Meet the team: Ryan Taylor, Commercial Manager

Our next ‘Day in the Life’ focuses on our brilliant Commercial Manager – Ryan Taylor. Ryan Taylor has been working at Thermatic Homes for nearly eight years, so we thought we’d sit down with Ryan Taylor to get an in-depth perspective of what a day in his shoes looks like.

1. Can you give us a brief insight into your career path which has led you to be in the position you are today?

My career path is quite long so I will only elaborate on the roles that have brought me to my current position. I first started as an administrator on site for NG Bailey and got to know the QS. I managed to show enough initiative for NG Bailey to put me on a QS Degree Course which I became qualified in through Reading University. After moving to Vital Energi for a few years I moved onto Thermatic Maintenance, I worked my way up to Senior QS after a few years and eventually started working exclusively for Thermatic Homes which I am currently the Commercial Manager.

2. Are there any moments in your career, past or present, that stand out to you?

For me, it had been the continuing support of a fellow colleague Steve Black who took me under his wing and constantly guided me up until his untimely passing. Karl has continued in the same form as Steve, and I believe the support of your peers is invaluable.

3. What kind of skills do you need to be effective in your role?

I think the main skill is multi-tasking. Thermatic Homes is a very busy company with a large volume of work. Ensuring the projects are commercially viable is extremely challenging purely due to the volume of work involved.

4. Can you tell us about a typical working day for you?

A typical day for me would be logging onto the various live cost sheets we have produced for the projects to capture the sales and expenditure and ensuring everything has been included and the projects are running at a good profit margin.

5. We can’t do an interview without mentioning COVID-19 as it is very much the topic of conversation at the moment. How do you think Thermatic Homes reacted to the pandemic and what kind of effect on the overall industry do you think it will have?

I think Thermatic Homes reacted extremely well to the pandemic myself, Karl and the other Management team would have daily team meetings to discuss the challenges involved with working through Covid. It took a lot of hard work, working full time and trying to home school Children at the same time but I can proudly say the effort we all put in has ensured Thermatic Homes is still around today. During the Pandemic it was actually one of our most profitable periods as a business which was quite ironic due to the constraints.

I think the effect of Covid in future years will be massive for the construction industry both positive and negative. For Thermatic Homes we have seen an increase in not being able to gain access into people’s properties, given we predominantly work for social housing companies access into properties is essential.  This has led to us looking further afield and expanding our client base to ensure the business can continue and flourish. On a positive note the property industry is booming and I can only see this continuing with a lot of people buying properties to make bigger which will keep the construction industry growing.

6. Where do you see Thermatic Homes in 5 years?

I see Thermatic Homes in 5 years at least double the current size of company we are today. The work we are tendering for and the clients we are looking to work with is very exciting and if managed correctly this company could grow exponentially.

7. Can you tell us about the hardest moment in your career and how you overcame it?

The hardest moment in my career was when I was made redundant by NG Bailey. It was at a time when I was nearly finished with my degree and did not have the full exposure of being a QS on my own site. It thought I would lose the degree and not be able to continue in this field due to me inexperience at the time. My former Commercial Manager at the time offered the opportunity to work with him at Vital Energi I knuckled down demonstrated my worth to the business and was able to continue my degree whilst working at Vital Energi.

8. Thermatic’s culture is at the heart of the business – can you describe what the culture means to you?

The culture at Thermatic Homes means everything to me. If it was not for the working atmosphere within the company I do not think I would still be working for them. Given I have been with the company for 8 years this September which is the longest I have worked at one place for I think this demonstrates everything this company is about.

9. What do you believe is the greatest thing that Thermatic Homes has achieved so far?

I believe the greatest achievement is the staff we have been able to bring into the business a lot of gifted intelligent people work for us and without them this company would not be able to exist.

10. Do you have any advice for people who want to work in the industry?

Work hard and show your worth to the business, I had no qualifications & no experience and to old to be an apprentice at my time of joining NG Bailey. But I took a position with was less money than what I was currently earning as I knew if I demonstrated my skills and desire, I would be able to work my way up the chain.

11. What do you love most about your job?

The camaraderie with the team to go from having a laugh to changing to be serious to ensure the work is done is something quite special. I have really missed being in the office during lockdown and now I am back at least part-time in the office I really appreciate the daily interaction with the team.

12. Finally, if there was one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

My advice would be to get a trade under my belt, I have a general understanding of electrics and mechanical projects but being able to understand and complete the works yourself would be a great advantage.