What Should Builders' Merchants Be Stocking This Winter?

Winter creates a different set of problems for construction sites. Frost can damage fresh work, heavy rain can leave materials exposed, darker mornings create additional safety concerns and cold, wet conditions quickly increase demand for everyday products such as gloves, tarpaulins and de-icer.

For builders' merchants, winter stock planning is less about predicting the weather and more about being ready when customers suddenly need something.

A spell of frost, heavy rain or snow can turn an everyday site essential into an urgent purchase. If it isn't on the shelf when the customer needs it, there's a good chance they'll buy it somewhere else.

What should a builders' merchant stock for winter?

A good winter range should cover five main areas: protecting work from frost and weather, keeping materials dry, protecting people working outdoors, dealing with ice and cold-weather travel, and keeping sites safe and visible during darker conditions.

Here are some of the essentials worth considering.

Protect fresh brickwork, mortar and concrete from frost

Cold weather can cause real problems for newly laid brickwork, mortar and concrete, which makes frost protection one of the most obvious winter requirements for construction customers.

Builders' hessian is a simple product, but an important one. It can be used to cover and protect fresh work against frost and poor weather while still allowing the material beneath to breathe.

For merchants, it's also exactly the sort of product customers may not think about until the temperature starts falling.

Merchant tip: Don't wait for the first hard frost before making winter protection visible. Bringing hessian and other frost-protection products forward before temperatures drop helps remind customers what they're likely to need.

Make sure customers can protect materials from rain and snow

And we all know that British winter weather doesn't have to be freezing to cause problems. Rain, wind and prolonged damp conditions can be just as disruptive, and usually are for builders.

Tarpaulins remain one of the most versatile products on site. They can cover building materials, equipment, unfinished work or anything else that needs temporary weather protection.

Having more than one size available is useful because requirements can vary enormously.

This is also a useful category for branch teams to cross-sell. Someone buying building materials for outdoor work during autumn or winter may also need something to keep them dry, so it's always worth asking your customers whether they have enough tarps for the job.

Be ready for heavy rain and local flooding

Sandbags are another product that probably isn't at the top of a branch manager's list of things to stock, but we know from past experience of supplying them that demand can arrive very quickly indeed.

They're useful for temporary flood protection and water management, but are also widely used around construction sites for ballast, erosion control and other everyday jobs.

Keeping a sensible quantity available means branches can respond when periods of prolonged rain create sudden local demand.

A choice of hessian and polypropylene sandbags also gives customers options depending on how and where they plan to use them.

Don't overlook winter PPE

Cold and wet hands aren't just uncomfortable. They can make even straightforward site tasks much more difficult.

Gloves are therefore one of those highly dependable winter categories that deserves more visibility as conditions deteriorate.

You'll probably already stock a range of gloves, but it's worth remembering that the range should cover different requirements rather than relying on one generic glove. Grip gloves work well for general handling, nitrile-coated gloves provide good dexterity, while more heavily coated water-resistant gloves are better suited to prolonged exposure to wet conditions.

From a merchant's point of view, gloves also have the advantage of being a simple repeat-purchase consumable. They're inexpensive compared with many construction products, easy to merchandise and relevant to almost every trade walking through the branch.

Prepare for frost, ice and winter driving

Some winter products sell for one very simple reason: people don't want to start a cold morning without them.

De-icer and screenwash are obvious examples. We've been amazed by just how well this stuff sells over the winter period.

They're useful for tradespeople travelling between jobs, delivery drivers and anyone operating vehicles during winter. They're also easy products to place near a trade counter or entrance where customers can pick them up without having planned the purchase.

A well-positioned winter display can turn these relatively small purchases into useful incremental sales and add extra value to the basket.

Keep branches, yards and sites safer when ice arrives

Grit is only useful if there's somewhere practical to keep it.

A dedicated grit bin gives branches, construction sites and other commercial premises somewhere dry and accessible to store rock salt or road grit throughout winter. For merchants with yards, it's also a useful reminder to think about their own winter preparation as well as the products they sell.

Keeping pedestrian areas, loading areas and entrances usable during freezing conditions helps protect staff and customers while allowing the branch to keep operating normally.

Darker days make site visibility more important

Winter isn't just colder and wetter. There are fewer daylight hours too.

Traffic management, temporary lighting and highly visible site equipment become increasingly important as autumn moves into winter.

Road lamps, batteries, traffic cones and flexible traffic-management bollards can all form part of a useful winter range, particularly for customers working on highways, civils projects and busy construction sites.

This is another category where thinking about the whole job rather than an individual product helps. A customer buying traffic cones may also need lamps. A road lamp needs a battery. Someone improving site access may need several pieces of equipment rather than one.

What should a builders' merchant winter range include?

As a simple starting point, we'd suggest reviewing your stock across these areas:

• Frost protection, including builders' hessian
• Tarpaulins and weather protection
• Sandbags and flood-preparation products
• Wet-weather and general-purpose work gloves
• De-icer and screenwash
• Grit storage
• Road lamps and batteries
• Traffic cones and traffic-management products

The exact mix will depend on the customers using your branch. A civils merchant may have different requirements from a general builders' merchant, while location and local customer demand will also influence quantities.

The important thing is to prepare before the weather creates the demand.

Winter stock works best when customers can see it

Having winter products somewhere in the branch isn't quite the same as selling them.

Seasonal lines benefit from being brought together and made visible. We've put in a number of dedicated winter bays for customers over the years; an end-of-aisle display or a smaller trade-counter selection can help customers spot products they may otherwise forget until they're back on site. Some of these products also make great impulse buys.

There's also a natural opportunity to merchandise related products together. Hessian sits naturally alongside frost-sensitive building materials, tarpaulins work well around outdoor building products, while de-icer, screenwash and gloves can all earn their place close to the trade counter.

The idea isn't to persuade customers to buy things they don't need. It's to make sure the products they're likely to need are easy to find.

Plan early, then replenish according to demand

Winter weather is unpredictable. Winter demand isn't.

Every year there will be wet days, cold mornings, darker working hours and periods when customers need to protect work and materials from the elements.

Branches don't necessarily need huge quantities of every seasonal product. They do need the right lines available and a supplier that can help replenish them when demand changes.

Planning the range early gives branches a better chance of having the right products available when customers need them.

ProSolve supplies a broad range of construction and site consumables to builders' merchants throughout the UK, with a dedicated selection of products brought together for colder, wetter and darker working conditions.

Explore the full ProSolve Winter Essentials range

Winter essentials FAQs

What winter products should builders' merchants stock?

Builders' merchants should consider frost protection, tarpaulins, sandbags, work gloves, de-icer, screenwash, grit storage and site safety products such as road lamps and traffic cones.

When should builders' merchants stock winter products?

Ideally, winter stock should be in place before sustained cold and wet weather begins. Bringing seasonal lines forward during early autumn gives customers time to prepare rather than waiting until the first frost.

Why is builders' hessian used in winter?

Builders' hessian is commonly used to help protect new brickwork, mortar and concrete from frost and poor weather while still allowing the covered material to breathe.

Which products tend to see increased demand during bad weather?

Demand can increase for tarpaulins, hessian, gloves, de-icer, screenwash, sandbags, grit storage and temporary traffic-management equipment when conditions become colder, wetter or darker.