Our Head of Relationship Management, Nic Reid, who leads our specialist Construction team, explores the fascinating world of Construction Finance. He delves into our funding approach, shares a success story, and highlights the significant difference working with a specialist funding team can make to your business. So, whether you’re a seasoned industry professional or simply curious about the construction sector, our blog aims to inform, inspire, and connect.
Ten years ago when I joined Ultimate Finance, I took on the management of our Construction Finance team which was then only in its second year. This was a new challenge for me, as when it comes to Construction Finance my previous experience was that funders had generally skirted round the edges of the sector, and always concluded it was “too difficult” to fund. In fact, page one of the Invoice Finance rulebook says you cannot fund construction and contractual debt! From my experience, this couldn’t be more wrong, and today most funders still don’t support the industry.
Fast forward ten years and I am extremely proud of the specialist Construction Finance team at Ultimate Finance, and what we have built. We are delivering on our promise to be the funding partner of choice for the sector, by providing a specialist funding solution and first class service that sets us apart and just last year we provided £450m to support great businesses that are standing up to the challenges in the sector and the wider economy and using our funding to help conquer them.
Our Construction Finance solutions offer up to £1.5m funding so that cash is freed instead of tied up in applications for payment, which allows businesses to relieve the pressure from waiting on getting paid, take on bigger projects, grow and simply keep moving.
Testament to how well we are doing, is that we still have some of our original clients from ten years ago, being managed by some of the same team, proving our dedication to building long lasting relationships really delivers results, and something I am immensely proud of. We’ve proven you can fund the construction sector, you just need to understand it thoroughly and be flexible enough to provide it with a working capital solution that is fit for purpose. Key to our offering and something we are passionate about is that relationships matter. Whilst we are always on hand via the phone or Microsoft Teams, we make visiting our clients and spending time with them a key part of our strategy so that we can be as close as possible to them to truly understand what they need.
Going back to that rule book I mentioned from all those many years ago, what we have learnt is that we like working with Construction businesses, we understand them and the specific challenges they face and we have built a product and a team that can support them. And in this economic environment more than ever, it is great to be supporting a sector that is building actual things for the future that will leave a legacy.
And even better news is that our clients like working with us as much as we like working with them. One of them recently commented on Trustpilot that “Ultimate are very rare in today’s market. They made an effort to understand our business, see what we needed, provided that and built a great business relationship – unusual in the Construction sector. They have a great pro-active and flexible approach and I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone. Well done Dawn and team – we couldn’t have done it without you!”
Our mission to be the funding partner of choice is about supporting businesses with funding solutions that are right for them – one size most definitely doesn’t fit all and never more so than when it comes to the Construction sector. Personally, I have loved seeing clients grow and fly the nest, we’ve helped businesses through difficult periods following bad debts or lost contracts and used our network to offer support and guidance. The ability for businesses to get funding on uncertified applications through our Construction Finance proposition allows them to smooth out the peaks of their cash requirements, take on new contracts with confidence, manage delayed project starts and have time to negotiate in those all-important final account discussions.
Find out more about Construction Finance, and please do get in touch if we can support your business or if you are an introducer working with businesses in the construction sector.
