The company
Our client was founded by its Chief Executive, built its reputation in winter gritting, and is now a national outdoor estate maintenance contractor serving more than 11,000 sites across retail, logistics, healthcare, education, the public sector and critical infrastructure. Backed by new private equity investment since 2025, it is growing organically and by acquisition.
Asset and fabric is the group's growth line. Every one of the 11,000 sites it already grits and maintains has fences, gates, surfaces, drains and roofs, and most of that work is currently bought from someone else. A specialist fencing team within the group gives it the capability; the opportunity is to take the line from winning work job by job to a national business selling into the group's client base and onto public-sector frameworks, with income that repeats.
The role
Reporting to the Managing Director, you will own and build the asset and fabric line: its P&L, what it looks like in three years, and the growth to get there. You will get the line in front of the group's existing clients, build and convert a pipeline, win public-sector frameworks and turn project revenue into repeat maintenance income.
It is equally an operational role. You will run the fencing team and the reactive workforce day to day: resourcing, scheduling, supervision, subcontractors, compliance, quality and cost. The company wants a very good operator first and a commercial builder second.
What you will be doing
• Own the line's P&L, budget, forecast and pricing
• Get the line in front of existing clients and property managers, identify the next opportunities and close them
• Get onto and win public-sector frameworks, running bids with the commercial team
• Turn installations into repeat income through inspection, maintenance and planned replacement programmes
• Run fencing and reactive works day to day and solve problems on the ground without dropping standards
• Set the delivery model for national growth: direct trades, subcontractors, supervision and regional coverage
• Act as the group's technical authority on fencing, access control and external fabric, and own statutory compliance, safe systems of work and quality
• Integrate the fencing team and any further acquired businesses onto the group's systems at a pace they can absorb
• Run quoting, dispatch, completion and evidence on the company's platform and use its data to manage the line
What we are looking for
• You have run a fencing, access control, external fabric or reactive maintenance contractor, or a division of one, with hands-on responsibility for delivery: crews, subcontractors, scheduling, quality and cost
• You have grown a small business or line into a larger one and can show how, with figures
• You have bid for and won public-sector or framework work
• You have owned a budget or P&L in the £5m to £15m range and can evidence margin or cost improvement
• You have turned project-based revenue into recurring maintenance income, or can show the equivalent
• A stable career; you want to build something and see an £8m line with an 11,000-site runway as the attraction
• Fencing and access control specifically, a building fabric trade background or qualification, NEBOSH, experience of being acquired or integrating an acquisition, and field-service or CAFM technology are all an advantage
This is not a role for corporate FM account directors without trade or delivery depth, for building services and M&E leaders whose experience is inside buildings, for sales leaders who have not run delivery, or for anyone for whom an £8m line would be a step down.
Location and package
Location: Reading, Berkshire, and the fencing team's base, with national travel.
Package: £100,000 to £120,000 base, plus bonus, car or allowance and benefits.
Process
Interview and assessment with Maxwell Stephens. First stage with the Chief People Officer and Chief Executive together. Second stage with the Chief Financial Officer on the numbers and a visit to the fencing team. Decisions within 48 hours of each stage.
To apply
Send your CV with a short note on the line or business you have grown and the figures behind it.
For a confidential discussion and further information, please apply directly or contact us in confidence on 0207 118 4848, or send your CV to cv@maxwellstephens.com.
Interested in this role?
Apply in a couple of minutes with your CV. If your experience is a match, we will be in touch to talk it through in confidence.
