About
Same family, same yard, since 1995
Started with one van and a bricklayer. Thirty-one years later there are twenty-two of us and the van is still in the yard.
How we ended up doing it this way
For the first decade we quoted the way everybody does: a single number on one page, and an argument every time something changed. In 2008 we lost a job over a variation neither side had written down, and after that we started itemising everything.
It costs an estimator about two days per quote. It has also meant three disputes in eighteen years, which in this trade is close to none.
Who is here
Twenty-two people. Fourteen on the tools, four in the office, two estimators and two apprentices at any one time. The average time somebody has been here is eleven years.
We do not use agency labour. Everybody on your site is on our payroll and has been through our own induction, which is longer than it needs to be and has kept the accident rate where it is.
What we will not do
Take a job we cannot start within four months, run two large jobs with the same site manager, or price something just to stay in the running. Turning work down is most of why the work we take goes well.
