From the Dining Room to the Board Room

It appears that when you read the news all you ever see is gloom and doom.

It is nice, therefore, every once in a while to read a rags-to-riches story, which we can all celebrate. It offers inspiration for all those people who sit at their dining room table with an idea for a business together with all its hopes and dreams.

This story is a simple one.

John worked in local government looking after electrical maintenance works. He slowly realised that simply by the provision of an efficient, timely and well-presented service, there was an opportunity to be taken.

After wrestling with the ‘shall I leave my job and do this full time’ question, he finally took the jump in 2003.

Starting with a barely serviceable van and through contacts he had made, he started to do electrical maintenance work specialising in electrical testing and remedial works for publicly owned residential properties.

The business was literally conducted from his dining room table with the aid of some sub-contract labour. It was not long, however, before it became clear that things had moved on and that the next step was an office (if for no other reason than to improve domestic harmony!)

The move was made to an office, at which point additional staff were required, and the originally trusted (although now clapped-out) van was replaced and the business continued to grow.

Soon the office itself was not big enough and a further move was required with additional staff and storage together with an ever-increasing workforce.

The basis of the growth of the business was always to provide a good quality, timely and appropriate service to the client, but with a friendly face and strong consistent customer relations.

The business then expanded into larger contractual work, whilst still concentrating on the electrical maintenance testing and remedial works for residential properties. By now the company was expanding into other types of work, including street lighting, maintenance and other electrical contract work.

By this time, the company was turning over in excess of £1m, but had reached a glass ceiling in that, no matter how hard the company worked to push forward, the level of income and profitability, remained static.

Then came the big one.

One of John’s clients changed their policy and put out to tender for a much larger number of units requiring a five year commitment. Immediately he recognised that this was an opportunity that was too good to pass up and decided to quote for the work.

It was clear from the outset of this process that not only would this change the income profile of the business, but it would also necessitate a complete root and branch change to the structure of the business. This included bringing in more accounting, technical, supervisory and administrative staff with premises to match.

Clearly, this would have to be a planned, structured process involving cash flow forecasting, budgeting and liaison with the clients to ensure that this planned growth didn’t become a disastrous road to overtrading and oblivion.

The tender was successful and the process of change commenced.

The first step was to take on a financial controller and create a management and control structure. This ensured that the work could be undertaken efficiently and without compromising the values by which the business had grown over the years. Plans were put in to place to move the company to a much larger and more appropriate premises to match its new profile and the needs of the business.

Today the business has a turnover of in excess of £3.5m with a forecast for 2019 of £5m and for 2020 of £7m.

Not bad for a business that started on John’s dining room table with a clapped-out van and one contract.

This is a fantastic success story, but more importantly it is confirmation that, no matter what change a business goes through, the vital thing is to manage those changes well. This ensures that the business remains viable, efficient and sustainable throughout.