A day in the life of a façade company’s managing director

The façade and fabrication industry is fast-paced, dynamic, and at times, a little stressful, but extremely rewarding when a project is completed.

So, imagine managing a workforce of 48, in a company which has completed projects for hotels, residential accommodation and shopping centres across the country. Well, that’s exactly what our managing director, Philip Atkinson, does on a daily basis.

So, we caught up with Phil to see what a typical day looks like for him at BTS Facades and Fabrications.

7:30am
A normal day for Phil starts bright and early, and the first thing he does when he opens his eyes is check his emails, accompanied with a cup of tea (a builder’s brew, of course).
Here, he’ll check through as many emails as possible and reply to what’s urgent, while also keeping daily tabs on the business’ bank balance.

8:30am
An hour later, Phil pulls up at the BTS offices located in Newton Aycliffe. On arrival, he’s always sure to greet the team in the sales office with a warm ‘good morning’, followed by another strong brew and some more email admin.
Just before the daily ‘handshake’ meeting, he likes to check in with BTS’ senior staff, to ensure everything is running smoothly between the production and sales offices, giving advice where it’s needed.
On occasion, he’ll attend the daily enquires meeting, where the projects are distributed between team members. But usually, it’s left in the capable hands of the office manager, Greg.

10:30am
Later in the morning, mostly on Tuesdays, all of the BTS team leaders gather for a meeting to discuss their department.
The leaders, including Phil, discuss everything from health & safety, sales, new projects, stock, transport, and HR, all whilst ironing out any issues the departments may have to guarantee everything continues to run smoothy.

12:30pm
It’s lunchtime! Every now and again, Phil loves to grab a meal deal from the local Tesco. But mostly, he LOVES to eat a can of mackerel, much to the peril of the sales department’s nostrils.

14.00pm
Now it’s time for another meeting. This one’s between Phil and BTS’ two business development managers via Teams. This is an opportunity for the group to reflect on positive and negatives, and how improvements can be enforced in future.
Afternoons for Phil are mostly spent liaising with the managers of each department, checking in on the ERP system, and overseeing which jobs are going through the shop floor, whilst grabbing any photo opportunities for his much-loved LinkedIn posts

15:30
The highlight of Philip’s day is without a doubt showing people around the BTS offices, whether potential clients, journalists, or family, the building proudly showcases the products we manufacture.

16:30
The final thing on Phil’s to do list whilst at work is to complete deals with stockholders, to check each department has the best materials they need for the best price possible.
And after 37 years in the industry, BTS’ MD has certainly built strong relationships with contacts a business needs to thrive.

17:30pm
After a busy day at work, Phil likes to head to the gym to blow off some steam, followed by a healthy chicken salad.

22:00pm
As the sun sets, Phil has one final check on his emails and prepares for another day of running a successful company. All in a day’s work!