The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Duo aiming to reach the top with Summit
In 2019, more than 350 workers lost their jobs when Dundee building services firm Mcgill went into administration. Mcgill & Co was established in 1981 as a specialist building contractor.
The company appointed to oversee the administration, KPMG LLP, said at the time difficult trading conditions and late payments by some customers forced the firm into administration and 374 staff were made redundant.
Three years on, one of the long-time directors of the firm has bounced back with his own venture.
Nick Mcgill was a director of Mcgill’s facilities management division for nearly a decade to 2018. His new venture, Summit Facilities Services, now has £2 million annual turnover.
He cited differences in the vision of the firm for the reason for stepping aside at Mcgill a year before it went into administration. He said: “I left before that, but it was a difficult time.
“With a family business, there were disagreements about the direction it was going in and strategies.
“It was obviously not in good health and I left in 2018 with a view to setting up my own business.
“The company got way too big, the overheads were huge and they ran out of cash.”
Mcgill was acquired by Broughty businessman Graeme Carling weeks after it fell into administration.
Mr Mcgill and long-time colleague Matthew Mccallum set up Summit Facilities Services in 2019.
After winning millions of pounds of work and several acquisitions, the business now has more than 200 staff. The firm recorded £2m turnover in the 12 months to September 2021.
It also acquired Tayside Automatic Doors in 2020 and Summit now has 20 employees, many of whom worked at Mcgill.
Nick said: “We’re delighted we have built up our workforce with fantastic, local tradespeople. Quite a lot of the people we’ve taken on – maybe 10 or 11 – were at Mcgill at some point before.
“We’ve both got good networks of people we’ve worked with before.
“We are also supporting the next generation, investing in the future of the business and the sector, by offering apprenticeships.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has provided its own challenges, but Mr Mcgill said the firm’s success has been about being flexible.
He said: “We feel we made the right choice in naming the business back in 2019.
“Whether we’ve reached the peak remains to be seen, but with our amazing team and range of capabilities, we are definitely well on our way.”
Looking to the future, the co-founder doesn’t plan to grow the team to the size of workforce Mcgill took on, but hopes steady growth will be the way forward.