Establishing a new business is a difficult endeavour in and of itself. Establishing a valuable business is an additional and ongoing challenge, that requires holistic understanding and engagement with each aspect of your business as it grows.
The construction sector is particularly valuable with regard to the UK’s economy, with a gross added value (GVA) of over £36 billion annually. As an emergent business in the construction sector, what are some key ways in which you can add value and grow against fierce competition?
Materials
In construction, there are myriad different moving parts to a successful business with proven value. But all of these parts exist in service of the central, most important factor: the quality of the build. The bread and butter of any quality build are the workers and the raw materials, respectively. With regard to the latter, material concerns are vital for winning client trust and ensuring long-lasting builds.
Relationships with suppliers are crucial to supporting this element of your business. For timber frame constructions, your project manager needs a reliable supply of treated products to meet project specifications and timeframes; late or incomplete deliveries serve not just to delay a project, but to devalue it and you for your clients.
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Customer Service
Customer service is an extremely important ancillary factor to securing and completing projects, and near-equal to build quality in the eyes of clients when it comes to value. As such, there are strong opportunities for growth and improvement with regard to your customer care.
Building positive client relationships is formative to improving overall value, making communication a leading line of approach. Ensuring constant communication with your clients enables you to inform them of changes to project timelines or potential supply issues, and also canvas opinion regard specific next steps. Post-build check-ins can also demonstrate your commitment to providing quality products, and help you to maintain long-standing client relationships.
Financial Management
Your construction business’ value is not merely decided by the satisfaction of your clients, though. It is also decided, in a much more literal manner, by investors and shareholders. Whether you are a limited company with venture capital investment, or a publicly trading company with shareholders and an executive board, the value of your business translates to financial value for those with vested interests.
Naturally, the above aspects have a key role in preserving and growing value for these parties, but there is also an administrative angle to reassuring investors – with specific regard to finances. Strong financial management is nothing short of vital for investors to see.
Overarching decisions regarding re-investment of profits into equipment may seem trivial to the hands-on project manager, but can have serious consequences for cashflow and investor trust. As such, a targeted and robust finance management plan should be central to your operation, to ensure short- and long-term stability and overall transparency.
