Jerry Ball's Story

 In January 2027 I will begin my 46th year within the construction industry. It has been an interesting and for the most part a very rewarding journey.

After passing an interview for the position of apprentice bricklayer, I received a letter telling me to report to Taylor Woodrow’s training centre at 8 am and to ensure I had a steel tape measure, stout boots and bib-and-brace overalls.

After a short safety video, we were lined up for inspection by some of the directors and given some sage advice with one saying, “Once qualified, you will always have a few bob in your pocket,” and, “If you can’t shine at the top, shine at the bottom” (meaning keeping your boots/appearance clean).

There were 20 of us on the first day (10 bricklayers and 10 carpenters) and I think only 12 passed the initial six-month probation period and made it to site. I struggled and only by practising with sand and lime building small walls in the garden at weekends I scraped through!

In my first year as an apprentice, the training officer came to site and as I was proudly laying facing bricks on a new office block in the city (a privilege for first years) the foreman, in earshot, gave a summation of my performance so far to the training officer, “Well, Ball, he’s a bit thick, but he is doing OK!” Not exactly a stunning endorsement but it did make me realise that a perceived lack of confidence/shyness/clumsiness is often borne out of inexperience.

Incredible to think that on that 20-storey office construction site everybody from the canteen staff to the senior site manager, to all the trades and labourers were all directly employed by Taylor Woodrow clocking in every morning.

By the time I’d finished my apprenticeship in 1983 (after a spell in the north-west of England at the largest site in western Europe at the time (Heysham Power Station), literally every trade was all subcontractors.

This had a dramatic effect on me as I left the security of a large company to start working for this new breed of contractors. I learnt the hard way getting knocked a few times with very little I could do about it.

Applying for jobs via the Evening Standard classified ads was a bit hit and miss and often you’d turn up somewhere as advised finding 10 bricklayers waiting there and they only needed 5! Eventually, I found my feet and worked for some decent bricklaying contractors who treated me fairly and gave me regular work.

The problem I found was that I was earning a good wage nine months a year but when the winter set in (yes, we had them in those days) work was sparse and conditions not suitable for external work.

Then I had a stroke of luck which came about in a rather odd manner. I got clobbered playing Sunday morning football which resulted in a swollen knee, so I was unable to work for a few days.

Whilst hobbling around Harrow town centre I came across a vacancy for a Foreman with a trade background with five years’ post-apprenticeship experience. I attended an interview with a manager who was also a former bricklayer and got the job.

I took a 30% pay cut which having just secured our first mortgage was a bit of a gamble, but they offered a career path and day release to further my qualifications.

It was in fact a position in the now-defunct Property Services Agency (PSA), a branch of the Department of the Environment which at the time managed the entire public sector estate.

Over seven years I managed to complete a BTEC ONC, HNC and Construction Management Degree and passed as a Chartered Member of the Institute of Building (CIOB) in 1997, all through day-release and evening study, thanks to my understanding wife as it wasn’t easy with two very young children keeping me busy morning to night.

I was fortunate enough to be involved in some really interesting projects including the external and internal refurbishments of historic buildings in Whitehall.

But like my time as an apprentice my working environment changed when the Government privatised the PSA and we were TUPE’d into large private FM providers who took over the management of the Crown Estate, one being Carillion, I wonder what happened to them?

From being the Crown Estate’s landlords we now became service providers to the various government ministries and departments, a very different culture. I was then approached by a former colleague who asked if I wanted to do something rather different and something I had not given much thought to.

This was to start up a construction division in a recently established maintenance company. I met with the MD and another chapter began. I spent 14 years initially developing and then running the division growing it from nothing to at its peak circa £10 million a year.

I learnt much about contracting, estimating, quantity surveying and managing a large team of site and office staff. Client relationships, often difficult to foster but very easy to lose, were a key ingredient in success. Managing and meeting expectations was vital.

My philosophy was, and always has been, to try to produce the best quality product in a timely manner and repeat business and profit would follow.

This for the most part proved successful and we retained lots of clients and with repeat business over a decade or so,

Turnover for turnover’s sake is folly so understanding what represents an opportunity and what represents a threat are real skills when risk assessing new enquiries.

Probably my proudest achievement in that time was to take on over a dozen apprentices (one being the son of an apprentice I started with at Taylor Woodrow) who now 20 years later are prospering in the industry many having their own bricklaying, plastering, carpentry and plumbing business who my company use regularly as part of our supply chain.

Unfortunately for the business the 2008 financial crisis caused by the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble and the widespread failure of risky subprime mortgages impacted greatly on our ability to stay profitable.

Tendering became a lottery and clients, knowing contractors would have to take more risks invariably offered opportunities as design and build contracts thus transferring much of the risk to the contractor when previously contractors would decline interest due to the higher risk burden.

I was made redundant in 2011 after 14 years primarily because I could not guarantee profitability of projects and I had grown tired of working for someone else and in reflection needed a new challenge. I didn’t want to go into contracting again!

After a period of gardening leave (I would thoroughly recommend that by the way), I took a leap in the dark and started a consultancy business offering my experience gained as a building surveyor and building contractor to a range of contractor and client-side organisations.

After a slow start yet again having to find my feet, I managed to secure some contracts with some large and small companies doing a range of activities including surveying, estimating, project management and business development.

I really enjoyed the flexibility this gave me and my work-life balance (whatever that means) improved greatly, more time for family, golf and importantly a lot less stress.

It proved only a short-term affair sadly in retrospect but enjoyable, nonetheless. About a year in I was offered a permanent role with a large housing association. I guess you would call it being headhunted but that is my inflated ego talking and basically flattery is the lowest form of praise.

I started in my new role in Wembley and by lunchtime on the first day I realised I had made a big mistake. The people were great, the conditions were great, but the job was just not for me.

I had been too used to making decisions, doing things my way and this organisation like many in the public sector was extremely bureaucratic with many layers of management limiting and restricting individuality and empowerment. I do think this creates a complete lack of accountability.

Public sector organisations send letters now without anybody’s name on them or even a telephone number, no investment or stakeholding by the employee, no individual responsibility which private sector organisations simply cannot afford to do to keep business, maintain relationships and obtain new work. I resigned 8 months later – it seemed like 20 years.

I started my consultancy again and almost immediately I was offered an opportunity to assist in developing a construction division within an established maintenance company (where have I heard that before), I knew one of the directors as his old company used to work for me whilst I was project managing on the Government Estate.

We agreed terms and I was all set to start but unbelievably on the same day, the remaining partner in the aforementioned business contacted me through the CIOB and asked if I’d be interested in joining him since the departure of the director whom I had just agreed terms with for my consultancy. Was this fate?

Who knows, but I had a choice to make.

After some deliberation I chose to join ES Moss, and I duly purchased a minority shareholding in the business from the departing director.

I agreed to join for two main reasons, ES Moss had a very good reputation, and my new business partner was a shrewd operator who had managed to steer the company through the difficult economic situation between 2008 and 2012.

The only drawback was we had very little work as the departing director was very much the relationship and client facing part of the business. Importantly I was able to build my own team taking on several former colleagues to manage, supervise and oversee the work and financial operations.

We have the same team now as we did 10 years ago and this continuity has helped us gain the confidence and trust of a diverse range of clients in our operating areas which are Health, Education, Commercial, Heritage and Industrial.

We have managed to turn an ailing business into a thriving SME regularly achieving and exceeding our yearly targets for profit and turnover. I am pleased to say we are going strong albeit with the usual roller coaster ride which is contracting in the UK.

We have a great office/management and site team, a great bunch of supply chain partners and suppliers and a healthy client database.

This is not luck; it has been fostered through hard work and attention to detail and a philosophy of giving best quality and value at a competitive price, matching requirements with suitably skilled resources and most importantly attempting always to meet client expectations.

Now as I look back at my journey, I have no regrets and would advise anyone thinking of a career in the construction industry it is a rewarding and interesting environment where you will work with great people.

Now I will be looking forward and thinking about our next 5-year plan to ensure ES Moss can go into our centenary year 2032 a vibrant and sought-after service provider.

After that, maybe I will go back on the trowel; that will ensure I will always have a bob in my pocket!