PermaGroup, originally a felt roof company started in 1999, has evolved into a significant player in the construction and DIY markets under the PermaGroup umbrella.

Today, it encompasses brands like PermaRoof, PermaLawn, PermaFence, PermaRoom, and The Skylight Company. Adrian Buttress, who joined the company in 2002, has played a crucial role in this expansion, particularly in making PermaRoof one of the main EPDM importers in the UK.

Here, Adrian shares the inspiration behind PermaGroup, his business strategies, and the lessons he’s learned along the way.

What was the inspiration behind PermaGroup?

I wanted to build a national company that provided long term solutions to age old problems within the construction and DIY markets. Not only that, I wanted to build something I could feel proud of and fulfil my lifetime ambition of creating a multimillion-pound business, to quench my entrepreneurial thirst. It’s all I ever wanted to do.

I studied many seminars and read countless books on building a business, which also taught me that to get success I needed to be a good leader that my team could trust and have faith in, and I’m pleased to say I think we have achieved this. We have a fantastic team that have equally given it their all and are instrumental to PermaGroup’s success.

Who do you admire?

There are so many people I admire, but if I had to choose one it would be Sir Richard Branson. A true British Entrepreneur who simply looks at a market, decides he wants to take a slice and just does it. He’s a very down to earth person which I also admire.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

Two things come to mind. Without making excuses, you don’t know what you don’t know and I would have thought bigger sooner. I think I was very cautious in the early days and hated the idea of borrowing money, but once I had worked out how commercial lending worked it just clicked. For example, I borrow at 6% interest and make 30%, with 24% profit on other people’s money. Why didn’t I get that sooner?

Secondly, I would learn to delegate sooner. When I first started the business I seemed to think I had to do it all, but once I learned about delegation I actually found it was easier and wiser to find and work with people who have more experience. I’m not great at finance, I don’t have a degree, and I’m not the world’s best salesperson, but I employ people with these skill sets who have helped to take the business forwards.

What defines your way of doing business?

For me, it’s a two-way thing. It’s pointless hard selling a product or service only for the customer to cool off a few days later and want their money back, or fail to complete on the deal. It’s all about negotiation, so that both sides are happy. I won’t sell cheap for the sake of it as I know down the line this isn’t going to work for us.

That said, there is a fine line in convincing the customer that we are the best option, because what sits behind our negotiated price is stockholding, choice of products and a high level of service. We never claim to be the cheapest but I feel we offer the best on the market, and do everything possible to give more for our customers’ hard-earned pound.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Research your market well. Look at the competition and do a SWOT analysis on what they do well and what they don’t do so well. That’s your opening, and then you can strive to do a better job than the competition. It’s also important to build solid foundations from the beginning, so for example employ someone with strong finance skills to look after your numbers and implement good financial planning with a forward-looking cash flow forecast and budgets. Stick rigidly to your budgets and review them monthly.

Finally, get stuck in with the hard work. Over time your efforts add up, but you’ll be surprised at how many people give up. A lot of businesses are only interested in making a quick profit, but it takes time, patience, discipline, and lots of long hours to get the ball rolling.