The survey, conducted by ECA in partnership with BESA, SELECT, and SNIPEF, also showed that almost a quarter (23%) of respondents expect their business’ performance to have worsened by the end of this year—a figure that has risen by 7% since the last survey, in August 2024.

ECA director of legal and business Rob Driscoll said: “Whilst staff shortages remain a concern in 2025, we may see a significant impact from delays to projects, which invariably leads to claims and disputes over the cost of completion and final payments.

"In a market where SMEs are paid in arrears as projects progress, business owners should focus on their resilience and ability to withstand cashflow turbulence given the propensity of clients to store disputes up until the resolution of the final account.”

The survey suggests optimism about the number of direct employees in the sector, with 16% predicting this will increase in 2025.

However, the same proportion of respondents felt the number of apprentices would fall in 2025, most likely reflecting the decline in confidence about future trading conditions following the budget announcements of increased costs for 2025.

The number of respondents reporting vacancies in their businesses rose by 10% to nearly two in five respondents (36%).

Trouble filling these vacancies was primarily blamed on a lack of sufficient knowledge or skills (49%), high pay expectations (46%), and inadequate qualifications (40%).

While most survey respondents felt payment behaviour would stay the same by the end of Q4 2024, over 20% thought it would deteriorate. Half (49%) said that their public sector clients paid them later than 30 days after completing work, including 10% saying this took over 60 days.

Three quarters (76%) said their private sector clients paid later than 30 days, including 16% saying this took longer than 60 days. Over 40% of respondents reported that 2.5-10% of their turnover was tied to retention.