A North Wales construction firm has defied the recession and achieved “absolutely staggering” growth.
The turnover of Adever Construction will be £4 million this year – a 400 per cent increase over the past two years.
The expansion of the Prestatyn based company has happened at a time when much of the construction industry has been on its knees.
Managing Anthony Dever says that a great deal of the credit is due to the Welsh Assembly Government’s Regional Centre Service which offers advice and support to local businesses.
Mr Dever said: “The Regional Centre Service have been amazingly helpful, we have almost daily contact with them.
“They have lots of expertise that we can tap into and nothing seems to be too much trouble – the Business Support Manager, Arwel Hughes, and Equalities Officer Inga Davies have been instrumental in our growth.
“It’s going very well and, with their free advice and support, we have managed to expand massively.
“Two years ago we were turning over around £800,000 a year – and we are going to turn over £4 million this year.”
Mr Dever is a bundle of energy and ideas who is now passionate about learning Welsh.
After training originally as an apprentice plumber, he has spent all his working life in the construction industry.
He worked at a senior level in big name companies like David McLean and Watkin Jones before striking out on his own in 2003.
Since then the upwards trajectory of Adever Construction has been unerring. They now employ 24 permanent staff and, when sub-contractors are included, the company has around 100 people working for them at any one time.
The success has been underpinned by his business philosophy of high quality, low margins and investing in the training and education of the workforce.
According to Mr Dever, he was delighted to win a contract from CADW to shore up arches and re-point the stonework at Denbigh Castle.
He said: “We are very professional and we operate on a low margin, low overheads. I don’t have a car – I drive around in a van.
“CADW are fantastic people to work for, they pay you on time. There are no massive margins to be made but you can put your house on them.
“We basically worked on half the castle and on the Goblin Tower. We have placed rock anchors to support the arches and re-pointed the whole place.
“It was a massive contract over a 10 month period which was worth around £500,000. The important thing was to get the quality right – CADW do not suffer fools.
“When we did the Goblin Tower we had to build a road to get to the place so we could get the scaffolding up.
“Whatever we build is there forever, so you have to get it right. People then come back to you time and time again.”
According to Mr Dever, the company has had a “successful partnership” with Denbighshire County Council over the past two years.
As a result of being selected as an approved contractor as part of their Housing Framework, Adever have secured three contracts worth a total of £5.5 million to refurbish houses and flats in Rhyl and Prestatyn.
With the help of the Assembly Government Regional Centre Service, Adever Construction successfully applied for a Local Investment Fund grant of £5,600 to develop a new Customer Management System to help the workflow.
It’s a mobile system that workers can use on site and also enables the client to have access to the information so they can keep track of how the contract is progressing.
The Regional Centre Service’s Equality Advisor, Inga Davies, helped the company in negotiating the potential minefield of employment contracts and other employment issues.
She also assisted in and developing a Welsh language policy for the company and advised on recent changes to equality legislation which affects all businesses..
A crucial role was also played by her colleague, Business Support Manager Arwel Hughes.
Mr Hughes said: “Adever’s approach has been key to their achievements – they have done all the right things and they have all the relevant accreditations.
“Their growth has been absolutely staggering at a time when other construction companies have been struggling or even failing.
“Adever know what they are doing, they are very skillful in doing the work.
“It is immensely satisfying for us at the Regional Centre Service to see the help we provide being translated into tangible business success.”
Small businesses requiring assistance should contact the Welsh Assembly Government Regional Centre Service on 03000 6 03000 or visit business.wales.gov.uk
