When it comes to sustainable living, affordable housing or good quality development, MCA Group (Scotland) measures up to all demands. Managing Director Raymond McCandlish explains why
by Roxanne Ridge
MCA Group (Scotland) (the group) was established in 1997 after Managing Director Raymond McCandlish became disheartened by the valuation and quantity surveying industries. Concerned with the design and construction of homes, the group considers itself unique: It takes recent housing market economics with a pinch of salt and is always looking forward to keep ahead of any competitiors.
From a standing start, the group is producing an annual turnover of £20 million, with a predicted turnover of around £30 million in the next few years.
The dominant area of growth has been in house building, which has led to an expansion of virtually all operational activities. To cope with this, a group structure was adopted for the component companies: MCA Homes (homebuilding), MCA Masterframe (a timber frame manufacturing wing) and Carpet Gallery Ltd (a flooring division catering for domestic and residential floors). It has also started to develop further branches, namely MCA Healthcare and MCA Construction.
And despite recent challenges, all parts of the group are in the ascendancy – MCA Homes has successfully completed projects worth more than £50 million in value, totalling over 600 new homes, all of which have received NHBC accreditation, with the majority available for private sale.
Affordable living
“Our recipe for success is to give our customers the best possible value for money,” explains Raymond. “And our specification and range of finishes are tailored to the requirements of each individual.”
One of the biggest challenges that MCA Group has had to face is the mortgage market. And recently, with the rising of rates and tightening of lending control, it’s not been easy – people can’t always afford houses that are tailored to their particular needs.
“Although we’re in the middle range of building and are not a volume building company, we’re not immune to the pessimism and drop in market confidence,” explains Raymond.
“There was a time when Scotland wasn’t really affected by the negative equity that the rest of the UK was experiencing, but now we’re catching up. “Typically, the Scottish take a ‘wait and see’ attitude and although confidence in the market needs a boost, people aren’t necessarily depressed. There has been a dip in business slightly, but I’m feeling confident attitudes will change.
“MCA Group doesn’t resort to the tactics that a lot of the volume builders do. We’re not into gambling costs and using multiple sub-contractors.
“What we give is better value for money for the middle market area than other volume builders and because of this we don’t ever have a problem with competition.
“The company is very focused on research and development and this means that whenever we’re vetting designs all parts of MCA Group are involved in the design. We all sit down in the office and look at the bigger picture whenever we’re working on designing and constructing a house.
“We’re an innovative company and we’re always looking forward at the route the market is going,” he adds
Green issues
Sustainable living is just one area that the group has had to take into account.
“Politicians are quick to set deadlines to achieve zero carbon footprints without really taking into consideration the lack of resources and technology to achieve them,” explains Raymond.
“We will always try to make a house as ‘green’ as possible, but we consider a range of things. There is no point trying to run a house with solar power or via a windmill on the front lawn when the house has a boiler fitted inside; recently, this is the sort of thing that people have been asking us to do in an attempt to trade-off hypothetical calculations on carbon footprints.
“There are certain standards that are set by the government which are unrealistic. Rather than suggesting that those designing and constructing houses raise sub-standard levels to a level where living is sustainable – with insulation and low maintenance features for example – they’re asking for almost space-age standards, which we can’t currently achieve.
“We take a realistic approach when it comes to green living,” he adds. “MCA Group always designs and constructs houses which are as sustainable as possible, but within the means and resources available.”
Staffing
As with all strong businesses, none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for suitably trained staff. “The initial concept of the company was to use a highly qualified management team,” Raymond says. “Trades people are good, but require good managers to succeed.
“MCA Group has experts in every part of construction, building and design who work alongside the tradesmen.
“And each and every one of them is continually developed and trained.”
In 2005/2006 the company picked up two awards for excellence in training and successful business. “We don’t gamble with money in the company and this therefore means that we’re not gambling with our staff, who are valued as individuals,” explains Raymond. “There are approximately 100 employees in the company and we have a very low turnover rate.
“I feel this is very much to do with the ethics of the company – the staff are aware that they will do well if the company does.
“There are a variety of training programmes that we have in place at the moment – this is in the craft side of business and up to head office.
“We have apprentices in bricklaying, joinery and painting as well as surveyors studying to BSc level and many clerical and accounting staff continually increasing their skills.
“Many of our staff are home grown – we bring them in and they succeed and help the company grow too.”
This predicted growth has meant the group has had to move to larger premises is currently constructing a new business campus. Ultimately, this means that MCA Homes will be separated from the other companies within the group.
“The new facilities will allow for the expansion of new activities and give manufacturing the space it needs to satisfy customer demand and cater for the development of new products,” explains Raymond.
“And this expansion programme, combined with our track record for producing value for money housing should set us in a good place to beat any challenges we might face in the future.”