MKM Building Supplies is the largest independent builders ’ merchant in the UK and among the country ’ s top private companies . Providing building , plumbing and timber supplies to customers in the trade and the general public , it is growing fast and now has 47 branches and 1,100 employees , with a target of 76 branches by 2020 .

The company ’ s revenues last year were in excess of £ 280m - not bad for a business that never planned to have more than one branch . MKM ’ s success has been put down to two factors : a focus on customer service and its unique business model , which sees every branch director taking an equity stake in the business . It is this business model , so MKM believes , which inspires a better performance .

The branch directors are usually locals – most have lived in their local area for at least five years . They know and look after their customers , and make a point of trying to accommodate the sometimes tricky demands as builders ’ shuttle relentlessly between one job and another .

Listen to customers

As a founding member of MKM , Linda Clarke has 26 years in the builders ’ merchant industry and is well placed to chart the company ’ s growth . She said : “ I was there at the beginning . I initially worked as a consultant to help start the business and had previously worked at Harcros ( which became Jewson ) where MKM ’ s current chairman and co-founder , David Kilburn , also worked .”

Linda came from a background in retail and was able to transfer some of its customer-savvy principles to MKM . “ In those days , businesses like ours didn ’ t treat the customers as individuals - they treated them as a single group called ‘ builders ’. We ’ ve found that listening to our customers ’ unique needs is critical . We do a lot of customer surveys and find out what they want , what other products they are buying , and where they are buying from .

“ Now , our customer relationships are better than anyone else in our sector . We outperform our competitors by always going the extra mile . Our whole team has a great relationship with the customer base – we run various events

at branches like curry nights , new product launch nights and we run loyalty schemes to deepen these relationships .

“ We also run lots of breakfast mornings . Some builders even start their day ’ s work at our branches - almost like a club - with bacon butties , free coffee , the newspapers , and the TV news .” Those customers include everyone from professional tradespeople to regional contractors and developers , with most of the business around repair , maintenance and improvement ( RMI ) rather than new build . “ We see ourselves as a one stop shop with a difference – the difference being we have a product expert in all main product areas ,” said Linda .

“ We stock 3,000 products in store with a further 10,000 products displayed online and we can source any products we don ’ t have in stock . Essentially , we supply everything that goes into a building project .”

Freedom to trade

The idea behind calling senior colleagues branch ‘ directors ’ is to give them the status they deserve . Linda said : “ These guys are really motivated . In some cases , they can be running £ 10 million- £ 12 million businesses . We give them freedom to trade within a very clear framework . They are managing directors of their own businesses . We only get involved with the branch if they need support . It works because

we never have to advertise for branch directors – they come knocking on our door .

“ We try to take away the headaches for them . Credit control , IT , marketing , procurement and accounts is all done centrally so the branch directors can focus on the customer . The national chains also centralise these functions but the difference is that they also take away the local decision-making . “ Our branch directors have control over most local decisions , including recruiting . They even get to choose their own cars rather than having to choose from a fleet . We try to be responsive too . If someone wants a new truck and they can justify the expense against sales , our fleet structure