Engineers are skilled problem solvers: “Prioritise, plan, go for it”

According to Richard, the most successful engineers – and project managers – are skilled at problem-solving. He offers an example. “Usually, if you tarmac a motorway, you have to leave it 24 hours for it to harden. In an overseas project, we utilised a polymer-based concrete. Polymer hardens quicker, so we could have traffic – including HGVs – running back over it in 60 minutes. It improved efficiency at the install time and extends product life in environments where minimal downtime is critical to production.” Everything, says Richard, is about brainstorming and improving.

Innovation and ambition count for nothing without a motivated team. “I always say, I’m no better than anybody, but nobody's better than me,” says Richard. “Make sure you listen to people who work for you on the ground – they will have far more knowledge than you will ever have.” He believes it pays to treat people well, especially if they’re your employees. “I would know everybody on a first-name basis and I always listen. You might be the smartest person in the world, but it’s useless if you can't get people to work for you.”

Cashflow can be tricky when supply chains are fragile. “One client asked me to accept payment later than usual, which means you can be out of pocket for two, three months before you see any money coming back in,” says Richard. But, he says, over-committing when work is plentiful is to be avoided. “When another client gave me enough projects to generate 70 per cent of my projected annual turnover in less than a quarter of the time, it stretched my resources too far. It made me realise don't take everything that's thrown at you. Your reputation and the growth of the company is worth more.”

For Richard, sustainability is about aiming to use local resources and local labour. He aims to give back to the local community, too. “We aim to ensure no materials have travelled more than 25 miles to the site, and that labour is sourced as locally as possible,” he says. “And, at the end of the build, wouldn't it be great for them, for the community, to see that they can create something locally and show this to schoolchildren as something they can strive to be part of?'’

Richard’s advice is to prioritise, plan and go for it. “Make sure you know where your key market is and have a business plan that you constantly review. The HSBC Kinetic Current Account* offered me what I needed as a company, to get established quickly.” And as Richard grew his business, he moved his finances to the Small Business Banking Account.**

"You have to make a leap of faith,” continues Richard. “There’s never going to be a good moment. I was in a well-paid job, but I needed to do it for myself: I didn’t want to look back with regret and say, ‘I wish I’d tried that 10 years ago’.”