Barratt Developments saw pre-tax profits rise to £46.1m from £21.6m for the six months to December 31 2012 as revenue held steady at £951.1m.

Operating margins were up to 8.5% from 6.4% while completions rose 5.3% to 4,241 units from 4,028.

Cutting supply chain costs is one of Barratt’s three core strategies alongside maximising selling prices and carefully targeted land buying.

The firm said: “Driving operational efficiency has remained a significant focus for the Group. We continue to retain a firm control on costs, in particular capitalising on our scale and technical resources to maximise efficiency.

“We continue to review our supply chain to create efficiencies by introducing new suppliers and altering build specifications where appropriate.

“Going forward, it is likely that some pressure will continue to be felt as raw material prices rise due to underlying commodity prices.

“We will however seek to mitigate this by continuing to drive further efficiency savings and reductions in operating costs across the business.”