Ben Smith - Commercial Director, DB Construction Ltd
We’re a family business
My brother, Daniel, and I set up DB Construction five years ago after
I qualified for my HNC in civil engineering. At that point NatWest
provided us with a £10,000 loan as working capital and we quickly
evolved into a thriving company. It’s very much a family business as my
dad, brothers, stepbrothers and cousins are all involved. We grew by
investing in the business and improving the quality of our service. We
took on a full-time QHSE (Quality Health Safety Environment) manager to
ensure those high standards.
We gradually built contacts
We knocked on doors and eventually got the opportunity to work with
Ringway on the Essex highways improvements framework. It was a
low-value job, but we formed a strong relationship with Ringway. Off the
back of that, we gained much bigger jobs: 18 months later we were
awarded a major contract to regenerate Clacton town centre. I believe
that investment in people, and in training, is the key to growing in the
current environment. We have been able to grow, on average, 34 per cent
each year.
We have ambitious plans
We’re on target to maintain our high growth rate so far and recently
won a £600,000 contract to refurbish Wrest Park in Bedfordshire for
English Heritage. The Bank has been great with us and I have a great
relationship with Ian Nuttall at the Bank – he’s been a huge help to our
development.
db-construction.co.uk
Borrowing to suit your business
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