BPR Architectural has achieved great success since it started in 2019 winning contracts with major house builders. The Managing Director, Andrew Read, knows he has a great team behind him and wants to build on his success to keep moving his business forward. He has answered some questions so that potential and existing clients can get to know more about him.
You’ve achieved a lot in the short time since the inception of the business – what was your background before BPR started?
I commenced work as a Trainee Quantity Surveyor back in the early 2000’s (seems a lifetime ago now!) and worked my up to Senior Quantity Surveyor at a national house builder, following redundancy from the latter I started freelancing for a variety of both developers and sub-contractors and chose to “take the plunge” as it were back in 2019 and set up BPR with my partner (work & home) Denise.
Why do you do what you do?
I have a passion for seeing our products completed and fitted on site, from the very first set of Juliet Balconies myself & my Contracts Manager Dave fitted back in 2019 (I’ll never forget the weight of the glass panels or how annoying dropping an allen key down 3 storeys of scaffold was!) right through to seeing our products now being fitted on multi million pound luxury developments in London
I also enjoy the variety that my role offers, ranging from
pricing schemes up to overseeing team members development.
What is your proudest moment from your work-life?
Finding out we had £1.5 million pound contract with Persimmon Homes whilst being rocked around a cruise ship during a storm in the Bay of Biscay……I went from gripping the handrails to literally dancing round the deck!
And from your life outside work?
After a difficult child hood & teenage years I turned my life around and went back into education, eventually leading me to obtain my Masters in Construction Project Management
What is the biggest lesson you have learned in business?
Learn to switch off….after several years of waking up in the
middle of the night thinking of VAT returns, project deadlines or whether that
delivery was confirmed before you left the office the previous day I’ve tried
to learn that you can’t be fully effective if you’re not looking after yourself
health wise
The company has the Armed Forces
Covenant Award – why was this important to you?
Our Company has always endeavoured to respect the Military
for their exemplary service to Queen & Country over the years and therefore
took the decision to “give something back” as it were. We also support Veteran
Recruitment for example our Contracts Manager Dave is a former Royal Engineer
and our Shop Supervisor is a former Colour Sergeant in the Cheshire Regiment.
If you could give your 18 year old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Don’t be worried about making mistakes….it’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it!