Career challenges and rewards working for an SME

October 21, 2019 / Keith Osborne
Career challenges and rewards working for an SME

Andrew Cornelius, chief financial officer at Stonebond Properties, tells us about his career and the attraction of joining an SME housebuilder.

A chartered accountant by background, Andrew began his career on a graduate scheme with EY in London. Having spent four years there, he took an opportunity to join Berkeley Group.

He explains: “I decided that I wanted to leave the professional services sector and I always had a passion for property. When the opportunity arose to join the Berkeley Group plc as a group financial accountant and analyst, I knew that this was would be the perfect organisation to work for to build my career within housebuilding. It turned out to be an amazing opportunity, working along the corridor from Tony Pidgley CBE, and Rob Perrins.”

Moving into a group finance function, Andrew was involved in a range of finance activities which assisted him in gaining a thorough understanding of business operations. He worked closely with the main board of directors, before moving to St James, one of Berkeley’s housebuilding divisions, as head of finance.

“My role at St James was much more commercial and operational, which was the side of the business for which I had particular enthusiasm. Alongside the MD, I was responsible for strategic commercial decision-making on all aspects of the business, both financial and non-financial, in a business partnering role, including health and safety, sales and marketing and customer service. At the time I was looking after schemes with a gross development value of over £1.3billion.”

Leaving Berkeley, Andrew joined Countryside Properties plc’s growing partnerships business as divisional finance director. The business grew strongly over the three years Andrew spent there; by the end of his tenure he was overseeing three regional operations with operating profits up by nearly 300%. This growth led to Andrew’s promotion to group financial controller for the FTSE 250 company.

Having worked very closely with both Richard and Graham Cherry during his time at Countryside, he was then offered the opportunity to join Stonebond Properties as chief financial officer to support the strategic direction and growth of the business.

Colleagues and peers have since asked Andrew what attracted him to life at an SME housebuilder, having worked for two of the country’s largest.

He says: “The opportunity to be part of a growing company, taking it from a small to a medium-sized business is incredibly exciting. There is definitely an entrepreneurial sense amongst those working for the business. It gives me the opportunity to bring my experience and knowledge gained from the Berkeley Group and Countryside Properties over the past 14 years to really influence the direction of the business. We are setting up the business for future growth and being part of that journey is very rewarding.

“What’s more, the SME world is a lot more flexible. There is greater opportunity to be dynamic with our thinking where the right opportunities arise. Equally important is the culture of our business. We are a privately-owned family company and so our people and office culture are extremely important to us. As we grow it is crucial that we employ the right people who will fit with our team and who share our values.”

Andrew is, however, quick to note that Stonebond is not a typical SME housebuilder; all of the board of directors have listed-company experience, sharing a significant number of years in the housebuilding sector between them. In many ways he faces the same external operating challenges as he did working for national housebuilders. The volatile political environment and issues with the planning system are even more significant now than before.

“We are fortunate to be a premium developer and our homes are in demand, but we are still relying on getting schemes underway at certain times to achieve our growth plans,” he says. “The planning system continues to be challenging; if an application is rejected and we decide to appeal, often the length of time to wait for a decision can put significant financial pressures on the business. These delays affect our business plans and ultimately the delivery of new homes which are greatly needed by the communities and areas in which we operate.”

Looking ahead though, Andrew remains upbeat about the future of the industry and the opportunities it presents.

“It’s an exciting time for housebuilding – modern methods of construction are helping to revolutionise parts of the industry, and there is a more progressive attitude towards attracting different people who would never have thought about a career within housebuilding previously. The market still has the right balance of demand and supply which offers exciting growth opportunities and we are looking to set up additional operating regions in the short-term as we embark upon our regional growth strategy.”

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