Home is where the work is

orried about an imminent recession? Bob Cooper isn't. He is bullish about the outlook for Powerminster, the mechanical and electrical specialist of the Gleeson Group, of which he is managing director. At a time when many m&e contractors are expressing uncertainty as to how long the current buoyant workloads can continue, Cooper is quite happy to forecast growth of 18-19% annually for the next four or five years.

So what is Powerminster doing right? "We are a broad-based company," explains Cooper. "We operate a team-based business culture with delegated authority, but sell ourselves as a one-stop service. As we've grown, we haven't done it on the basis of just one business."

The teams that Cooper is referring to make up the three trading divisions of Powerminster. The first is the traditional commercial m&e contracting arm, the second is aimed at the social housing sector and the third provides maintenance and emergency services.

The company has steadily built turnover since being acquired by the Gleeson Group in 1984, but growth has accelerated since the domestic and maintenance divisions were set up in 1993. Turnover was up at £10 million in 1996 and Cooper is predicting £23 million by the end of this financial year. Profitability is well above the average for the industry at 3·7%.

"We are not a conventional m&e contractor," says Cooper. "We operate in specialist areas which are more profitable. Traditional m&e contracting is all about battles with the qs, and profitability on a project is uncertain. We are engineers. We wanted an area of business where we can function as engineers and maintenance is one of those areas. There we can act as the main contractor."

Maintenance is very much at the heart of Powerminster's new Propertycare service. It is a pick and mix approach to facilities management, with clients choosing from a menu of services including installation, maintenance and testing of electrical systems, lighting, heating appliances, ventilation systems, fire and security, as well as building fabric maintenance and decoration and external groundworks. The service will be rolled out over the next three to four years to business and domestic clients.

The Propertycare initiative is essentially a rebranding of the company's services and it will not be a separate division. "It gives us a framework to demonstrate what we offer," explains Cooper. The idea is that clients now have a clearer idea of what the company offers. Propertycare: it does exactly what it says on the van.

Cooper feels that now is the perfect time for Propertycare. The social housing scene is changing rapidly with the fragmentation of local authority direct labour organisations that used to carry out installation and maintenance of building services, the government pushing the housing sector towards Pathfinder public finance initiative schemes, and massive stock transfers from councils to housing associations. All of these present major opportunities for a company which has the financial backing of a £500 million plc. "No matter how much the government tries not to spend money, you have to spend on social housing. There is a constant demand for maintenance."

Bob Cooper believes that no-one else in the market is offering the same level of service as Powerminster. "At the level we are talking about – domestic fm – not many are able to offer contracting to the level we are. People do elements of what we do, but not all of it. Clients are looking for certainty, and small housing associations can see the benefit of putting the responsibility in someone else's hands with certainty of budget."

Propertycare aims to move customers away from paying for emergency call-out services and to look instead at planned preventative maintenance. "Why not prevent that breakdown in the first place," says Cooper. "Would you treat your car like you do your home? No – you take it to the garage for a service."As social housing becomes more market responsive, Propertycare gives clients the opportunity to offer a branded service to their tenants.

The company has already struck success as the only private sector contractor working for Bradford Council. A formalised agreement for gas maintenance in council properties has now been struck and Cooper hopes that it will become more wide-ranging in due course.

This example of best value partnering is the way forward, thinks Cooper, and Powerminster now does 50-60% of its work through negotiation or partnering. Although based in Sheffield, the company is seeing major partnering opportunities in the south of England and three months ago opened a new office in Mitcham, south London. Cooper predicts that £4 million of business will come from the Mitcham office next year.

Finding the right personnel is going to be tricky as the business grows and Cooper thinks that an extension of the partnering approach to rival firms may provide an answer. "We already have firms – electrical contractors, plumbers – that work for us. Maybe they could become partners, or we could look at long-term franchising arrangements." MEB Contracting's Mr Electric franchise already provides a successful model for the domestic sector, bringing price certainty, 365 days cover, smart uniforms and branded vans to the consumer.

Whether growth is organic or comes via franchisees, Cooper is sure the business will grow. So what's the recipe for success? "If you provide a good service, on time and deliver a quality product, profits will follow. Performance and service – your business grows from that." Sound advice.