Podcast with Jamie Mills
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Greg: Jamie, great to have you on the podcast.
Jamie: Thanks, Greg. It’s been been a long time coming looking forward to it.
Greg: Yeah, gonna be really good to dive into a few details here. So this podcast is a little bit different. We have a number of different guests on here. Some are experts in different fields.
What we don’t often have is seeing a real success story come on with someone that has done some really good things in business and can be really relatable for our listeners. Jamie, it’s awesome to have you on. Just to give people a bit of background, we’ve known each other for, is it about three years now?
Is it two, three years?
Jamie: Must be,
yeah. Goes fast.
Greg: Yeah, it does go fast. Yeah. And so Jamie, maybe just introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into construction? What do you do?
Jamie: Yeah. So Jamie Mills, my, my business is called Signature Build. We’re based in West London.
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We cover. Prime Central London, the home counties, and we act as a main contractor to what we would call high-end residential projects with a real fancy FE building work too. This is obviously the end point of my journey or the current end point of my journey. And it’s been. It’s been an interesting ride going all the way back.
I’ve been doing this about 15 years in total, and before that I used to masquerade as a project manager. Managing big infrastructure projects. I’ve helped build festival sites. I’ve helped build military bases. I’ve managed to work all over the world doing that. Which which was a great learning ground for setting up your own business and setting out in construction.
Yeah, it really started off way back in the year two thousands with where I started working in it, which is obviously a very different world to the one we operate in now. But but I learned a lot of key skills in doing that in dealing with people in managing large projects and slowly brought myself through to large, like I to manage, as I say, these large infrastructure projects.
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And at one point I had the entrepreneurial seizure. Someone mentioned that, you know what, maybe you should run your own business. And whether it was foolishly or whether it was. Divine intervention.
I decided that was the right move and that got me started. And yeah, I entered into this as a bit of a novice, but with with a small team that we’re delivering the work. And I took it from there. Really my key focus being creating relationships.
Building partnerships with architects and interior designers and trying to win projects that excited us. And, we continue doing that today, just slightly larger than our first project, which was like a 14,000 pound kitchen renovation. And now we’re operating up and into the millions.
Progress has never been a straight line, but it’s been exciting.
Greg: Yeah, for sure. Really interesting. So just let’s go back to when you first started your business. I know initially you were in partnerships with someone, weren’t you? So what, what made you have that decision to, to go in with someone when you started out Initially?
Jamie: Yeah.
To be honest, I had a mentor I was very aware of when I got into the industry.
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I was very aware of the things I didn’t know or most of the things I didn’t know or where I had these big knowledge gaps. And so I sought out a mentor, someone that could help fill those and, maybe I could learn through their experience rather than learn through making mistakes and learning my own lessons.
And they, yeah, they introduced me to my former business partner who. It was part of a larger group, and that made a lot of sense at the time. We brought together my skillset and the, his skillset, the existing group skillset and what should I say, that, they’ve been going for an awful long time.
They had a lot of good will in the bank. And all of that was really positive. So yeah, we started off working together, building up a business within the group for a period of time, focusing on. High end residential, but maybe on the smaller side of things. And that was great. I learned an awful lot though.
The group have, being within a group structure was great. It offered a bit of a comfort blanket for anyone starting out, it’s always, that’s always one of the major concerns.
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Yeah. And I, I don’t I don’t have anything negative to say about it really. We just reached a point where my ambition.
And desire was different to that of the group. And it just became quite obvious towards the end that, I was pulling in one direction and it wasn’t necessarily that they were pulling in another direction. It was maybe that they were just in the same place. And yeah we then entered into the negotiations for me to become the sole owner of the business.
Yeah. And that, I dunno if that would make for another whole podcast, but it, that definitely comes with its own challenges. But, I’m definitely a wiser man for it now.
Greg: Interesting. I can really resonate with you this ’cause it’s a very similar story to mine where, I was in a partnership with a really good friend of mine actually, and went really well for a long time, but then just decided I wanted to go in a different direction and wanted to, control I.
My own destiny of where I was gonna go and being in full control of that. So I think partnerships can sometimes have their end. And there’s probably many listening to this that might be in, in such a partnership at the moment, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
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Is it? Because it’s a big risk, if potentially gonna buy someone out or you’re gonna split from a group as you were, there’s a lot of risk in that from your side.
So how did you manage to navigate that in your head, how to get round all of that.
Jamie: I think one of the key risk factors. For anyone that’s looking to do this is do you have the full picture? So if you don’t have the full picture, you know you, if you are, if you are partnered with cash, if you are, doing a share deal, how, however you are structuring this deal, it has a value.
You’re taking a risk, you’re putting forward that hard earned money of yours to buy this, to buy your business partner out, or to, to take things forward. And to do that without knowing everything is is a bit of a dangerous game. I would suggest. Now, I was so involved in the business at the point at which.
At which the, I dunno if we wanna call it a management buyout. I was a shareholder, just a minority one at the time. But at the point at which we decided this is the way we’re gonna go I was fully involved at, in every aspect of the business.
[00:06:00]
There were very few surprises. I wasn’t under uncovering.
Uncovering things I wasn’t aware of. There weren’t so many though there weren’t any skeletons in the closet. So for me I, that risk had been mitigated by the very fact that I was, I was in the nuts and bolts of it, but I would say, if that hadn’t been the case, the need to do that due diligence, make sure that everything’s lined up.
Make sure contractually things are in the right place. Make sure that, you’re not over committed, you’re not overly geared that, you’re not overly leveraged in any way. So that when you. Take the steering wheel. You don’t all of a sudden find a load of road, bumps in the road that you weren’t expecting.
Yeah.
So I think that’s one thing. So having the full picture is essential because, essentially you are buying the business, right? So you always, if you’re buying a car, you wanna make sure that, it’s got four wheels a steering wheel when it goes where you need it to.
It’s the same with the business. You need to make sure that it has a bit of a marketing machine that.
[00:07:00]
You know that operationally it has a good team and the management and the management accounts and the finances are all in order. So I think once, if you’ve got a good handle of that, you’re halfway there.
I think the next step then is also to make sure that you’ve got a good solicitor on board, someone with a bit of experience that can ask the questions that maybe you wouldn’t know to ask. Thankfully I did and have, and someone I still work with now and, he was worth his weight in gold.
That really helped me. And look, I was going into this pretending to know what I was doing, but absolutely learning on the job and yeah, no doubt. Some of the challenges that were presented, some of the negotiations that went on was, were more challenging than I had hoped.
But I guess that’s negotiation, isn’t it? That’s someone trying to negotiate their position against me trying to negotiate mine. But we’ve got there in the end, and yeah, on the back of that here we are today.
Greg: Yeah. That’s awesome. And not just that side of the risk I was thinking about also I’m thinking more about the risk of you deciding I’m now on my own like this.
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Now all responsibility falls on me. I haven’t got a group that I’m relying on anymore. Same thing for me. When I left, my partner is now. I’m not sharing this 50 50 anymore. The buck stops with me. What about that side of things? Did that, did you, how did you prepare yourself for that? Or was that a concern or were you pretty confident?
Jamie: Yeah look I think I’m someone with enough agency to go into this and think, if we win. This is all on me. But if we lose, this is also all on me, right? So you have to take that risk. And I think a lot of business owners are already doing that, right?
So the minute they incorporate that business, the minute they, they set that business up for the first time and put that website out there and put themselves out there, I think they’re backing themselves. And I think that’s a, an inherent trait within so many entrepreneurs. So many. Business owners is that they’ve already backed themselves.
And so whilst the comfort blanket had been removed, because I’d been running the business for quite some time with the support of the group I’d already built up that network, that community yeah.
[00:09:00]
And that in itself meant that the transition wasn’t too drastic. It wasn’t, I was, I still ended up going to the same place of work.
Things were still set up in the same way. It was just behind the scenes that things had changed, and it did mean that I was seeking other forms of support, it can be lonely as is, as the cliche goes running a business, but always having someone to refer out to is key, or a group or a network.
And, and hence, joining the network, joining the group and being part of that has been important for me as an individual. And sometimes, my head space and. Trying to clarify thoughts and putting it out to the group and getting really good feedback.
That’s been invaluable. But then also, look, seeking it in other ways too, other business owners and educating yourself as you go. But yeah, the risk is always deemed worth it. And I think, as I say, if you are a business owner of a certain sort, and most business owners are you thrive on having.
Having that responsibility and the challenge it presents.
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Greg: 100%. Yeah. So you touched on there that obviously you are part of our group, our developed mastermind and have been for a number of years, and we certainly appreciate you being in the group and the value that you offer to the other members. But it is a lonely world out there, isn’t it?
Sometimes in construction when you’re on your own as an entrepreneur and you’re trying to run things and you’re thinking, is this the right way to do it? Or actually, is there someone out there that’s doing it slightly better than me or have, has a different approach that I’ve never considered?
Why was it you initially joined? Our community was, was there certain things in the business you wanted to fix or was it more for the community? What was your general reasons initially? Yeah.
Jamie: Look I think I think we’re all guilty of sticking to what we know. This is, this has worked in the past, so I’m just gonna do more of this.
The challenge you have there is that the market changes. The demands of the market, the demands of the demands in the economy that the pressures the economy apply to our businesses. They all change. So therefore we need to be adaptable to that. So looking at way not, we were often over reliant on.
[00:11:00]
Certain architects and certain consultants to bring us business now. That’s great. So we’ve built up those relationships. We build up a level of trust, and it then means that we’re not working so hard. We’re not tendering, we’re not racing to the bottom to win projects. But the problem is, it, you are over rely o overly reliant on one source or some, or limited sources of opportunity, then your business has a really high risk profile. One of the key reasons was trying to find out or trying to educate myself, by the peer group learning, but also from the likes of yourself on the group who, who have that experience of how can we do things?
In a way that doesn’t expose us to so much risk. And I’ve learned so much and it’s great to be able to give back on the group too. But yeah, I’ve definitely got more out of it than I’ve put in. And I think it’s, the simple thing of once a week, being able to ask a question and have five or six business owners of a similar type of business, many of a similar size and scale to be able to say, ah.
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You know what I had that last year and just to hear that, ’cause sometimes you’re in there going. God, is it just me? Am I really bad at this? We question ourselves, imposter syndrome all around. And then when you hear that you’ve got a number of other businesses in the group that have had the same challenges and solve them in a certain way, it does it gives you that inner belief that actually, yeah, this is normal or this is part of the journey.
And the group has given that. So yeah, it absolutely opened me up to new ways of thinking. It stopped me being so rigid in, this has worked before, so we’ll stick with it. But also, it’s helped me stop playing small as well. Sort of the inspiration that you feel within the group when you see, and this is really genuine, I’ve been a member for a number of years now, and some of the journeys that I’ve seen from people that have turned up and, meek and mild in in the initial encounters on the group, whether it be the in-person, we’ve in person meetings, we’ve had, or, been on the calls that we’ve had.
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Seeing the progress of some of those guys in their companies and the sort of language they’re using now, the confidence that they’re exuding on the cause is transformational. And this transforms not just them, it’s their business, it’s their personal lives, it feeds their ambitions. It, and I just think it, there’s nothing but positivity.
And it’s a Monday morning, and when you first told me the call was on a Monday morning, I thought that’s stupid. Everyone’s so busy. But actually that Monday morning. Shot of motivation is exactly what you need. It helps you fire into the week really on it. You’ve got some tasks, you’ve got some, thoughts wearing around in your head, and I found that over the years to be a real boon for us.
It’s it is really helped me start the week off in the right way. And go at it with a level of confidence that that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Yeah. As I say I’ve definitely received more from the group than I’ve given, but it’s just great to be part of the community.
Greg: Yeah. No that’s really nice to hear, Jamie.
[00:14:00]
One thing that’s really impressed me about your company and why I think it’s been hugely successful is that you’ve targeted a very specific niche and are delivering some amazing work now, in. Central London and some of the work that you’re delivering is incredible.
Was that always your aim to to go for that particular area? Or did it just evolve into, you delivering for, real high-end clients? Like how did you get into that? Because that, I think, is a dream for a lot of builders to be able to work for clients like that.
Jamie: Yeah I’d love to tell you that I’m Stu, strategic mastermind, but but no it was really where preparation meets opportunity.
So it started off. At the beginning where obviously we’re we’re with this tiny little business. I was still moonlighting for my old company when we started and my, the guys were working on this tiny little refurb that we had. And then we won the next one and we won the next one.
And these were small, small fry. Comparatively to where we are now. And then I started getting out networking as part of that. And what I found was that, I was, I was quite good at that and the ability to bring much larger works in, that became quite obvious.
And so we did that.
[00:15:00]
We grew pretty rapidly at the start, which comes with its own challenges. Various jobs over the years got us to a place where we were working in Prime Central London on a listed building, and that was a little more luck than anything else. The architect on that project is, this was a project in Belgravia, had come from a much larger practice and didn’t really know contractors of the right size and, we were lucky enough to win that project. Now, one of the best marketing tools for any contractor is to be working, doing the work that you want to do, right? Representing the types of projects that you want.
And yeah, we I was always very much focused on us presenting ourselves as a larger business, as a, as a business capable of taking on larger works. I often mention on the group, and I say it out loud all the time, you definitely have to dress for the job that you want.
And so we did that and yeah, it was as simple as someone. Knocking on the door to the front of this site and asking to, to speak to the business owner. That then led to a conversation.
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It got us work on in Central London, on Eaton Square. We did a couple of jobs there. We did really well there.
And those projects then became show pieces for us. And then we’ve leveraged those projects and those clients and those relationships. And it’s allowed us, it’s allowed us to do more great work and that these buildings are all listed. And so again, we didn’t go into that first job thinking we’re gonna become a listed building expert.
But now when you get asked those questions, so have you ever worked on a listed building go, oh yeah. We’ve done about eight or nine over the last few years. We’ve got lots of experience. Here’s, here’s some examples of that work. Then you almost fall into this niche of doing listed building work.
And currently, because of that you travel for the niche and therefore, we are working down in, in East Sussex on a wonderful 16th century farmhouse down there. We’re working on a listed building rec rectory building in Surrey. We got some stuff out in the cots worlds that we’re working on as well, all listed.
So we cover those areas and that’s really exciting.
[00:17:00]
We just uncovered some something from the. 16th century in one, in, in the project in Sussex. It’s, it’s fascinating to be part of, but then equally, we’ve managed to keep a foothold in the in, in sort of prime central London and we fo you know, we have a focus there too.
Yeah. Often they tell you to niche and niche again. But we do have a foot in a couple of camps at the moment, and because of that, it keeps our lead gen fluid, we are not too focused on just one thing. But it also keeps it interesting, the sorts of projects that, that we’re winning and the work that we’re doing.
Yeah, I love it. Whilst I’m not as involved in the day to day anymore to see the work that we’re delivering and the fact that we’re helping with a lot of these buildings we’re helping, we’re giving these buildings life to take them into the next a hundred years, is really quite, is quite exciting.
So yeah that’s where we find ourselves and I’m really pleased that’s where we are.
Greg: Yeah. That’s great. And one thing I’ve really noticed that I think you’ve had a big focus on, I think it’s just a great lesson for anyone listening to this is, if you’re trying to break into.
Affluent areas, whatever city you’re in and you’re thinking this is what I wanna target.
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One thing Jamie does exceptionally well is branding and his marketing. So the brand, you’ve really concentrated on your brand, Jamie, haven’t you? To build, in fact, so much. So I think you actually did, you rename or reshaped the name of the business or something to reflect that, but you’ve yeah.
You simply worked on the brand, haven’t you?
Jamie: Yeah, that’s right. So the name changed slightly, but yeah, we refined it, right? But equally but equally I feel like the brand is the starting point for all of this. Perception is everything. So someone can land on your website or they can see a business card.
I I think people make decisions really quickly, right? So I think they land on your website and if they see, if you are trying to win. A million, million pound projects, full refurbs listed building in Prime Central London. They land on your website and they see a rear extension or they see a loft, or God forbid they see before and afters, which don’t get me started on that.
But if they see that, that’s it, decision made there, there is no second chance for that.
[00:19:00]
It’s a bit like your business cards. It’s a bit like your brochure, any of these things, if you are not equipped. From the get go, you lose the chance to make that first impression. Last more than 10 seconds.
I, and again, I can’t claim all the glory here. My, my wife’s business is is a high-end brand. And, I was listening in, in, for years before I started my business as to the wise and wear fours. And I, I’ve absolutely. Hijacked a lot of her sort of thoughts and ideas around how to present the brand.
And equally look, and, our ambition is to continue building a, taking on these amazing projects and deliver and delivering at the top end. And, we have on the wall here about trying always to be best in class, but that doesn’t just account for the work that we do on site.
That’s how do we present ourselves. Visually, website, brochures. How do we present ourselves in communications? Be it on email, be it, be, be it however we communicate with our clients.
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How do we present ourselves from a project management point of view, the tools that we harness. Be it Procore or C Link and things like that.
That they’re all part of the brand. People get confused and think it’s a logo and a color palette, but it’s not, the brand is what you present. And so I think that starts from that very first impression. But everything in this business is sales and marketing. If you can take, you performing on site, how your sites are presented.
That sales and marketing, right? So if the architect walks around and goes, wow, this site is immaculate. Oh, the health and safety boards is full and accurate. Fire extinguishers are where they should be. The guys don’t swear on site. Everyone’s wearing hi-vis, everyone welcomes you, and they come on. We have a code of conduct, right?
That I think all of those things matter. And I also, on the wall, our little mantras that we have just here behind me, they say that, everything is sales and marketing. And we believe that. Your brand is not just the logo and the color palette. It’s everything you represent.
[00:21:00]
And I think, if you believe that and live that and work through that, I think you see the output and you see the outcome of that on the other side, and that’s people that buy into it and to do, when they do that, it, it makes building of that relationship and winning that next project far more feasible.
Greg: And I think that’s something you’ve done really well actually, because one, one thing you do get is a lot of repeat business from architects that you work with regularly because I think they’re buying into your brand and you are delivering on it. So it makes them look good too, to their clients if they’ve got a great contractor that they’re working with.
So this is all
Jamie: about, this is all about problem solving, right? Business, all businesses is solving a problem. So if you genuinely think about that, think about it from an architect or an interior designer’s perspective, or a consultant representing a client. What’s the problem they want sold? It’s the fact that they want a construction project.
The problem is they want a construction project that stays somewhere close to budget. They want a construction project that gets delivered somewhere close to the deadlines that you set, and they want it to be a reasonable.
[00:22:00]
Hopefully an enjoyable process, although, might, that might be the unicorn of projects, but that, they want those three problems solved to some degree.
And so if you are consistently solving those problems, if you’re not being found to be ripping people off or, pricing low and then. Upping the costs once you get, get into contract, if you’re typically working to a program that is realistic and everyone’s aware of that, and you are communicating in the right way and if the clients at the end of it, feel like they’ve received value.
Then why would a, why would architects, why would those delivering jobs to you? Why would they constantly be out there searching for new people? Typically, I think most architects, they’re out there looking, they’re looking for new people to work with, new contractors to work with because relationships are broken down elsewhere or they’ve moved on or that there’s new opportunity.
Yeah, but you just need to keep focusing on solving the problem. And, as you grow, the problems change slightly. There’s more people involved in that process.
[00:23:00]
But we do keep, on our monthly meetings, we do ask ourselves that question, are we still solving the problems that these people have?
And can we do it better? And I think if we keep doing that then we’ll keep growing.
Greg: Yeah, for sure. So talking about growth, then, obviously we’ve seen your business grow. I’ve from, from what I’ve known of you over the last three years, we’re really seeing some great growth in your business, but that’s probably come of its own challenges that you’ve had to deal with.
And I know sometimes we go through difficult phases and transitions in business where we’re. We’re at a certain size and everything’s on us. And then finally, we’re big enough that we can now hand that off and train other people. And sometimes we worry, is anyone gonna be able to do it as good as what I am?
So how did you navigate some of these challenges in growth? ’cause you’re sitting in a nice place now, but I’m sure it wasn’t always like that. You’ve dealt with some pain points that I imagine as you’ve grown.
Jamie: Yeah. Crikey. Yeah, absolutely. And, there’s a book that probably no one would buy in there somewhere.
That every business owner’s got their journey and their story. And I think construction is a tricky business. I think I’d start with that.
[00:24:00]
It’s got so many moving parts and you’re reliant on so many other people all playing their part in order for that project or, that scheme to be successful.
And I’ve had my challenges with that over the years. And, they range from. Getting pricing wrong early on, trying to win work at the wrong price, but you do it because you need work. So how do you elevate yourself out of that? The, the aim it needs to be to try and win works that allow you to deliver it properly.
I do think that the industry’s slightly broken. There aren’t many other industries where you go into a room and say this is what, it’s rough. This is roughly what it’s gonna cost to. This is roughly what it’s gonna cost to, to deliver your project. And, it will be within. 10, 10% of this.
You’ve got lots of people saying, but it needs to be less than that. It’s how does that work? There aren’t many industries that do that but construction’s certainly one. So one of the challenges I guess, was you initially win projects at a size where the light on prelims, right?
And if that’s the case, then it does mean you as a business owner at that stage, you’re probably spilling an awful lot of plates.
[00:25:00]
So there’s this threshold that we meet, that you get to a point when you can start pricing in project management, quantity, surveying time, you can start pricing in some design risk, money.
You can start pricing things. Properly as it should be. But the whole while that you are tendering against people that are operating outta the back of a van or that you are tendering against the smaller companies with lower overheads it’s a challenge. So we, so I think I definitely had a whole period there where I was I was everything to everyone.
I was the qs, I was the project manager, I was supporting the site managers, I was the salesman, I was doing the social media posts. I was. Getting the station really, I was, ordering the high visits, and I think, without investment, right? That’s a bit of a rite of passage for a lot of business people, right?
You sit there day one with your laptop open, going what am I gonna do? The answer is everything.
[00:26:00]
And I think that’s, so that went on for a period of time, but I, I’m not sure there’s a really succinct answer as to what, how I got over them. But the key, I would say the key levers for growth are finding the right people, right?
To get the right people in the right seats. And once you do that, it’s like rocket fuel for your business. And I’ve kissed a load of frogs, I had a load of qss work for me that they come in, promise the world, they’re gonna make you make your margins and save you money and. I often found a lot of these, a lot of these people, they would do just enough so you, you couldn’t question their invoice at the end of the month, but not quite enough to make you feel like you were getting value for money.
But over time, after you’ve kissed some of those frogs, you find I. You find the diamonds out there. And we’ve been lucky enough to build that up over time. And lots of the guys that work for me, they’ve been with me for, six or seven years now. And I hope they stay for another six or seven at least.
And yeah, internally, that’s some of the site guys. But yeah, from a support perspective.
[00:27:00]
I’ve identified people and I dunno if this is a skill or if this is just being a bit boneheaded. I’ve identified people through, from my network quite early on and thought that’s the sort of person I want in the business.
And I have three written on the wall. A couple of years ago, and all three now work for me and work for the business. Yeah. So I think I think being able to read people and understand what your business needs is key. But, above all else, I. You can’t do everything. So what you need to do is bring people in that do the things, do the disparate things within the business better than you.
And there’s no doubt that I’ve done that at this stage. And, as we grow, I’ll need to do more of that. But but yeah, winning the right size of jobs that allows you to employ those people. And then when you get to those, that when you get to that level. Employing the right people. Now that’s not that useful, right?
Employ the right people, what a soundbite. And the only way you do that is by getting out there is by meeting people, is by talking to people and growing your network.
[00:28:00]
And then you’ll find opportunities to meet the right sort of people come your way. And I would just say, don’t always think that you need to be looking for people.
That are on the job market. Start a conversation. If you see someone, you float the idea. You’d be surprised how many times, I would make silly comments like, oh, you’ll work for like tongue in cheek. You’ll work for me one day and then, or you’ll work for us one day. And then three, four weeks later you’ll get a message saying, yeah, did you mean that?
And the conversation has started. Yeah. Yeah. They’ve made, that’s been a couple of the key levers for the business that have helped us grow.
Greg: Hey, can I just ask a quick favor? We are constantly trying to bring on the best guests on this podcast so we can deliver as much value as possible, but the only way we can do that is if we get more subscribers, more likes, more comments, and more reviews. So subscribe to this channel and click notifications so you know, every time we’ve got a new video coming up, give us a review if you’re getting any value from it, and give us a thumbs up.
We’d really appreciate that.
[00:29:00]
It’s fantastic, and as I said, I think me speaking on behalf of what I’ve seen, but also speaking on behalf of the group that you’re in, Jamie I think there’s a number in here that have watched you transition over the years and I’m really impressed with your leadership ability and who you’ve been able to bring on board and how you’ve been able to grow the company.
It’s it’s very exciting to see so. What’s what’s the vision for you, Jamie, for the future? So you’ve got your business to a certain level now, but I know you’re always looking forward. Where do you wanna take this business over the sort of next, five, 10 years? What’s your aim?
Jamie: Yeah.
Good question. So I want to, I want the business to become the go-to contractor, the mid, mid-level contractor for heritage enlisted buildings, right? We’re doing a lot of that work now and I love us doing that and. We’ve brought people on board with that specific skillset.
So we really want to double down on that. And we want to expand our sort of geography. So we’re working down in Sussex, Surrey Prime, central London, and the Cotswolds at the moment. And so we’re looking London and the home counties with, a branch out. We’ve got a small satellite office up in the courts worlds there.
[00:30:00]
And, we are looking to cement our base there. We’re also looking at things within the business that maybe aren’t necessarily the sort of growth that a lot of business owners talk about. But, we’re looking to. We’re, look, we’re looking at how we can do a bit more in the community, how we can do a bit more through our charitable exploits.
I, I also run a charity called Tri Life. And one of the things we, I’ve done historically is tried to keep business and the charity separate. But. I’m not sure why I thought that it’s been going since 2013. This isn’t a new thing. And so part of what I would like to do as the owner of the business is integrate the two a little bit more.
So I want the business to be able to support the things that we do at Tri Life which whose mission is to help speed the cure for cancer. And, maybe we’ll drop something in the podcast notes so people can have a look at that. So I’d like to do more of that. We’re looking at how we’re engaging with Kingston University on the apprenticeship scheme.
[00:31:00]
We wanna start looking at how we can bring people directly in from the university as apprentices or, as graduates to see how we can grow the business that way. And then also looking at development opportunities as well. I think it’s it goes hand in hand with construction.
You have culture within a construction business and that, that was just naivety on my part. So that’s part of the growth that I want. I feel like we’ve got a decent culture here at Signature. And I really would like I’d really like us to become synonymous with being a great place to work.
I would really like for us, for it to become somewhere that people talk about. Only having positive engagements with the business. So look, there’s, I’ve got I’ve got 1,001 things on the to-do list, but overall it’s about growing the business in a way that creates a business that I can continually be proud of.
[00:32:00]
And if I can do that wherever that revenue figure sits, then I feel like I’ve probably won. So that’s the focus and that’s what we’re gonna carry on trying to do.
Greg: That’s awesome. Yeah. Sounds really exciting, Jamie. Just before we wrap this up, obviously as we said, there’s a probably a number in our group that look to you as a little bit of a mentor because they’ve seen what you’ve managed to achieve.
And we get many, I think, construction business owners listening to this even that a really. Maybe struggling in business right now and think, oh, I’d love to have a multimillion pound business doing the right type of work, like working for nice clients and, having a bit of a team around me so that I’m actually acting as a CEO rather than doing absolutely everything.
You’ve, obviously you are. No one’s ever there. You’ve still got a long way to go and not so have I. But but you’ve certainly made great strides towards that. So if you were giving someone a bit of advice, like you do, as you mentor some in our group, what advice would you give to maybe a smaller contractor at the moment that might be struggling a bit and wants to break out of the current cycle’s in, and, expand the business?
[00:33:00]
Any words of advice for them?
Jamie: You’re talking to the ultimate shiny object syndrome magpie, right? So something new pops up on your LinkedIn or you get a bit of advice and that’s, I’m, that’s the next thing I’m doing. And I’ll have 17 things on the go at any one time. And that’s been a key change.
I, I started, I’ve been doing this Sunday planning exercise for a while now, and one of the key things I do on that is, what’s your highest value task? And I think this is a life thing. This isn’t just business. What’s your highest value task that you can hit this week and can you do it Monday before midday?
So having that singular focus rather than, this focus that’s spread across. 20 different tasks that all need doing. I think I think that’s been a bit of a game changer. If you get, and momentum’s a huge thing in business as well, so if you were to nail that task on a Monday morning and that’s your biggest task for the week, that’s done.
You feel like, I’ve got more in the tank here. So I found that really useful. So the planning on a Sunday.
[00:34:00]
Really focusing on what’s gonna move the needle mo, what’s gonna move the needle most effectively for my business and having that singular focus. So trying to nail that one thing, I think that’s huge.
But also there’s a need to have a structure, right? And, pre, the group, being part of the group with you guys has absolutely allowed me to. Look at the roadmap that you present to the group. And sometimes I find myself looking at my inbox, looking at my WhatsApp, looking at my Procore and am I being effective here?
And it’s not. And we all get it right? So our attention gets stolen from all of these things. But what’s great about having the structure is that I can just look up. Actually, what is the right next thing for me to be doing? What’s the highest value task? And it’s literally there in a roadmap for you.
So I found that super useful. It again, cliches and things are cliches because they’re true, right? Because they’ve proved to be right. But for the most part is that having singular focus on the right next thing. Don’t get distracted. What’s the goal? Set the goal and then you break it down into those steps.
[00:35:00]
And I. No matter how many times I’ve listened and read Tony Robbins and all the other gurus out there, the simplicity of it is taking action and taking action in a focused way. And, no matter how deep that hole is. No matter how stressful things may be, there is always the next right thing.
There is always something that you can do to start that process. So getting good at that, getting good at recognizing that has been has been really useful for me. And it’s something that we preached within the business and, it is served us quite well up to now and long may continue.
Greg: That’s awesome. That’s such a good bit of advice. And just as you’re saying it, I’m listening and thinking to myself, actually I’m looking to the side and I’ve got a big thing on my wall of my, I set all my goals at the beginning of the year, and I’m looking at that and thinking, I probably haven’t looked at that for about a month.
I need to, and now let me go back after this. And actually
Jamie: we’re all guilty of it, but sometimes you just need, you need to pull in that focus and some, some, the simplest action can create momentum.
[00:36:00]
And that momentum can. Do amazing things.
Greg: Yeah. Awesome. Jamie, look, it is really good to have you on today.
I wanted to get you on for a while because it’s just been really inspiring for me to see your journey over the past few years. And I know a lot of our members have said that too. And I’m sure that the hundreds of builders that will be listening to this and maybe architects as well that may want to connect with you, but it’s gonna be inspiring for them too.
So appreciate you being on. Thank you, Jamie.
Jamie: Thanks for having us, Greg. It’s been great.
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