Rising pressure on costs over the next six months is the chief concern of small and medium firms in a recent trade survey.

Members of the Federation of Master Builders reported a positive net balance for workloads, expected workloads and enquiries in the third quarter across nearly all parts of the UK.

This is the second upbeat trade survey with private new build and residential repair and maintenance sectors seeing a marked improvement, and overall 42% of small builders saw their workloads increase.

But firms fear material costs, wages and salaries are all expected to continue rising over the next six months, putting pressure on building companies to try to raise prices.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “Construction SMEs have battled to maintain staffing and capacity while trying to keep prices competitive. Material costs have remained high throughout 2013, and further increases could snuff out this recovery in its infancy, especially if companies that have cut their profit margins to the bone to beat the recession are now forced to pass on those costs to their customers.”

He said: “The Government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme is having a positive impact on the housing market, helping create demand for more privately built houses which is having a knock-on effect for the home repair and refurbishment sector.

“However, there is a danger smaller house builders won’t benefit from this upturn because of barriers they face to market entry.”

Berry said limited access to finance and a shortage of small sites for development remained brakes on smaller house builders.