EVABUILD (Newtown)

Origins

The overriding motivation in starting up the business was to create something that was successful and disrupting the status quo that exists within the construction industry. The construction industry has many flaws and the founders saw the change to exploit this and make a difference. Another major factor for the founders was being able to exploit their own skills and push them to the extreme, knowing that implementing a high growth strategy was going to be an emotional rollercoaster that would sap a huge amount of time and energy. Mid-Wales is an area where job opportunities in this sector are scarce, especially for young people, so being able to create job opportunities and wealth for job seekers was a hugely motivating factor.

Our main challenges when starting the business

These included working ludicrously long hours and most weekends for the first few years (without holidays or breaks). It was mentally and physically draining and the added uncertainly of potentially losing all personal assets, including the family home if it failed was truly frightening. Financial planning was also a huge hurdle as the construction industry is notoriously unpredictable and slow at paying sub-contractors. Learning how to meticulously produce and manage cash-flows, forecasting and overall money management on top of doing everything else was challenging but vital. Finally, balancing quality and high growth was and continues to be a challenge as Evabuild was founded upon providing a high quality service, maintaining this through years of growth has been critical in maintaining the core identity of the business

Success Factor

The most significant factor is the appointment of key staff as the foundations of Evabuild’s success to date is attributable to those that work for us. It has a fantastic team who share and buy into the firm’s values. As soon as the company started to grow quickly it became very apparent that key staff was needed and through a mix of luck and good timing, high calibre, young, driven and passionate people were attracted to the company. High growth has only been achievable through being able to finance the work as the business has grown from nothing and without any external borrowing. Managing finances with meticulous detail soon became critical. Finally, passion and dedication has been a major feature with employees literally giving their all to make the company what it is.

The Future

The first part of the growth plan is to consolidate as Evabuild has a core identity and a set of values that connects it with clients and future growth may endanger this. Maintaining these values that are intrinsically associated with the brand is paramount to the business. With high calibre staff critical to the business now and in the future, there will need to be more investment in existing staff development to nurture the talent that lies within and a need to attract new staff that will buy into the company’s vision. The EvaBuild brand name was originally set up so that it could be used to create ‘’sister’’ companies and this was first realised last year with the incorporation of EvaBuild Interiors. There are plans to monitor some niche markets and when the time is right, other new companies will be established to service these markets.