We started Umberslade in 1996 with a van, a strong work ethic and a willingness to take on almost any job going. Thirty years later, we have just started work on our 5,000th contract.
It is a fitting way to mark the anniversary. That 5,000th job is a full-scale internal deconstruction of City Centre House in Birmingham, 205,000 sq ft of it, and it takes us past £140m worth of work delivered since we began.
How it started
Jeremy Emmett and Gabriel Pettitt founded the business fitting office furniture and handling private and commercial relocations. There was no grand plan beyond doing the work properly and being someone clients could rely on.
“Strip-out wasn’t seen as a specialist skill back then,” says Jeremy, who remains Managing Director. “We wanted to change that by bringing a level of professionalism and reliability the sector hadn’t really seen.”
That approach opened doors. Small jobs became bigger contracts, local work became national work, and the reputation we built in those early years is still the thing clients come to us for today.
Three divisions, one way of working
We have never gone looking for growth for its own sake. Every expansion has come from a client problem we were well placed to solve.
The groundworks division is the clearest example. A groundworks company became insolvent partway through a project we were already working on, and we were asked to step in. Ten years on, groundworks is a core part of what we do, covering earthworks and site preparation, foundations, concrete works, drainage and utility infrastructure.
More recently we launched a third division delivering diamond drilling and the installation of percussive driven earth anchors. Alongside our mechanical and engineering strip-out and internal demolition work, it means clients can hand over more of a project to a single contractor rather than coordinating several.
Where we are now
The last year has been our strongest yet:
- Annual turnover up to £14m
- 23 new jobs created
- More than 150 people employed across three business units
- A 70-strong fleet of vehicles, plant and machinery
We work across education, defence, healthcare, industrial, commercial and high-grade office space, on projects for clients including Brindleyplace, Derby University, Lloyds Banking Group, SCS and Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
Why we employ our own people
Having so many directly employed team members is a deliberate choice, and one Operations Director Edward Emmett is clear about.
“It reduces our reliance on subcontractors and it means the client gets a consistent standard of service from people who have bought into how we work,” he says.
We invest in internal and external training so our teams stay highly skilled, with ongoing development for anyone who wants it. Continued investment in our fleet and plant is what gives us the capacity to take on more work without stretching quality.
Finishing properly
Our SnagZero™ guarantee exists because the end of a job matters as much as the start. It is a commitment that the site we hand back is genuinely finished, not finished apart from a list.
The same thinking applies to waste. We remove the majority of waste product using our own skip fleet, recycling 100% of everything returned to our own facility and 98% of what goes through commercial waste streams.
The next thirty
The senior team behind the business today includes Edward Emmett, Tristan Dimmock, Kieran Kelly, Stuart Chenery and Chris Eaton, and we are targeting a record-breaking year to mark the anniversary properly.
Three values got us from a two-man operation to a £14m group: a strong work ethic, a willingness to take on the difficult jobs, and a determination to do things properly. They have not changed, and they are not going to.
Here is to the next 5,000.
Planning a strip-out, demolition or groundworks project? Talk to our team about how we can help.
