I’ve Built It. I’ve Lost It. I’ve Rebuilt.

This isn’t theory. It’s lived experience — the wins, the mistakes, and the hard lessons that now underpin everything I teach.

In 2008, the worst recession the housebuilding industry had ever seen nearly finished us. We used up every cash reserve we had. We fought the banks — literally — for survival. Despite having assets far in excess of our borrowings, they wanted to close us down.

We survived. Just. But we weren’t in a strong position, so we pivoted — concentrating more on contracting than development. We partnered with housing associations on joint ventures — they provided the cash, we provided the expertise and delivered on site. The company grew to £12–14 million turnover.

And then, in 2015, Court Homes — the company my father had founded in 1969 — went under.

I went down fighting. Not just for myself, not just for the legacy my father had built, but for our contractors and suppliers too. Some people use limited liability to walk away. I couldn’t do that. We fought until there was nothing left to fight with.

From the outside, watching a company go bust looks like a business problem. From the inside, it’s anguish. Unless you’ve been through it, you cannot understand what it does to you.

Whose fault was it? Mine.

For the first two years, I blamed others. There were contributing factors — a partner who didn’t pay what they owed, some wrong people in the team. But the fundamental problems were caused by me. Lack of process. Lack of accountability. Lack of structure. I’d made the company vulnerable.

I have huge respect for anyone who comes back after a company goes bust. It takes something to rebuild when you’ve lost everything. And I did come back.

I ran another company and built it to £4 million working with housing associations. But honestly, I wasn’t enjoying it. Then in 2019, something shifted. I discovered mentoring — and I discovered I loved it. I had a lot to give.

Everything I got wrong at Court Homes? I’ve turned it into systems and processes that stop it happening to you. The mistakes I made are now the lessons I teach.

What I Bring to You

I bring the experience of failure — and the experience of success. The things I did right, and the hard learnings from everything I did wrong. Add to that five years working with SME contractors, seeing what trips them up and helping them fix it.

I don’t coach you to “find your own answers”. I’ve been where you are. I know what works because I’ve done it — and I know what doesn’t because I’ve done that too. I give you the systems, the templates, and the tools that actually work.

That’s the difference between coaching and mentoring. And that’s why I can help you.