LDC Top 50 2024

Q&A

What was your personal aim when you started the business?

When I was 16, I did a two-week work experience stint at a construction firm called Frank Haslam Milan. The commercial director, Lee Francis, told me I should give him a ring if football didn’t work out. When I was released from Bradford City four years later, I made the call and started working for him. Over the next decade, the company was bought out twice and became very corporate and bureaucratic. I saw a gap in the market to do things differently. When my wife fell pregnant, I thought: “Now’s the time to start my own business and provide for my family.”

What was the turning point for the business?

After a year of battling away, we won our first big tenders with Karbon Homes and Darlington Borough Council. That enabled us to hire three industry heavyweights, including my old boss, Lee Francis, who’s now our CEO. They brought connections, clout and credibility, and the business skyrocketed. Turnover jumped from £5.1m in 2021 to £40.4m last year, and we’re on track to top that again.

What’s your ambition?

The five-year plan is to reach £350m in turnover and give back to the communities in which we work. We’ve donated around £30,000 to The Bread and Butter Thing, which runs mobile food banks in low-income areas, and our staff recently gave out food packages at the new hub at Pennywell Neighbourhood Centre. The ultimate aim is to set up a RE:GEN Foundation.