The areas in the UK where construction workers are most struggling to find regular work has been revealed by constructaquote.com research.

The study found that 15% of construction workers in the North East and 13% in Wales are currently struggling to find regular and reliable work, with electricians and bricklayers struggling most among UK tradespeople.

The business insurance website polled a total of 3,948 UK-based, cross-sector construction workers, each 18 or over and describing themselves as primarily freelance. There was an equal split of participants across regions.

When asked if they had noticed a difference in the amount of work they were securing over the past 12 months, the majority (59%) admitted it had been roughly the same, with 22% claiming they had more work and 19% noticing they had less work.

Participants were also asked if they were ‘struggling to find reliable and regular work’, to which a quarter (26%) said they were. When divided according to the regions in order to establish the hardest areas of the UK in which to work, the following results were drawn:

1. North-East - (15%)

2. Wales - (13%)

3. North-West - (12%)

4. Yorkshire and Humberside - (12%)

5. London - (10%)

6. West Midlands - (9%)

7. East of England - (7%)

8. Northern Ireland - (6%)

9. Scotland - (6%)

10. South-East - (4%)

11. East Midlands- (3%)

12. South-West - (3%)

Of those who said they were struggling to find work, the most commonly affected trades emerged as electricians (16%), bricklayers (11%) and builders (8%).

When these respondents were asked to reveal the main reasons behind it being so difficult, the most common were:

1. People don’t have the disposable income to afford my services - (39%)

2. There is too much competition for my services in my local area - (32%)

3. I’m not doing enough to promote myself within the local area - (23%)

4. Damaged reputation from previous work carried out - (16%)

5. I’m not willing to cut my costs like others might do - (11%)

Lyndon Wood, chief executive officer and constructaquote.com creator, said: “Sometimes it is all too easy to describe one industry using the umbrella term of the UK. The truth is, while construction might be booming in one region of the country, it could be struggling in another part. This is evident from our findings when comparing the regional results in the North East to the South West.

“In terms of the reasons behind why construction workers think they are struggling to find work in their local areas, I would suggest this could be a lack of self-promotion and ‘selling your service’ is partly to blame. It’s 2015 and you cannot expect customers to come to you; you need to actively advertise your services on the likes of social media and through a well-designed and efficient website.”