So, he's one of the old school. He prefers a pen and paper to mouse and computer. He's built up the business with good old hard work, sweat and toil.
Wilton will agree about the sweat and toil but as for being old school he will dispute that. He is a forward thinker, always ready to take on board new ideas. And, at only 34 he must be good. Wilton is one of, if not the, youngest md in the m&e contracting industry. He is running Dudley Bower Building Services (DBBS), one of, if not the, fastest growing company in the sector. Since 1996 DBBS has grown 110%.
Wilton started out in the industry training as an electrical engineer for Balfour Kilpatrick. Concentrating on the ONC and HNC, rather than the City & Guilds, he picked up some of the plethora of skills required to be an md shadowing the main men there. Wilton says: "I would work in procurement, surveying, buying and the drawing office for four or five months at a time, being coached by people who really knew what they were doing. I gained a lot of experience very quickly."
He joined Dudley Bower as commercial manager in 1990. The cut-throat climate of the 80s had stood him in good stead. People with both technical and commercial understanding were worth their weight in gold. "The climate had changed to become one of cost procurement. You had to be aware of applications, cashflow and how to negotiate contracts." Wilton's varied training was paying off.
In 1995 he became md of Dudley Bower's building services division and, soon after, the company restructured its business internally. Wilton was now md of the contracting and maintenance company, DBBS.
Since then the company has not looked back. DBBS' annual turnover for the last working year was £22 million. It is forecast to rise to £32 million this year. This is partly due to acquisitions. In the last year DBBS bought out two electrical contracting companies – Electrical Contracts (London & Provinces) and Williams Brothers (Electrical), a Midlands-based company with six regional offices. Wilton explains: "We wanted to increase our workload in diverse areas so that we weren't dependent on too few client and market sectors.
"DBBS has traditionally been involved in the commercial and retail sectors. We identified the need to expand into markets like education, health and local government. Electrical Contracts and Williams have done this for us. They have good reputations with existing clients and provide us with new avenues of work. They haven't invested time or money in their computer systems, though. We will provide this so that they can concentrate on the contracting work rather than cost control and invoicing."
These acquisitions, along with the opening of two new DBBS offices, one in Manchester and one in Southampton, give the company a nationwide reach, so it would seem that it is moving up to challenge the Drake & Sculls and Balfours. Wilton sees it differently: "We want to remain a regional contractor. DBBS will stay in the middle volume market offering a quality service regionally. I see clients wanting a consistent quality service from a few suppliers across the country. That is what we aim to provide."
I see clients wanting a consistent quality service from a few suppliers across the country. That is what we aim to provide.
Quality. It's the buzzword of the late Nineties but how many of those shouting about it actually act to ensure it? Wilton does. The firm was accredited as an Investors in People company in December 1998 and Wilton claims that much of DBBS' success is down to it. "We found that training was less than impressive. We needed a way of communicating to our staff what we are trying to achieve, how we are going to do it, and what skill enhancement the staff required for their own benefit and for that of the company."
It took two years to get up to speed with staff and training initiatives. "Encouraging staff to become involved is extremely difficult," says Wilton: "You have to create an atmosphere where people are happy to come up with ideas. That takes a long time." It seems to be working: a staff survey showed that the understanding of the management's commitment to training and development has risen from 30% in May 1997 to 87% in August 1998.
This alone does not account for the company's success in getting the staff on side, though and Wilton knows that: "If staff can see a benefit for themselves then they become involved. Here the staff see training as career enhancement and we run a profit-share scheme which all of the staff are involved in except the JIB electricians."
Training on issues such as safety is constant for all the managers. DBBS has, what Wilton calls: "an internal roadshow", a health & safety manager who travels around updating staff on new and current issues.
Suppliers and subcontractors also benefit from DBBS' training regime. Every two weeks the company runs courses on health and safety and quality which suppliers and subbies are invited to attend. When asked if they were forced to take these courses, Wilton smiles: "We say, 'This is what we require. These are the competencies that you must have if you want to work with us...'" Harsh perhaps, but, as Wilton says: "We will keep moving the business forward into the future and to do that we need people who can work well at both a high technical and business level."
Quality is deep rooted in this man's business ethic, whether it is quality of service from suppliers or to clients, or quality of training for staff.
It seems that far from being the bastion of a much trampled upon ideal, Wilton has cottoned on to a winning formula – high quality makes good business sense. An ideal that the entire industry would do well to take on board. I bet he saves the quality cds from coaster duty.
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
