HVR tries to keep up with ABS, and its executive director Kevin Selvester, as its success story unfolds – from dynamic duo to a company that commands contracts worth millions of pounds
KEVIN SELVESTER, executive director of central London-based building services contractor

ABS London, smiles when I asked him how much the congestion charge costs his company.

'All our vans are LPG [they run on liquified petroleum gas], so they are exempt,' he laughs.

Selvester and managing director Anthony Smith formed ABS in 2000.

The CVs of Selvester and Smith read like a Who's Who of the great and the good in m&e contracting.

The company was originally called Airtech (it changed to ABS in September last year) and Selvester admits that, for the first year or so, the duo relied on old friendships and called in favours to keep the work - any work - coming in.

But much of the first six months was about setting up the business so that it could trade. It turned over £500,000 in the first year.

Turnover in the second year rose dramatically - to nearly £2M.

In year three there was a drop.

Selvester says: 'We had put most of our eggs in one basket and the work dried up.'

He says that, building on this, the partners decided to widen their base and now much of their work is for blue-chip companies.

In 2006, the company turned over nearly £6M and last year turnover rose to £15.3M.

'We grew the blue-chip business and added a number of new customers.'

When I spoke to him, the accounts for 2007/8 were about to close, with a turnover of £19.8M. The target for 2008/9 is £35M.

'We realise that nearly to double the turnover we have to diversify. At the moment, our work is mostly fit-out and refurbishment. We did not deal with large shell and core and have steered away from residential and hospitals and such.'

For instance, recently the company has been working on two floors of a building in the Canary Wharf area.

It has stripped the floors back to the core and put new floors in for the incoming tenants to their design requirements.

Selvester estimates that in this area more than 70% of business is repeat. But now the company is shifting up a gear. In January, it appointed Bob Watson as operations director. Watson previously spent 13 years on the management board of MJN Coulson and had a spell as London regional manager of Haden Young.

He brings his relationship with the shell-and-core type of work to the company, and is trying to attract large London developers to the business.

He aims to raise turnover by about £10M, or double the number of projects from the current 20 to 40 this financial year.

'And the signs are that ABS is on target to have a good year,' says Selvester.

Watson also brings knowledge of environmental issues to the party.

Selvester says that with the ability to take on large projects, ABS will need his expertise in solar thermal, heat pumps and other energy-efficient projects.

Currently there are 6,8 directly employed staff, which includes all contract managers and senior staff but, says Selvester, no agency workers are used - or at least rarely.

He describes the business as a typical management contractor, with its own buying team, commercial and CAD departments as well as pre- and post-contract departments. But there is also a core nucleus of electricians, testers, refrigeration engineers and plumbers.

And, although the company is stepping up its operations, Selvester insists the small works section is profitable, and ABS has built quite a reputation for this type of work.

'We intend to do more of it,' he says. This will mean adding to its two mechanical and one electrical teams and the maintenance department.

For the bigger jobs, the company has a large pool of approved sub-contractors.

This approval means ABS' sub- contractors undergo stringent checks for insurance and health and safety to make sure they are up to standard.

'We check them vigorously because we are only as good as our sub-contractors.'

However, as the firm grows, then its base of sub contractors will have to grow too.

'We have already outgrown some of our sub-contractors.'

ABS is, says Selvester, one of the few companies he knows of that directly employs a health and safety manager. He is Iain Cameron, and his appointment has been instrumental in the firm being awarded some of its recent contracts.

Not that ABS ignored health and safety previously.

'As we were stepping up to another level, we felt this was the right move, although we employed a consultant in this position

previously.'

Interestingly, says Selvester, ABS has shied away from school work.

'It was work like pulling out and replacing a boiler room, replacing the entire heating

system - and all within six weeks while the kids were on the summer holidays.'

This work proved particularly difficult as it would have been

carried out during holiday season, and it is hard to maintain the right levels of operatives to complete on time.

'We cut it close to the wire on a couple of jobs and realised we could not afford to upset our clients. It seemed right to focus on what we could achieve.'

Not that there is much of a change in timescales, anyway.

'Often the contractor who says his firm will do the work in the shortest time is the one that is awarded the contract, so the pressure is on to bring the project in on time - or even earlier when possible.'

Selvester says for the school work ABS was the main contractor and was responsible for the entire project, including planning regulations, building work, fire-stopping, and decorating. But recently it has been building contacts with market leaders, so it is content, for the moment, to be a sub-contractor.

And it is becoming easier.

'Main contractors are realising that we have been bringing in jobs worth £5M successfully, and are willing to give us a chance at

projects worth £6M and £7M, because they trust us to complete the work.'

Smoothing the ways for the larger bids is Mark Wilcock. He joined ABS in December last year as the company's new bid director. Selvester adds that he has already brought in three large contracts.

It is his job to improve the client experience of a working pre-contract with the m&e contractor.

For the moment ABS will remain true to its London roots, but it is considering expanding into the West Country and the M4 corridor.

'Watch this space,' says Selvester.

Since the company was formed , Selvester cannot think of one job where ABS has fallen out with the main contractor.

'Of course there have been problems, but we have enough processes in place to nip any potential escalation in the bud before it gets out of hand.

'And when there has been trouble, then we have begun talking to defuse the situation and, indeed, the relationships we have built up because of this policy are now standing us in good stead.'

And as the projects the company is awarded become larger, so the loss with main contractors going bust recedes.

'In the early years, we regularly had to stand losses of £200,000 as smaller main contractors went bust.'

So what about the small works?

'We have been working for these firms for eight years and have built up trust'

And the company is also actively pursuing FM contracts.

'Until six months ago, any maintenance work came our way from the installation work we had already done.

But now this has changed.

'Frankly, it is hard to get into a building which someone else has been maintaining - but slowly and surely we have been growing this work. It is natural to offer a maintenance agreement on the back of our design and build contracts.'

And he adds that it is a nice buffer to have as it brings in regular money. The expanding business means the company is able to do more. First, there are two apprentices in the

maintenance department who are working alongside the supervisors, plus two young engineers in the office.

All are part-time at college and working on site as required.

This is not a formal apprenticeship scheme, but they are, nevertheless, learning their craft.

This is a recent innovation.

'To be brutally honest, the company has been growing so fast that there would not have been enough time to dedicate to them - and it would not have been fair to the individuals. Now, as we restructure to take account of the growth, there is the procedure to train them correctly.'

And there are other benefits from the expansion.

'We believe we should look after our staff. Every year we try to bring in a new benefit.

'We have flexi-time and promote the social side for the staff. This is backed with money for team-building awards for things like paintballing.'

And, twice yearly, there is a company meeting where he and Smith tell staff how the business is doing.

'We tell them what the profit is for this year and the staff appreciate the candour.'

Plus, there are new offices - three times the size of the current ones - being built just down the road. They will hopefully be complete early next year.

And, this year, there is a share incentive plan for key individuals.

'You need to look after your staff if you want to attract and retain quality people.'