IN Brief:
- National Tool Hire has expanded its online marketplace to include building materials alongside tools and equipment.
- The offer covers products such as bricks, plasterboard, timber, cement, paint, and other supplies through merchant partnerships.
- The move reflects growing convergence between hire, materials procurement, and online ordering for smaller contractors and trades.
National Tool Hire has expanded into building materials, allowing customers to order construction supplies alongside hired tools and equipment through its online marketplace.
The company is working with builders’ merchants across the UK to offer materials including bricks, plasterboard, timber, cement, paint, and related supplies. Customers can order materials separately or alongside tool and equipment hire, with delivery available across the UK.
The move extends National Tool Hire’s existing online rehire model, which connects customers with equipment through a network of local suppliers. By adding materials, the company is positioning the platform as a broader project procurement route rather than a hire-only service.
Alice Hughes, sales and marketing director at National Tool Hire, said: “We’re often asked by hirers whether we can also source them with building materials for their projects, and until now it hasn’t been possible. It means that we can help both trade and DIY hirers save even more time comparing and ordering as they can order everything they need for projects delivered to them in just a few clicks.”
The expansion is likely to appeal most strongly to smaller contractors, trades, maintenance teams, and self-managed project customers that already use online hire to source equipment on a short-term basis. Combining tool hire and materials ordering can reduce time spent comparing merchants, arranging deliveries, and coordinating multiple suppliers for the same job.
Tool hire and materials procurement are closely linked on many smaller projects. A contractor ordering breakers, mixers, access equipment, or landscaping tools may also need concrete, boards, fixings, aggregates, timber, protection materials, or paint delivered to the same site. A single ordering route can simplify administration, although fulfilment still depends on the availability, service quality, and delivery performance of local merchant partners.
The decision reflects a wider change in construction purchasing. Traditional merchant networks remain central to materials supply, but digital platforms are increasingly trying to simplify fragmented procurement. Smaller contractors often operate with limited back-office support, making speed, availability, delivery options, clear pricing, and account control central to purchasing decisions.
Merchants have already invested heavily in online ordering, click-and-collect, delivery tracking, and account management, while hire businesses have expanded digital booking and equipment availability tools. National Tool Hire’s materials launch sits between those models, using aggregation to connect project demand with local supply.
Materials supply is more variable than standard hire inventory. Products can be bulky, weather-sensitive, locally stocked, subject to price movement, or governed by minimum order values. Delivery windows, substitutions, regional availability, and product compliance can all affect customer experience, particularly where materials are needed to maintain programme on a small site.
Digital procurement also brings new operational risks. As more ordering, account management, and supplier communication moves online, platform reliability becomes part of the construction supply chain’s resilience. That pressure sits alongside wider concern over supplier continuity and cyber exposure, with building suppliers being urged to strengthen cyber resilience as connected procurement becomes more embedded.
For merchants, the model could provide access to additional customers without requiring every supplier to build a national digital storefront. For National Tool Hire, adding materials gives the business a larger share of project spend and strengthens its position in day-to-day site procurement.
The platform will be judged on practical delivery rather than convenience alone. Contractors may welcome simpler ordering, but materials still need to arrive on time, meet specification, and support the pace of work. If the company can manage those fundamentals across regional supplier networks, the launch could become another step towards more integrated online purchasing for smaller construction projects.
