“I graduated back in the late eighties, and it wasn’t an easy time for this industry. But I’d worked hard for my surveying degree and was determined to use it in a good firm. When I applied to become a part-time sales negotiator at David Wilson, I was actually overqualified. But my self-motivation paid off, and it wasn’t long before I began my career here for real, as a trainee assistant site manager.
"Much has changed since then, both within the industry and with me. I’d risen to become a site manager and a project manager. My time in project management was pretty successful, and I won 5 National House Building Council awards during it. A lot of businesses would have been more than keen to keep me at that level. But here we’ve always had a philosophy of promoting from within. That’s a great business attitude to have; good long-term thinking.
"I currently oversee six sites. It’s very much a delegating role, and I’m leading a large and very varied team of professionals. I continually keep a close eye on progress, expenditure, timesheets and quality, and I’m responsible for final inspections. But I’d say the biggest challenge of the role is knowing when to stand back and let others get on with it. You need flexibility too. This isn’t like managing a factory. Sites continually evolve – and as they change you have to change the way you work.
"There’s nothing better than knowing that you’ve been a key part in changing a working drawing into a home that people will love. There plans to build nearly 900 houses over the next 12 months in my region alone, so this role’s something I’ll enjoy doing for a while longer yet.”