The country’s 10 biggest contractors made a combined margin of less than half a percent on turnover of £31bn, according to Building’s latest Top 150 contractors and housebuilders survey.

The shocking figure, which works out at a margin of just 0.38%, down from 1.09% last year for the same firms, underlines how far the country’s biggest builders have to go to reach most firms’ stated minimum target margin of 2%.

Leo Quinn, the chief executive of Balfour Beatty – now far and away the country’s biggest contractor following the collapse of Carillion back in January – has previously said that margins of 5% are achievable by 2020 with the firm’s recovering UK arm, which was recently hobbled by dozens of problem jobs, now targeting margins of 2.5%-3% in the second half of this year.