SME News Q4 2023/ 44 Kyle Hollyomes founded KBH Building Services Ltd (KBH) in 2014 as a oneman operation and small-scale provider of building services to the residential and commercial sectors in East London. Today, the company is still wholly owned by Kyle, and it has grown into a leading contractor to the largest housing associations and construction companies in the UK, working with over 100 employees, operatives, and sub-contractors, and turning over £17m per year. Following its recent success within the Greater London Enterprise Awards 2023, we speak to Kyle to learn more about his award-winning firm. KBH Building Services strives to be a leader in its field, providing an array of outstanding construction services, from maintenance and void refurbishments through to fire safety works. With core values of ‘honesty’, ‘ambition’, ‘empowerment’, and ‘caring’, it is a mediumsized business dedicated to delivering best-inclass services, whether in the quality of work or administration behind the scenes. Its team strives to achieve complete client satisfaction by consistently completing all projects – no matter how big or small – on time, within budget, and to the highest possible quality. Since its establishment, KBH has expanded to incorporate its own manufacturing sites in the UK and Bulgaria, from which it produces industry-certified door sets and windows under its own name. It manufactures and installs fire doors and windows, and carries out refurbishment works of kitchens, bathrooms, and general voids; fits safety flooring; provides fire stop solutions; as well as completes other general works such as decorating, plastering, and internal wall insulations. For KBH, it is simply not enough just to make profit; it is devoted to really adding value to everything it does, as Kyle explains, “When replacing an old door set with a new one, we always make sure the product we are bringing would keep the resident safe in their home. We know we have achieved that when someone has tried to break into a client’s home and the door set – due to its certified design, manufacturer, and lab-tested performance – withstands the attack and prevents entry. We are happiest then, not because of the incident occurring, of course, but because our product kept someone safe in their home. “We definitely believe that our work has a duty to be carried out well, as ultimately it is our community members who suffer from poor fire safety and security measures, and we can contribute to that not being the case. That, together with our social responsibility programme, ensures that the social bottom line is also “profitable”.” Also part of its social responsibility, the company is dedicated to working as environmentallyfriendly as possible, by reducing waste; recycling materials; replacing old vehicles with newer electric ones; using IT algorithms to optimise schedules and routes of operatives to reduce travel for work; and always keeping an eye on its supply chain for more sustainable materials. Additionally, KBH is in the process of adding solar panels to all its manufacturing sites in the UK and Bulgaria, so that all energy used in manufacturing is green. Kyle feels it is very important to utilise technology within the SME end of the construction industry. KBH has created an order creation tool which allows a product “passport” containing all information including a 3D image, QR code, and details about materials used to be instantly generated at the time of survey onsite – and with a simple click of a button, all orders can be sent to manufacturing automatically. “The tool has increased the speed with which an order goes from survey at site to manufacturing, therefore reducing lead times and at the same time creating a product record which can be measured and checked for compliance, quality, and proof of order,” explains Kyle. “The tool also allows database creation which supports management decisions, as being able to generate tables easily with all past orders and all their details allows a data analytics team to spot trends, such as what materials to stock more or less of, what client preferences are, and evaluation of exact time from survey to order to installation. And, of course, for future reference and maintenance, by simply scanning the QR code on the product, we can obtain all this history and know exactly which part or component we need without even attending site to check. “This IT tool is the foundation for a much larger technology project under development currently.” Highly evident is KBH’s innovativeness, coming hand in hand with forecasting what the future holds. In Kyle’s words, “KBH has a long-term vision in an industry full of shortsighted competitors.” The company seeks to identify risks and challenges in advance of them happening, and looking into a solution or contingency before any issues can materialise – all in order to achieve the goal of never letting the client down. Contributing is the firm’s ability to manage its finances responsibly, so it can save cashflow. Thus, it can buy materials in bulk and store them should shortages occur, allowing continuation of operations and no delays. It also endeavours to control its supply chain by investing in logistics, vehicles, drivers, equipment, and tools, so it can guarantee its products and staff will arrive each day and deliver service within timescale and budget. KBH invests in its staff, too, so that proof of competency can be provided to clients, such as NVQs for its operatives in their respective fields, and quality, environment, and health and safety procedures to ISO standards for its policies and procedures. This is in addition to product certifications from industry-leading UKAS-certified bodies for Certifire, Certisecure, BM TRADA Q-Mark, Enhanced Security, and Secured by Design. Together, these show the Most Strategic Windows & Doors Business 2023
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