The axe of extra costs falls on builders

“Given our turnover,” adds Davoli, “having to forego tens of millions in revenue is by no means a minor matter. This generally means that it is the companies themselves that are partly financing the works carried out: it is important that the Ministry disburses the funds due, not least because, under these conditions, it is difficult for companies to draw up their financial budgets.”

“After a wait of almost two years, Anas has paid my company around 25 million in additional costs,” explains Francesca De Sanctis, president of Ance Roma, “but other contracting authorities are not paying. What is the request to the public sector? To pay the arrears and then allocate a special fund with additional resources.” “I work with the public sector 99.9 per cent of the time,” adds Ronzoni, “and the problem of late payments is serious: I’m constantly sending certified emails to contracting authorities asking to be paid. The response? They say they’ll pay when they’ve received the money from the ministry.”

Now that the phase involving ministerial compensation funds has come to an end (applicable to calls for tenders issued before June 2023) and following the conclusion of the transitional regime provided for in the Budget Law (with compensation linked to regional price lists), for contracts launched from 27 April onwards, the mechanism has changed, with calculations now based on Istat indices, which have increased from three (residential buildings, industrial warehouses, road sections including tunnel sections) to 20. These are the TOLs (homogeneous types of works), which take into account multiple components of construction site activity – namely labour, materials, machinery and equipment, energy, transport and waste – and which should therefore more accurately reflect the evolution of the actual costs borne by contractors. ‘Unfortunately, this is not the case,’ explains Paolo Riva, vice-president of ANCE Lombardia and delegate for public works, ‘because these indices do not accurately capture market trends. Take bitumen, for example, where price rises have exceeded 30 per cent in just a few months. Furthermore, as the ‘decreto ristori’ is no longer in force, the additional payment – which is in any case limited by law to 90 per cent of any increase exceeding 3 per cent – is left to the contracting authority, which often lacks adequate resources. This means that renegotiation is not an automatic process and each company must take action to protect its own interests by initiating legal proceedings.’

Although companies complain about the TOLs’ excessive ‘caution’, the indices nevertheless show that prices are on the move. The latest update is from June, and it is reasonable to assume, in light of the further surge in energy prices, that subsequent figures will show further rises. In any case, compared with the end of 2025, in June there was, for example, a nine-point increase for earthworks, as well as for foundation works. This rises to ten points for the construction of asphalt pavements. Given the calculation methods, however, a 10 per cent jump in input prices results in a compensation of just over 6 per cent for the company.

Homogeneous categories of manufacturing: the highest price rises