“The growth was already happening, but now we’re all on the same page”
In 2007, engineer Dries D’hoore took over the West Flemish construction company Erwin Deschrijver. Although he was able to expand the company considerably under the new name D’hoore Construct, over time he also felt the need for structure and strategy. “I lacked a background in management, and I found it at SME Excellence.”
About D’hoore Construct
- Construction company based in Zuienkerke
- 25 years of experience
- builds for property developers, private individuals and develops its own construction projects on the coast
- 35 employees and 40 subcontracted workers
Why did you choose SME Excellence?
“When we took over in 2007, we had seven employees, all manual workers on our building sites. In the years that followed, the company experienced steady growth. And that meant bigger projects on bigger sites. In 2014, I hired my first office employee, we built new offices and a warehouse, and I was awarded ‘Young Flemish Contractor’ by Embuild (previously known as Confederatie Bouw, ed.). We now have 35 permanent employees, 15 of whom work in the office. Although we’ve come a long way, a larger company also brings new challenges. As an entrepreneur and engineer, I’m good at identifying opportunities and have expertise, but I lacked managerial experience: how do you structure a company? How do you organise processes to ensure better synergy? SME Excellence offered an answer to these questions. ”
What are the main insights you gained from the training programme? How do they help you tackle the challenges you face with your business?
“I genuinely found every day of the course interesting, for the simple reason that the themes are hands-on. You can put what you learn into practice right away. The most important insight? As a director you know exactly what you want to do, but it’s just as important to convey that clearly to your team. Even though it’s crucial to reflect on what you stand for as a company and where you want to go, D’hoore Construct didn’t have a mission, goal, values or official strategy before the programme. These things guide our daily decisions, and they also ensure that everyone in the company knows what we are working towards.
The programme also reinforced the importance of a structured sales strategy. Transparent, smooth processes mean that clients are better informed about what to expect from us and can make decisions faster.”
How have you gone about implementing these insights?
“Last summer, I spent a weekend in a cottage in Dranouter with two key employees to really dive deep into our core values. We ended up with five West Flemish concepts: twope (working together), jeunen (trust and respect), stielman (expertise), soigneren & goan (solution-oriented and unburdening) and preus (pride). In short, we want to do for our clients what a good travel agency does in the tourism sector: take care of things for them. This sums up what I have already known for 10 years, of course, but formulating it so precisely has brought the rest of the team is on board. We test literally everything we do against these values. Are we taking enough care of our architects? Are we sure we’re not passing problems on to someone else? Do job applicants fit into our story?
We have also organised ourselves better. We have fine-tuned our organisational chart and worked to develop a transparent, streamlined sales process. By default, our quotations now come with a more accurately calculated implementation plan and a clear payment plan: this way our clients know exactly when their building will be ready and what we expect from them financially.
This strategic and organisational review is not a one-off thing. We have a monthly strategy meeting to check off, adjust or add action points.”
What impact have your chosen actions had on your business?
“Our sales got a boost. Because we have removed uncertainties, we notice that clients are making decisions faster. Our schedule for the coming year is completely full, which is unusual in the construction sector. I also left the programme with a valuable new network. In addition to the formal aspect of SME Excellence, the programme also has a lot of informal moments. Dinners where you get to talk to other passionate people, entrepreneurs who are facing similar challenges, for example. This kind of ongoing sounding board is very valuable. I’m still in weekly contact with some of my fellow students.
But I see the most important result in my company every day: we’re all on the same page now. The right people are in the right place, everyone knows which direction we are heading in and what is expected of them. This way, we take better care of our clients, our employees feel better, and they’re more motivated.”
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