Our construction client, Butopia is a high-quality building firm led by husband and wife team, Greg and Amanda. When Amanda joined the business, her corporate experience brought observations on how operations could be improved. She made some great suggestions for establishing systems and processes, but Greg didn’t have the time to create them and didn’t know of any contacts he could talk to who were using them in their businesses for advice.
Greg and Amanda both agreed that what they needed was an operations manual. Amanda began researching ‘how to write an operations manual’, and quickly realised the sheer scope of the job. At this stage, she was only working 2 days a week in the business and anticipated at that rate of progress it could take her years to complete. And it wasn’t as if she had two full days a week to dedicate to this, fully engrossed as she now was in the construction business.
One of our clients recommended Intelligent Directions at this stage, and we met up with Greg and Amanda. They saw immediately how our offer completely solved their problem, relieving Amanda to concentrate on her ‘day job’.
Our management style and leadership has improved – we now have exact ways of doing things, so we can pinpoint where the breakdown is and rectify it. Things are so much more simple because they are documented. I now feel like I own an actual business, it’s not just me. I feel more credible.
Greg Watt
Director
The guys were impressed with the detail and quality of our work and weren’t confident in creating the manual themselves to the same standard.
They loved how our service took on the whole project for them, without creating more work for them to do, which they had experienced with other consultants, who gave a lot of direction but stopped short of the hands-on, practical solutions we provide.
Greg and Amanda felt a positive connection with us and saw how we could augment their team with our services, which would allow them to get on with the important business of managing their workload and construction teams.
We knew Greg and Amanda needed real, tangible help without us adding to their stress. We immersed ourselves in the business, gathering all the information we needed, creating all of their systems, processes, policies and procedures, and presenting it to them as a completed job – all they had to do was look over the work with us and make a few final tweaks.
A process they found “really easy” and “not stressful” at all. The pace was really good for them and gave them the ability to implement properly and get things right. The guys felt great confidence in our capacity, knowledge and understanding of how businesses need to run. They very much appreciated our systemised way of doing things and our continued guidance throughout the process – and were surprised to find the whole process enjoyable!
The timing was perfect. With Amanda joining the business and switching from having a job to managing and growing a business, our work was essential – they “wouldn’t have been able to build the business without it”.
Systemising the business gave Greg and Amanda a clear route to business growth, producing tangible results that gave them the confidence to build the business further. The whole team has benefited from the structure in the business as well as in each of their individual roles, empowering them to take ownership and be more creative.
“I also now think, how would Anthea write this or do this?. You built the machine and I’m able to build on it and maintain it.”
Amanda
“It’s easier to ask what parts of the business didn’t benefit, because it benefited every part of the business. It’s like the foundations of a house, how do they benefit the house? You wouldn’t be able to live in it if you didn’t have it.”
Amanda
“Our management style and leadership has improved – we now have exact ways of doing things, so we can pinpoint where the breakdown is and rectify it. Things are so much more simple because they are documented. I now feel like I own an actual business, it’s not just me. I feel more credible.”
Greg
Everyone’s capacity, efficiency and productivity increased, which led to significant business growth.
Butopia’s turnover increased by 7 times in the three years since we have worked together, and its ‘biggest project value’ increased by a multiple of 3.2. This increased visibility is attracting bigger and better projects, and they now have their sights on even bigger projects, which they are confident their smooth operations will help them achieve.
ID created a framework for the team to work within.
Butopia now has the right people in the business with the right culture, born of a strict criteria around hiring and staff development. This solid team culture of intent and responsibility means the team is able to run independently. No longer having to rely on agency staff, Greg and Amanda have grown the team to 9 full time employees – all with a dedicated sense of ownership and autonomy.
This has allowed Greg and Amanda more precious time with their family, to take holidays and work remotely if required, knowing everything will continue to run smoothly.
“We can support the team and their growth because we have the documentation, we have a recruitment process, induction process and then the documentation, systems and processes to support them throughout their career. We also have a clear progression path, and our staff want to progress.”
“What changed for us, personally was our mindset around having an actual business, going from a ‘blue collar’ to ‘white collar’ operation. It has changed the way we think and what we do. We have taken ultimate responsibility for how the business works.”
“At the start of our work with ID, we didn’t know just how beneficial it was going to be, now we have gotten a lot of benefits, but I bet in 5 year’s time we will experience even more benefits. There’s always more to learn and more to implement. It really feels like a proper business now.”
Greg & Amanda