Profile - Richard Beal: Skilled labour vital to recovery says the boss who started at the bottom

IT'S a question that can't be ducked by any pupil summoned to see their careers tutor.

"What do you plan to do when you leave school?"

Richard Beal's first day in the world of work was spent in a trench.

While other 17-year-olds were lounging in the sixth form common room, Richard was wielding a spade on a wind-swept building site near Hull. His father John was the boss of a house building firm, but

that didn't guarantee a seat on the board.

"I was presented with a shovel and hard hat by my father and told I was starting at the bottom,'' Richard Beal recalled, as he showed me his latest development in Willerby, near Hull.

"This was all part of understanding the core of the business and showing attention to detail. It means you can earn the respect of people when you ask them to do work for you.

"The most important lesson I have learned from my father is that cash flow is king. Our financial controls over the last 24 months have brought us through."

Twenty-three years after he stepped into the trench, Mr Beal has taken on the joint role of chairman and managing director of Beal Holdings, the company behind Beal Homes.

His father, John, has decided to step down as chairman of the house builder he established with his late brother Raymond.

The brothers founded Beal Homes in 1968 with a first development of two houses and a shop in Hedon, near Hull.

On the face of it, his son is picking up the baton at a grim time.

Last year, the company's turnover was 9m, a big drop on the 25m it recorded in 2007, before the financial crisis forced many workers across Britain

into inactivity.

Mr Beal has responded calmly. While other firms were laying off dozens of workers, Beal Homes has focused on keeping a firm grip on costs and retaining key staff. Borrowings have also been reduced by about 20 per cent.

He believes Beal can increase its market share, and expects to see growing consumer demand due to the shortage of houses.

"We have cut our costs by 35 per cent over the last year," he said. "There have been just two redundancies. Today, we've got 75 staff, including one apprentice. One of my main focuses has been to keep the core of the team together.

"An unfortunate result of the recession was that a number of quality tradesmen have left the industry for good. You hear of joiners going to become taxi drivers."

The loss of skilled labour is a tragedy, because house building is key to economic recovery, according to Mr Beal.

He said: "Bricklayers laying bricks creates so many other jobs down the line, from (people making) windows and doors to carpets and curtains. The significance should not be underestimated."

Anybody visiting East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire – the company's core areas – must be struck by the open spaces that are ripe for development.

Mr Beal hopes to see the company's turnover recover to about 18m this year as the housing market stages a tentative revival.

The company has received planning permission for a 20m development at Hull's Kingswood Parks. It also plans to start work on a 15m phase of development at the Burton Waters Marina, near Lincoln, which will include 47 homes and 12 commercial units.

Lincolnshire has been an area of growth for Beal – in recent years it has done more work there than on the north bank of the Humber.

Mr Beal said: "We are targeting 10 per cent annual growth, but we would rather do 150 houses well than 175 at the expense of our reputation, which takes years to build.

"We expect a slow recovery. 2011 will be a steady year. It's in nobody's interests to return to the boom years because they led to a disaster.

"The first-time buyer market is still very tough due to the lack of mortgage availability. The banks are still reducing the proportion of their property portfolio.

"There was a shortfall in the number of houses being built and the recession has exacerbated that. Controlling house price inflation is going to be key.

"I am learning something new every day. I never saw myself building a marina, which is what we are doing now at Burton Waters."

Beal continued to make acquisitions during the recession. Over the last year, for example, it bought 103 plots in Westwood, near Hull, for 20m and 15 plots in Nettleham, near Lincoln, for 4.5m.

It certainly won't be idle when the economy starts growing in earnest. It has 350 plots in its land bank with detailed planning permission.

Developers often complain about bureaucracy causing unnecessary delays. Communities secretary Eric Pickles recently said he was committed to a more locally based planning system, as part of a strategy to take power away from central Government.

"We will have to see how each local authority deals with it,'' said Mr Beal. "We are quite open-minded about it and hope it will bring a greater understanding of local needs."

Outside work, Mr Beal devotes his energies to a sporting enterprise which is close to his heart, Hull RUFC.

Beal has been the club's main sponsor since its formation in 1992.

Mr Beal was the club's first team captain from 1997 to 2001 and is now vice chairman of finance, ensuring the art of cost control is brought to a different arena.

"The club has risen from the Yorkshire leagues in its early days and has just started its second season in National Division Two North where it finished fifth last year. We are looking for an improvement this season.

"Our support for the club is directed to the mini and junior sections where we have increased numbers from around 20 to more than 150 youngsters over the last five years.

"We have placed particular emphasis on targeting deprived areas of Hull. We are giving kids an opportunity to get involved with rugby who would otherwise not have been able to. Our support for the club is our way of giving something back to the community and the city of

Hull."

Mr Beal regards life as a team game, where a company, like a sports club, must value the contributions of every employee.

Those youthful hours spent at the bottom of a trench were clearly not wasted.

Richard Beal

– The CV

Name: Richard Beal

Title: Managing director of Beal Holdings

Date of birth: July 25 1970

Education: Ashville College, Harrogate

Favourite song: OMG by Will I Am

Favourite holiday: Majorca

Last book read: Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

Car driven: Range Rover

First job: Site ground worker in Hull

Favourite film: Taken, with Liam Neeson

What are you most proud of: My 16-month old son Charlie.