William Skinner & Son's rapid rise built on firm foundations - 9 December 2005 Ayr-based building contractor William Skinner & Son is a firm that is going places fast. In the last three years the company has trebled its turnover, quadrupled its profits, opened new offices down south in Saffron Walden, Essex, and is now planning to establish an additional presence in the Highlands of Scotland. Skinners now employ around 100 people from their head office at Highfield, St Quivox, just on the perimeter of Prestwick Airport. Founded in 1964 by Bill Skinner and his father, the business originally concentrated on building local authority council housing. When Bill Skinner junior retired in 1988, the company was taken over by the Cunningham family. The present managing director Sandy Cunningham diversified the firm into waste disposal, and this side of the business soon accounted for half the company's turnover. But by 1996 it became apparent that waste disposal was unsustainable in Ayr for a firm of Skinner's size - they were too big for the local market, but too small to compete nationally. So the decision was taken to wind down waste disposal and concentrate on the original core business of building contracting. And after an uncomfortable twelve months in which turnover was first halved and then painstakingly restored to its original level, William Skinner & Son has never looked back. Managing director Sandy Cunningham (39) enumerates some of the reasons behind the company's spectacular progress: hiring and looking after good employees, concentrating on profit margins and exerting tight control on overheads, and developing long-term relationships with key players in the core customer base in order to ensure repeat business and word-of mouth recommendations. The board of directors deliberately involve the senior management team in company decision-making, and every single employee is financially accountable. "We do not regard ourselves primarily as a building contractor," Sandy maintains. "Rather we are first and foremost a business that happens to be a building contractor. This means that we do not necessarily do things the way that building contractors have traditionally done things. Instead we tend to do things in the way that other successful businesses have done them." Skinners concentrate predominantly upon refurbishment work rather than the construction of new buildings on green field sites, but also specialise in several other construction disciplines like joinery, tiling and plumbing. Over the years the company has been successful in winning many large high-value contracts - for instance the refurbishment work it has done on outlets of the giant supermarket chain Tesco - but Skinners also welcome smaller contracts which even out the company workflow. Looking to the future, renewable energy figures prominently in William Skinner & Co's plans. Not least because, south of the Border new legislation to be enacted next year will require all new buildings over a certain size to produce 10% of their own energy requirements. It seems likely that a similar law will soon follow here in Scotland, and Skinners are determined to be in a state of readiness to take full advantage of the extra work opportunities that will inevitably ensue. One possible hindrance to the continued rapid expansion of William Skinner & Co is skills shortages, of which the company sees evidence at management levels as well as in the traditional crafts. To negate the effect of these shortages, Skinners take on more apprentices than might be expected of a company of its size (they presently have six) and they do all they can to develop their career to ensure that they don't train people only for them to leave and go on to work elsewhere. The success of Skinners in this respect is shown by the fact that the latest director to join the board, David Rae, started with the company 34 years ago as a joiner, and is now responsible for completing all company projects. Detailed business plans have now been agreed for the next five years, and this eminently successful local company confidently expects to double its sales turnover again by 2010, whilst still maintaining its current level of profitability. And it is reassuring to learn that in order to ensure that William Skinner & Son will never stray far from its roots, managing director Sandy Cunningham has even had it written into the company's articles of association that it will always remain based here in Ayrshire where it all began. Web links: ClickPress I-Newswire Press Box The Open Press 24/7 PRWeb