When you’re growing your construction business, it can be hard to find a balance between managing your business and being on the tools. To develop and grow, you need to spend more time on building relationships with your clients, keeping paperwork up to date and marketing to spread the word. There may come a time when you need to get off the tools to free up your time – and knowing when to take that step can be daunting.
We caught up with two FMB members about their experiences.
Taking the family business back to basics
FMB member company George Fair Joiners & Contractors Ltd has been operating in Scotland for half a century. In 2017, Ryan Fair took over the family business after his father, George, suffered a stroke. Despite having spent more than 20 years at the company, taking on the role of company leader was a difficult task.
‘My dad lost his sight and mobility, so I had to take over’ Ryan says. He struggled to get payments from some who were using his father’s health as a delay tactic, and this forced him to downsize the company to just himself and one labourer. ‘We had to get through that, basically starting again from scratch.’
Ryan has turned the business around and now employs nine people. He came off the tools two years ago, calling it an inevitability if the business was to continue.
‘If you’re taking 30 phone calls a day and spending two hours a day on the tools, and meeting with architects and structural engineers, you're just not making progress,’ Ryan says. ‘So it’s a natural sort of transition to get off the tools or you become frustrated working late to catch up and get stuff done.’
Finding the right people to help you grow
Like many small builders, David Gutierrez, who founded Amic Ltd in 2004, was juggling many responsibilities. ‘When I was on the tools, it would be from 8am to 5pm. Then I’d meet with clients and do my paperwork and pricing for the work until around 9pm or 10pm. You sit in the office till late. Then you're back to work. Sometimes I work on my drawings when the lads are having their lunch. And if it's a massive job, it spills into the weekend. That will give you an outlook on how much life I'm left with.’
While long unsociable hours come hand in hand with starting a new business, they aren’t sustainable in the long term, either for business growth or personal wellbeing. There comes a time when you need to step back and focus on business development – but that’s often not straightforward.
‘It isn't me being a control freak or a perfectionist – although I am both – it’s the fact that people are not able to do the work I do, and I struggle to find anybody good enough for me to be happy about leaving them to it for the client,’ David explained. ‘There aren’t any guys out there, apart from older guys who are retiring or looking at a different line of work because of the wear and tear on their bodies. The skills shortage is the only thing keeping me away from fully coming off the tools.’
Sometimes, the opportunity to come off the tools comes when you meet the right person. David has recently stepped away from hands-on building work by partnering with a long-time friend on a new joint business venture – showing that you sometimes need to think strategically outside the box.
Tips to get off the tools
From speaking to our members, we know that having these five key business skills in your ‘toolkit’ are essential for getting off the tools: