What Does It Take To Build A Successful Installation Business?

A new video series exploring what it takes to build and run a successful installation company in today's market has been and is being compiled by Business Pilot.

Two video interviews are ready to watch with four more due to be released.

How to Build a Successful Installation Business features candid conversations with Business Pilot customers from across the industry, sharing the decisions, lessons and approaches that are working within their businesses right now.

Six episodes

Covering everything from growth and cash flow to supplier relationships, margins, marketing and technology, the six-part series has been created to give installers practical ideas they can take back to their own businesses.

New interviews will be released weekly, with installers able to follow the series through Business Pilot's dedicated Installer Success hub.

Learn from each other

Elton Boocock, the managing director at Business Pilot, said: "There is a huge amount of knowledge and experience within the installation industry. We wanted to create an opportunity for businesses to learn directly from each other.

"We've deliberately spoken to six very different companies. They're at different stages, they operate in different markets and they've taken different approaches to building their businesses. What they have in common is that they're making decisions every day about how to grow, stay profitable and operate effectively in a challenging market.

"That's the kind of experience we want to share."

Growth

The series features Freedom Bespoke, a specialist glazing business working in the super prime residential market, alongside Sandringham Windows Norfolk, which has expanded its product offering as the business has developed.

Also featured are Kent’s Home Choice Glazing, which has focused on organic growth; and Ripton Windows and Conservatories in Basingstoke, which brings the perspective of 30 years in business.

Completing the series are Dimensions Garage Doors, a family-run company operating across two locations in Gloucester; and Wickford-based Ken Rhodes Group, where improving efficiency has become a key focus.

Together, the businesses offer six different perspectives on many of the questions installation companies are currently facing.

The market and marketing

The conversations explore areas including whether to employ installers or use subcontractors, how closely businesses should monitor margins, the importance of supplier relationships and how technology can improve visibility across an operation.

They also look at the value of keeping things simple and why traditional approaches to marketing can still have a place alongside newer channels.

Difficult market

Crucially, the series was filmed against the backdrop of a difficult market for the industry.

Boocock continued: "These conversations are happening at a really interesting time. Installers are having to look closely at where they're making money, how they're operating and where they put their time and resources.

"The businesses we've spoken to haven't got identical answers. And that's exactly why the series is useful. There are different ways to build a successful installation business.

"We want people watching to hear something that makes them think about their own operation. It might be how they work with suppliers, how visible their margins are, the technology they're using or something as simple as a marketing idea they haven't considered for a while."

Advice to the market

Each interview also asks the business owner or director to share one piece of advice with other installers, bringing together practical lessons learned from running and developing their own companies.

For Business Pilot, the series is also an extension of its wider focus on helping installers understand their businesses and make better-informed decisions.

"We work with installation businesses every day, so we see how much work goes into building a successful company," Boocock added.

"There's a lot of value in giving those businesses the platform to share what they've learned. These aren't theories about how an installation company should be run. They're real experiences from people doing it every day.

"If installers come away from the series with one or two ideas that help them improve their own business, then we've achieved what we set out to do."
 

Picture: Business Pilot is asking what does it take to build a successful installation business? You can watch the first video interview above, while the second is also available on the link below.

To follow Business Pilot's weekly How to Build a Successful Installation Business series, visit

www.businesspilot.co.uk/installer-success