Free A Change for the Better? by Stephanie Drury

said Ben “any action points from last week?” He scanned the notes. “No - OK let’s move on to the current jobs review. Cheadle House, progress report John” John proceeded to give them an update on the work they were doing at the local retirement home. They had been contracted to build a huge extension onto the back of the converted house to give them a new dining room and activity area, in addition, they were extending at the side of the house for a new suite of offices so the current ones could be turned into more rooms. The project, John reported, was into its second month and so far was on schedule but there were problems with the architect who kept revising plans on the hoof.
     
    “Who is the architect again?” Ben asked.
    “Brian Galton” John answered.
    “Brainless Brian, of course, what do the owners think?” Ben enquired
    “Well, I think they’re starting to lose confidence in him, ever since they realised he’d forgotten to put ramp access into the dining room. Fortunately we picked up on that so it’s covered now but he’s flapping around trying to regain favour. It’s going to cause some problems later down the line, I know it.” John had a nose for a potential problem long before it arrived. It was one of the reasons he was worth every penny BW paid him.
     
    “What do we think?” Ben asked the table.
     
    “You need to go see Bill Cheadle and work your charm.” Jean was definite in her suggestion “plant the seed and drop Stewart’s name into the pot.” Stewart Jackson was another local architect with a better reputation than Brian Galton. BW Building had worked with him on a number of conversions and they had a good rapport going. John considered the idea,
     
    “I think it’s worth a shot anyway - like I said they think well of us at the minute so they might be guided.”
    “OK” said Ben, never one to linger too long making a decision, “I’ll come up this morning and start the ball rolling.”
     
    Charlie then gave them an update on Burnside, a conversion of dilapidated cottages by the riverside coming into Laxley Heath. The conversion was nearly complete Charlie was overseeing the fitting of the new kitchens and final decorations.
     
    “So” he concluded “the estate agent will be round on Friday to get them up for sale properly, although there are a couple of interested parties already, so they should go quickly. They definitely won’t be another Hawthorns.” They all groaned. Hawthorns had been their second development project and a salutary lesson to them all. It was a renovation of two rail side terraced houses but they had gone way over budget on the refurbishment and then taken over a year to sell either of them. They had cost the business a lot of money and Ben had nearly made the decision to give up after it, but they had got through it by taking on a lot of maintenance work and small jobs until they secured a bigger contract and sold Hawthorns, but they remained a cautionary tale.
     
    They finished their discussions about all the existing jobs on BW’s books and turned their attention to future prospects. It was a little less rosy here at present.
     
    “So” Ben started slowly as no one really wanted to start the discussion, “apart from the renovations at Rippley due to start in six weeks and the extension build at the Stewarts in Copham, have we anything else secured?” There were shaking of heads and Jean pursed her lips, she’d seen a thin order book in her last job and that had not ended well. Ben needed to inject some optimism and motivation into the team as he could see the concern etched in the expressions on their faces.
     
    “Right, let’s get cracking then. What prospects do we currently have?”
    “Rawlinston Main Street, there is the opportunity for the retail and residential units in the old terraces at the far end.” John returned “the local council is funding the job, so planning shouldn’t be a problem and the conversion is