69% of workers say that construction crime is increases when the clocks go back and the nights get longer.

These longer nights provide more opportunities for criminals which creates additional challenges for site teams, calling for proactive measures.

Small raids amount to huge numbers

It’s not just delays that impact costs – companies also need to pay to replace what’s taken. But what’s desirable to thieves is not necessarily obvious, making it even trickier to stop them.

Surprisingly, we found that while expensive machinery is attractive, it makes up just 12% of the overall items most stolen from sites. Vehicles (cars and vans) also make up 12%. In only 6% of cases, the cost of goods stolen surpassed
£10,000 in a single incident.

But in two thirds of cases (64%) the cost of stolen items totalled between £500 – £4,000, showing how quickly “minor” offences could add up if repeat patterns are not spotted.

Alexis Potter, BauWatch managing director, said, “Construction sites are ripe targets for theft, with valuable machinery, materials, tools, and appliances at every turn. But our research suggests criminals are becoming more brazen and the situation is worsening.

“The best way to minimise the impact of theft is to deter criminals from entering at all. As the nights get darker, firms need to take appropriate preventative action against theft.”