144 | UK Enterprise Awards 2022 the culture and operational efficiency of a real business again.” She only joined FixTeam in early 2022, but Sophie has already made a massive impact on the company for the better. She tells us, “The first thing I noticed is that people weren’t always comfortable talking about what wasn’t working in the business. Whether it was changing the technology or the level of communication that’s needed to get a team pulling in the same direction, there was some initial resistance to thinking about the culture of the company. I wanted us to keep things simple; be respectful, listen more than talk, don’t blame others when things go wrong, and ask for help when you’re struggling. “It took a while to break through the outdated culture that can pervade the construction industry, but the results are startling. We have recruited some incredible people; our team out on the road call and ask for help if there’s a problem instead of trying to hide it. Our clients love the new attitudes, give us more work, and rely on us to back up their operations. And it’s become a really great place to work. There’s no clock watching anymore; I have to tell people to go home at the end of the day. In a competitive labour market, it’s important that people want to come and work for us. We need to be a great place to work and it’s happened faster than I could have imagined.” Alongside Sophie is Co-Owner and Managing Director, Henry Bennett, whose career hasn’t always been in the construction business. He worked in financial services for many years and the culture of accountability permeates through FixTeam. But in addition to having a great FixTeam’s ethos is really simple: “we are a team and we fix things!” Their mission is to help major housebuilders who need help fixing problems with both new build sites and occupied properties. The company is also proud to partner with its clients which include Barratt & David Wilson Homes, Wain Homes, Persimmon, Charles Church, Taylor Wimpey, and many others, plus large facilities management companies such as Mitie and Securitas. When they need something done well and with efficiency, they call FixTeam. In light of FixTeam’s extraordinary awards success, we got in touch with Co-Owners, Sophie and Henry Bennett to learn more. FixTeam’s people are more than just skilled site workers; they often work inside people’s homes and help their corporate clients to organise things direct with the householders. They are a team that inspires trust, are personable, clean and tidy in the way they work, and delivers projects to the highest quality. They take a great deal of the organisational strain off clients, too, with extensive project management services. Co-owner and Management Consultant, Sophie Bennett says, “We know we are only as good as our team and we put a large amount of our management time and energy into helping our team to be the best that they can be and build their careers successfully.” As well as the site work supplying trades to developers, FixTeam has built specialist fire prevention teams who also deliver work for major housebuilding clients. Their unique proprietary methods have saved clients hundreds of thousands of pounds and a lot of headaches. On one recent contract, when the inspectorate visited and audited a major project in London, they found FixTeam’s work to be 100% defect-free. In this industry, that is almost unheard of! Sophie comments, “We couldn’t be prouder of both the team and our project managers working together to deliver exceptional work.” Sophie has made it her mission to build a strong culture at FixTeam where people feel comfortable to be themselves and bring their best self to work, saying, “After several years as a visiting lecturer at Cranfield School of Management specialising in team work and leadership performance, it’s refreshing to be at the sharp end of building Best Home Maintenance Personnel Supplier - Gloucestershire Jun22735 company culture, FixTeam’s base in the South West of England helps out a lot with business. Henry explains, “The economy is one of the fastest growing in the UK and the workforce is highly motivated. We are now winning and delivering some very prestigious contracts in London, expanding further towards the south coast and into the midlands and beyond. We have seen so many businesses start well and then expand too quickly. When stretched too far, quality suffers, so we are making sure that we have the right people looking after each project.” The result of a quality-based approach? “We suffered minimal damage from the pandemic, attracted super new team members as life returned to some sort of normality, and now 90% of business comes from referrals. FixTeam is in a great position to move forward with confidence in 2022 and beyond.” Indeed, FixTeam’s major focus for the future is building the team’s skills, knowledge and project management capability. This will include more fire prevention work through 2023 and onwards, alongside growing and upskilling the site work team of specialist trades who support developer clients. Site work and residential remediations are the backbone of the business, but keeping people safe, as well as happy, is how FixTeam wants to grow, with its safety and fire prevention solutions being a big part of the company’s future. Company: FixTeam Ltd Contact: Sophie Bennett Email: sophie@fixteam.co.uk Website: www.fixteam.co.uk
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