好色先生TV

From the soaring heights of the UK鈥檚 tallest skyscraper to the iconic sailboat structure of Dubai鈥檚 Burj Al Arab Hotel, Steve Lee has project-managed some of the best of them.

The sky is evidently not the limit, however. As managing director of family business Lowe & Oliver for the last seven years, Lee has established a thoroughly modern approach to business, doubling company turnover and overseeing some promising acquisitions on behalf of parent group Lowe Holdings.

Not bad at all for an East End geezer who began his career as a fresh-faced apprentice for Mathew Hall.

Both turnover and profit have been growing steadily since Lee鈥檚 arrival. Lowe & Oliver alone now turns over 拢10 million.

鈥淭he company wasn鈥檛 going anywhere before I joined. It wasn鈥檛 growing. They鈥檇 introduced a couple of other MDs before me who weren鈥檛 quite right, and then they brought me in and it鈥檚 grown considerably ever since,鈥� he says.

鈥淚f the firm hadn鈥檛 become as strong as it now is, we wouldn鈥檛 have been able to make acquisitions. If you include these, we鈥檝e actually gone from a 拢5m to a 拢35m business, because we bought RF Webb, which had a turnover of 拢9m, and a section of Hills, which turns over 拢16m.鈥�

Hills are alive

Lee is keen to talk about the group鈥檚 latest purchase, Hills鈥� London-based City office. He is characteristically frank.

鈥淗ills was having some great financial difficulties. We were looking at buying the whole company, but there were a couple of other groups who were interested, and eventually it was sold to Southern Electric Contracting (SEC).

鈥淲e knew that SEC didn鈥檛 really want the London business, so we bought that about a week after SEC had signed the deal.鈥� Hills鈥� City office has now been renamed Hills 好色先生TV Services. The business has always concentrated on commercial contracts, an area which Lowe Holdings is keen to get involved with.

鈥淲e鈥檝e worked in London for years, but we鈥檙e not very strong on the office-based side. We felt we needed to get into that area.鈥�

Some might argue that the purchase was somewhat imprudent, considering the foreseeable market downturn. Is Lee a risk-taker, or does he simply have the foresight to look beyond the near future?

鈥淭here is a problem, but put it this way, if we were to do it at another time, when the market was very buoyant, then perhaps we鈥檇 be paying more money for the company we bought.

鈥淲ould we like there to be an upturn in business? Of course, but we鈥檝e considered that there鈥檚 probably going to be a downturn. We see 2008 and part of 2009 as a problem, but we foresee business building back up by the end of 2009, and hopefully that鈥檒l be ongoing up to the Olympics.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do it because of what the market was telling us. Hills was available and it was a great opportunity. We know some of the people there, and I鈥檝e worked in London for many years so I know the industry well. It all fitted.鈥�

Lee鈥檚 ventures have certainly paid off in the past. Three years ago, Lowe Holdings purchased RF Webb. The m&e firm had a similar ethos to Lowe & Oliver.

The parallels are quite striking. Both were family-run businesses. Lowe & Oliver was set up by Reginald Lowe, father of current chairman Patrick Lowe, back in 1923. RF Webb was formed by Reginald Webb back in 1932. Both operate within a 70-mile radius of their head offices, with RF Webb boasting an impressive standing in Southampton, Lowe & Oliver in Oxford.

鈥淟owe & Oliver is a household name in Oxford 鈥� they鈥檙e like Hoover is to vacuum cleaners,鈥� says Lee. 鈥淚f someone says 鈥榚lectrical contractor鈥� down here, they think of Lowe & Oliver immediately.鈥�

Lee is now managing director of Lowe & Oliver, RF Webb and Hills, although all three companies have independent directors who run them on a day-to-day basis.

Reputation is paramount, so integrating the three brands was never a consideration. 鈥淩F Webb, for example, is a company in its own right. It already had an extremely good name in the Southampton area and the south coast.

鈥淚t would have been foolish of us to have bought it and then changed its name to Lowe & Oliver.鈥�

Royal appointment

Clearly marked out as the flagship company, Lowe & Oliver boasts a close relationship with Oxford University and a Royal Warrant to boot.

鈥淲e鈥檙e one of the very few contractors that holds the Royal Warrant. We gained that through the work we did at Buckingham Palace and St James鈥檚 Palace. We also worked on the tower after the Windsor Castle fire,鈥� Lee explains.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to have a Royal Warrant to work in a royal household. It certainly helps, but the work does go out to tender.鈥�

When the historic buildings specialist isn鈥檛 busy refurbishing St George鈥檚 Chapel, Windsor, or boosting its claim of having worked on every single Oxford University building, it also focuses on top-end private housing.

With a twinkle in his eye, Lee hints at having dealt with a number of prominent clients. But he鈥檚 keeping things strictly under wraps. It seems that nobody values their privacy more highly than those in the public eye.

Within the last couple of years, RF Webb has started in earnest on maintenance work.

鈥淲e鈥檝e set up a maintenance division in Southampton. We鈥檙e building it up, particularly for the big private houses. It鈥檚 a good business opportunity. These people who鈥檝e got 拢10m houses are not going to want to worry about unblocking a sink.

鈥淭he houses with bigger plant need maintaining. They have air-conditioning units and swimming pools and very complicated audio-visual systems. We鈥檙e seeing more and more of it as time goes on.鈥�

Securing and carrying out the work is not a problem. When you deal with some of the big contractors, they鈥檙e not as good as they should be when it comes to retentions

Lee has certainly been in the business long enough to spot a trend.

Oxford bound

In 2001, he was approached by Lowe and Oliver鈥檚 chairman Patrick Lowe, who he knew through the ECA. Lowe wanted Lee to run the company for him, so he could take a back seat after a long history with the firm.

鈥淚nitially I said no, because I have dragged my family half way around the world in the past. When we returned to the UK, we settled back in Essex. My wife wasn鈥檛 happy to relocate, and there was a bit of resistance, but in the end I accepted. I now live in Yarnton, which is a village to the north-west of Oxford.鈥�

Lee is incredibly proud of his achievements at Lowe & Oliver.

鈥淚鈥檝e brought the company into the 21st century. When I joined, people were rifling through information on bits of paper and it鈥檚 not the way I鈥檓 used to working. I brought operating systems in. To make the business more profitable, it had to change because other people out there were changing, such as the clients and contractors we work with.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Lowe & Oliver was changing with them. They were a bit stuck in their ways, and they weren鈥檛 looking out into the future. People were used to doing business like they had done 30 years ago 鈥� it was all handshakes.鈥�

Lee has worked for a number of different companies in the past, most of which were based in London or overseas. At 50 floors high, one of his most exciting projects was the UK鈥檚 tallest habitable building.

鈥淚 was project director on what was called Drake & Scull but has now changed its name to Emcor. We did the first phase of Canary Wharf 鈥� the tower which is now called 1 Canada Square. It was quite stressful, but a great project to work on. I was project director for about 拢60m worth of business. I was pretty proud of that.鈥�

Back in the 1990s, he moved to Dubai with his wife and sons to become a project manager with Balfour Kilpatrick, which won the ambitious Burj Al Arab Hotel contract. It took three and a half years to complete. Despite the glamorous lifestyle, he chose to return to the UK and take up the position of managing director at Phoenix Electrical Company, where he鈥檇 previously worked as a director.

鈥淎s an expatriate, there comes a time when you have to decide whether you鈥檙e going to live that way for the rest of your life or move back to England and carry on with your career. I came back and took up at Phoenix. It was a good life we had in Dubai, though. My wife never forgave me for it.鈥�

So, is m&e contracting a lucrative industry for the career-driven? Lee laughs with a touch of awkwardness.

鈥淚t could be more profitable, put it that way. Its margins are always very, very tight. I think people have been saying this for years, but it鈥檚 a difficult industry to be in.鈥�

According to Lee, the main issues are trying to win contracts without retentions and ensuring people pay the firm on time and in the correct manner.

Abolish retentions

鈥淪ecuring and carrying out the work is not a problem. When you deal with some of the big contractors, they鈥檙e not as good as they should be, particularly when it comes to retentions.

鈥淭he SEC Group has been fighting to get retentions abolished for years. Getting them paid can be a nightmare. I think retentions should be abolished 100%.鈥�

Lee鈥檚 passion for industry issues is reflected in his role as ECA regional chairman for the Central South area, a position he is holding for the second year running.

鈥淚 was dragged into the ECA when I worked for Emcor,鈥� he jokes. 鈥淚 was asked to go to a few meetings and got a little bit involved, and it really just grew from there.

鈥淪ome people say, 鈥榃hat do we get out of the ECA?鈥� It鈥檚 very hard to define that. You do get to hear about technical and commercial issues, and the industry networking is probably the main benefit.

鈥淎lso, particularly with bigger companies like ours, people would wonder why you were not a member. Do we get value for money out of it? I don鈥檛 know. But for how much it costs, it鈥檚 not really an issue.鈥�

Convergence calls

One of the main issues the ECA is currently dealing with is a possible convergence with the HVCA, an idea that the majority seem in favour of.

鈥淭he next big thing is putting some meat on the bones,鈥� says Lee. 鈥淎t the moment it鈥檚 all, 鈥榃ell we could do this and we could do that.鈥� The words are good, but let鈥檚 see what it really means.

鈥淭hey鈥檒l never be able to join them as one, in my opinion, unless the ECA buys out the HVCA, but I don鈥檛 think that will happen.

鈥淭he assets of the HVCA and the ECA will have to be individually ring-fenced. Remember, those assets belong to the members 鈥� and there are lots of independent electrical-only contractors who are worried about that.鈥�

Another subject on everyone鈥檚 lips is the training of electricians in line with the release of the 17th Edition of the Wiring Regulations.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big issue. The ECA runs courses, which we will use, but instead of sending individuals to the ECA to train, the ECA will probably put a trainer in this building. We鈥檒l send 14 people at a time into the boardroom for three days and train them up. We鈥檙e going to start that towards the middle of the year.鈥�

It鈥檚 evidently a busy time for Lee, but does his role at Lowe Holdings provide any perks to help keep those stress levels down?

鈥淩upert Lowe, Patrick鈥檚 eldest son, used to be the chairman of Southampton Football Club, which meant that we had a box there. He鈥檚 a director within our company now and we don鈥檛 have it any more, but then, if I鈥檓 truthful, I鈥檓 not a Southampton fan anyway. I鈥檝e always been a Spurs supporter!鈥�