filter by, e.g. 'reinforcing', 'timber', 'cement', 'insulation'. Leave empty for everything.

## `baseMonth` (type: `string`):

Year-month such as 2025-09 (e.g. your tender or contract date). Adds the % change from that month to the latest month for every index.

## `includeHeadlineIndices` (type: `boolean`):

All Work, New Housing, Other New Work, Repair and Maintenance (monthly since 2021, annual since 1996).

## `includeMaterials` (type: `boolean`):

30 materials and components such as cement, ready-mixed concrete, reinforcing bar, timber, insulation, plastic pipes.

## `includeMonthlySeries` (type: `boolean`):

Add every monthly value in the release to each row (turn off for a smaller table).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "materials": [],
  "includeHeadlineIndices": true,
  "includeMaterials": true,
  "includeMonthlySeries": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "materials": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("robert-white/uk-building-materials-prices").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "materials": [] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("robert-white/uk-building-materials-prices").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "materials": []
}' |
apify call robert-white/uk-building-materials-prices --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,robert-white/uk-building-materials-prices"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/dsCt6W26okf8F8WSp/builds/buvvhT9YDBwmmadio/openapi.json