FEATURE OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
“The first six months were a rollercoaster – done on naivete and adrenaline.”
sorry for himself. He was focused on others: his family, the people around him, his business. He asked, ‘Do you want to take over the business?’ “I was shocked, first to learn of his diagnosis and then to be asked if I wanted to lead the company.” At that time, Archibald was the contracting manager, dealing with daily operations, managing the team, leading on procurement and building relationships with clients. “I had no real knowledge on how to run a business.” Logistically, there was no clear plan on how ownership would be transferred or what Archibald, who is now Managing Director of the business, was meant to do. “It was at that point where I probably very naively, to be honest, stepped in.” Much to learn “It was a massively steep learning curve, but Andrew had been preparing me for this moment. When he made me a full-time employee, he also made me a director. I was never sure why, but none of his family was interested in the business. Even at that point, he was probably thinking about succession. “I was ambitious and wanted to get to the next level. I started as a skilled groundworker, then moved to supervisor, site manager, upskilled with a senior strategic qualification, basically master’s level. That was all on the back of Andrew pushing me. “He brought me under his wing. He was hard on me, but in a good way. He introduced me to a lot: dealing with clients, the admin side of business, chairing meetings. And without those opportunities, I probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to take the business forward.” In the wake of someone’s death, people need a distraction from the pain. For many, that means throwing themselves into work. But for Archibald,
invoice together, learning about evaluations that architects needed – things Andrew had done. I had to research everything, speak to quantity surveyors and architects about whether they could help. Even accessing the bank account was a nightmare. The first six months were a rollercoaster – done on naivete and adrenaline.”
The team held on until the Christmas break, which gave Archibald an opportunity to slow down and reflect on the last five months. It was then he learned that despite the business’ high turnover, the accounts were not in good shape. His accountant gave him three choices: close the business, start a new company or keep going. Evidently, Archibald pressed on. “It has been difficult to pull the company back, but the main reason I kept going was Andrew’s legacy. That might sound nice and fluffy, but there’s
“everything was wrapped into one” where work made the hole Haldane had left that much bigger. “It was a strange emotional situation. I didn’t know what to do so I kept doing what I’d done: run projects, lead the team, communicate. The challenge was the admin side. Andrew was very old-school – he had everything in his head. And I didn’t have access to his personal computer. “I had to start a new business within an existing business. There were no systems or processes. I didn’t even have a template for invoices. I spent evenings figuring out how to pull an
something in that. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be in this
Master Builder 32
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