Western Home Counties Building Services Contractor For Sale

Business description

Building Services Contractor with over 30 successful years supporting Local Authorities and Public Sector projects

Originally established in 1978 by two brothers to tender for work to the local city and county council, this business quickly built a reputation for quality workmanship and on-time delivery of projects which has stayed with the business over the decades. The business is now in a position in the marketplace where is has many assets, accreditations, and approved supplier status across numerous clients, which are the envy of competitors and present a real barrier to entry for those looking to enter the market. As such, this is an excellent opportunity to gain access to a high-profile customer base across a wide geographic area which has a constant stream of projects through-out the year. With such a strong reputation, the business is also called upon by private customers regularly to complete a range of building works, which offers tremendous opportunities for added revenue.

The business has tended to focus in recent years on conversions for disabled such as low-level kitchens on behalf of both Age Concern and local district councils. This includes an excellent reputation for the installation of Wet-rooms, which is a rapidly growing market across the U.K. Alongside this, the company carries out general remedial building projects, void works and extensions for schools, colleges and public buildings. The business has an outstanding level of accreditations including, Federation of Master Builders, Federation of Small Businesses, Trustmark, ISO9002, CHAS and Constructionline. The business is able to issue training certificates in-hose for a number of these organizations, given them a great advantage in the sector. The company also has a Waste Control License for serving their own needs, which can easily be expanded on.

The business is currently completing around 8-10 tenders per week, and receives orders for approximately 4 out of 10 quotes. The vendor of the business is confident this can easily be expanded on, as he has decided to only tender for limited projects in recent years due to his approaching retirement. Under new guidance there are many more projects both with current clients and neighbouring districts, which can easily be won. The business works with a number of major Tier 1 contactors such as Kier and Lang O’Rourke, as such there is every opportunity to expand the companies services alongside these accounts into new areas.

Equipment:

The business is operated with a central server and desktop PC’s, which house financial accounts and customer records. There is a fleet of fully maintained vehicles including 4 large vans, 1 tipper lorry, scaffolding towers, numerous ladders and small and medium plant such as cement mixers, pneumatic drills which would be expected from a business of this size and lengthy trading history.




Customer Service:

The business in this sector grows through recommendation and repeat business, especially if you focus on gaining approved status with larger Blue-chip contractors and the Public Sector. The attention to workmanship, and never leaving a project until it is completed to full satisfaction has paid dividends over the years. This can be shown by the number of regular contracts and tenders landing on the desk, along with the excellent testimonials and recommendations received over the decades.

Key Strengths:

The client base, many of whom only work with those on their preferred supplier base, along with the hard won accreditations the business has are obviously great assets to the business. Not only providing confidence in the on-going levels of work and revenue, but also the ability of competitors to enter the marketplace. The lengthy trading history and reputation garnered over the years is also a great strength to the business, which again supports the levels of on-going business year to year. The business is located in the middle of a large catchment area, and able to carry out works for a wide range of customers across the western Home-Counties. The business has also been developing a reputation for speciality works such as disabled facilities and wet-rooms which are targeted for impressive growth over the coming years.

Growth and Expansion Opportunities:

The business is well placed for future growth, not only from the expected expansion in some of the key speciality areas, but also from increasing quotes to current and adjacent clients. The owner of the business is confident that by pricing projects a little more competitively the workload could be greatly increased under the direction of new ownership with great energy levels to grow the business from the very stable footing. The business can market their services to other regions within working distance, to other main contractors and also by promoting their services to the huge local affluent private marketplace.

Financial Information:

The business is being offered for sale on a going concern basis, all financial discussions will take place directly between the vendor and all interested parties under the auspices of Turner Butler.

For the past financial year, the Turnover is circa £800,000, with a Gross Profit circa £159,000 and a Net Profit circa £81,000.

Property information

Property:

Leasehold

Business Operation

Expansion potential:

The business is well placed for future growth, not only from the expected expansion in some of the key speciality areas, but also from increasing quotes to current and adjacent clients. The owner of the business is confident that by pricing projects a little more competitively the workload could be greatly increased under the direction of new ownership with great energy levels to grow the business from the very stable footing. The business can market their services to other regions within working distance, to other main contractors and also by promoting their services to the huge local affluent private marketplace.

Competition / Market:

The business has been built from direct customer contact and project tendering. There is a corporate website and many ‘word of mouth’ recommendations for the many private contracts undertaken per annum. The present owners have not felt the need to promote heavily or appear in local press and directories due to their comfort with the current workload. However, this can be expanded upon by new owners wishing to capitalise on the name and reputation of the business.

Reasons for selling:

After many successful years in the building contractor business, the vendor is looking to enjoy a well earned retirement.

Trading hours:

Monday – Friday: 8:00 am – 4:30 pm

Employees:

8

Years established:

1978

Other information

Support & training:

The vendor is agreeable to an arranged period of handover for the successful transition of the companies operations to new ownership.