BUSINESS SUPPORT FIVE-YEAR PLAN
How to create a five-year strategy to improve the trajectory of your business
F ailing to plan over the long term is not just risky, it’s a near-guarantee that you will remain stuck, overwhelmed, and reactive. So says Construction Industry Coach and Mentor Robin Hayhurst. “Too many construction business owners focus on getting to the next month, and that’s about as far as they look,” he warns. “But if you’re going to grow your business long-term, you have to take a good look at the people around you, those that can support you and grow with you, and those perhaps that can’t.” Hayhurst, who works with firms of all sizes to improve performance and strategy, urges builders to adopt a clear five-year growth plan to increase their chances of success. “Just looking at your growth for five years is such a fundamental thing to do. If you have your five-year plan or growth mapped out, you can start to measure yourself against it. That makes a huge difference.” Long-term risk When it comes to investing in your business and managing cash flow, it’s helpful to think of ordering a lorry of bricks to site. I could leave it to the last minute, and while I would be able to get the bricks delivered, “I am really going to pay through the nose for it”, Hayhurst says. “But if I started shopping around four or six weeks before I needed them, I could get a decent price. It’s the same thing with funding and cash flow. Planning ahead gives you time, options, and control to make better decisions.” While some hesitate to set long- term targets amid political shifts, labour shortages or rising material costs, Hayhurst still favours long-term planning. “You’ve got to plan as if everything’s stable, and then the firefighting bit, which our industry is really good at, comes in when things pivot and change. But you’ve got to plan for a stable environment.”
This mindset shift is essential. He points out that in the last five years, the UK construction industry has weathered Brexit, Covid-19, economic uncertainty, and international conflict – yet business continues.
that is systems and processes. “By having a process with templates that you can follow, you’re saving time. Following a process means you’re not reinventing the wheel every day.” Even when things go wrong – staff sickness, bad weather, supplier delays – a clear process allows consistency and frees up space
Robin Hayhurst
“If you sit there thinking, This is stopping my business from running. I’m not going to be successful,’ and you’re negative about it, what chance have you got?” Instead, create a five-year roadmap based on what you can control: your vision, capacity, team, finances, and operational processes. Metrics with meaning While every business is different, Hayhurst says key performance indicators (KPIs) might include turnover, profit, number of staff, tender win rates, or number of active projects. It really depends on what the leader’s vision is for the business. Profit, for example, is a valuable metric but not as straightforward as turnover, which often just measures size and not necessarily success. “Your KPIs should reflect what success means for you, not what the company down the road is doing,” he says. Many builders find it hard to carve out time for big-picture thinking. Hayhurst
for strategic thinking. “If you wake up and you’re not feeling 100 per cent, you don’t have to think about it. Just follow the process,” he adds.
Assassins or ambassadors Planning isn’t just about numbers. Culture,
communication and leadership play a vital role in making long- term goals stick. “The culture of a
business is really around the leader and the language
says that’s because they’re stuck working in the business instead of on it. The key to changing
Master Builder 22
www.fmb.org.uk
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