Profile: Richardson Projects' Alan Richardson

Alan, were you in the construction industry before 1983?

Yes, in 1957 I started work as a 15-year-old apprentice joiner. Over the years, I moved up the ladder to eventually become a divisional director of Fairclough, part of the Amec group.

I always wanted to be my own boss and it was all made possible thanks to associates who were owners of five companies. They offered to help myself and my wife Pat to set up on our own. They remained as shareholders for the first 18 months, after which we were in a position to buy them out.

On our very first day of trading, Richardson Projects had £30,000 of capital with the initial aim to grow turnover to £500,000. We reached £160,000 in the first year with just three tradesmen and a part-time office assistant.

After the euphoria of the first few months wore off, did you then have any worries?

Yes. For the first two years I worried a lot about the provision of new work and where it would come from, not to mention trying to make sure that the tradesmen had enough materials to complete the work.

Can you give us a picture of what Richardson Projects looks like today?

We are currently growing at a rate of 20% year-on-year, with a five-year plan to exceed a £100m-a-year turnover. This will be achieved through our existing employee base of 340.

With work already in hand of £30m and contracts due to start valued at £20m, our target for 2008 of £57m turn-over will easily be surpassed.

The latest pre-tax profit to August 2007 is likely to reach £4m.

Richardson Projects operates through three separate divisions. The North West Contracting division is based in Rochdale and the Yorkshire Contracting division is based in Morley, Leeds. The private housing division, known as Richardson Homes, covers both regions.

Where has Richardson Projects’ growth come from?

We initially set out to be a major player in the affordable housing sector, which we felt would secure repeat business
with housing association and local authority clients.

A major area of opportunity for us has been the way we have sourced land for clients. This has often led to joint ventures and mixed tenure schemes, where both affordable housing and private housing feature on the same site.

The former is often available for rent or through shared ownership with the housing association and the latter features outright sale properties marketed by Richardson Homes.

Can you tell us a little about the forms of contract you encounter?

The types of contracts we enter into are similar in nature, although clients do procure projects quite differently. Some possess a list of preferred contractor partners or ‘frameworks’ and award work equally among the group, whereas other clients utilise a traditional tendering process.

Within the frameworks are clients who utilise a cost reimbursement process, which means they offer you a fixed percentage to cover your overheads, preliminaries and profit, which suits us as our cost base is generally lower than a lot of our competitors, resulting in us obtaining more of the work.

Other contractors may have difficulties meeting us on price and this only confirms that we have our operating costs well under control.

Where does the private housing capability sit within the Richardson group?

Richardson Homes plays a crucial role within the group in providing properties for sale on the open market, while enabling the construction division to work closely with our affordable housing partners to provide a wide range of mixed tenure developments. 

Many projects are procured through local authority regeneration projects.

You say that being a lead contractor/developer is important. Why is this?

Working directly for clients means that you are more in control of your destiny. This is company policy and it has worked for us over the past two decades. If we do get asked by other main contractors to work for them as a subcontractor, it’s not for us.

Looking ahead, where would five successful years take you to?

In five years’ time I’ll be 70 and as I’m happy to be working well into the future, I don’t see things changing any time soon. I get a lot of job satisfaction, especially from completing difficult or challenging jobs and that’s why I come to work.

I have time to fit in my hobbies such as the gym, swimming, and annual skiing holidays, which keep me very active indeed.