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Melanie Curtis Accountants

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Melanie Curtis Accountants

We help businesses reach for the stars through our range of accounting & business growth services. As you would expect, we are great with numbers.

We are Accountants & Business Growth Specialists who help business owners reach for the stars and achieve the life of their dreams. We work closely and proactively with our entrepreneurial clients to grow their businesses by planning, forecasting, measuring, and reporting for the future. We work with you to provide you with better information enabling you to grow a great business. We offer a wide

range of compliance and business growth services. Our compliance services include annual accounts & corporation tax, VAT & bookkeeping, company secretarial, payroll, auto enrolment, self-assessment, and start ups & formations. We also offer business growth services which include management accounts & reporting, coaching, business plans, strategic planning, and profit improvement. We offer 3 levels of service too, so business owners can choose how closely they would like to work with us and exactly which services they would like. So if you're looking for leading accountants in Berkshire, you've come to the right place.

03/06/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M–£10M:

A lot of you don’t have a bad accountant.

You’ve just outgrown them.

They’re:
-Nice
- Responsive
- Get the accounts done on time

But everything is backwards-looking.

By the time you see the numbers:
- The job’s finished
- The profit’s already made (or lost)
- And nothing can be changed

That’s fine at £200k–£500k.

It’s a problem at £1M+.

Because at your level, decisions need to be made during the job, not after it.

You need:
- Visibility while work is happening
- Clarity on which jobs are actually making money
- Confidence in your cash position

Not just a set of accounts months later.

Most don’t spot this until it starts costing them.

01/06/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M–£10M:

It’s June already!
Which means we’re basically halfway through the year. And for a lot of business owners, this is the point where reality starts kicking in.

The goals from January looked great on paper.

But now? You’re asking questions like: Are margins where they should be? Is cash flow actually improving? Is the business becoming easier to run? Am I actually getting rewarded for the pressure?

Because turnover alone doesn’t tell you much. A business can grow… While the owner becomes: More stressed, more stretched, more reliant on overdrafts, more trapped in day-to-day problems.

That’s why this time of year is important. It’s a chance to stop reacting for a minute and ask: Is the business genuinely moving in the right direction… Or are you just staying busy?

Because the businesses that improve fastest usually aren’t the busiest ones. They’re the ones willing to step back and look at the bigger picture.

So here’s the question: If you carry on exactly as you are now for the next 6 months… Will you actually be happy with where the business ends up?

28/05/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M–£10M:

A heatwave 😎 sounds great…

Until you’re trying to keep projects on schedule.

Because in construction, hot weather can quietly create:
• Lower productivity
• Longer programmes
• More fatigue on site
• Delays across multiple jobs

And the problem is:

Most businesses don’t factor these things into planning properly.

They assume:
“Good weather = easier jobs.”

But operationally, it’s not always that simple.

The stronger construction businesses usually plan ahead for:
• Productivity changes
• Programme slippage
• Labour pressure
• Cash flow knock-on effects

Because protecting profit isn’t just about winning work.

It’s about managing operational reality properly too.

Does extreme heat tend to help productivity on your sites…
Or hurt it?

26/05/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M to £7M

Just this week I’ve spoken to 3 business owners all saying a very similar thing.

Their accountant is a nice person.
They get on well.
There’s no real issue.

But…

They feel like their business needs more.

More forward thinking.
More involvement.
More input while things are actually happening.

Because the business has grown.

There are more jobs.
More moving parts.
More pressure on cash and decisions.

And what used to feel fine… just doesn’t quite fit anymore.

Not because the accountant is doing anything wrong.
But because the business has outgrown that level of support.

I’m hearing this more and more lately.

Have you ever had that same thought?

25/05/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M to £10M

Being busy is one of the biggest risks in construction

Sounds backwards.

But it’s true.

You’re fully booked.
Sites are running.
New enquiries coming in.

Everything looks good from the outside.

But underneath, I often see this:

• Jobs priced slightly too low
• Variations not fully recovered
• Margins slipping across multiple projects
• No time to step back and review

Because everyone is busy.

And that’s the problem.

When you’re busy:

You don’t question things.
You don’t review properly.
You just keep going.

I’ve seen £3M–£5M firms work flat out all year…
And still feel under pressure at the end of it.
Not because they lacked work.
Because they lacked visibility.

The uncomfortable truth:

Busyness can hide problems.
Until it’s too late.

When you're busy do you review your numbers more .. or less?

21/05/2026

4 questions every construction director should ask before pricing a job

Before you send that quote…

Most decisions have already been made.

I see this a lot in £1M–£10M construction firms.

The job gets priced quickly.

Based on:
• Gut feel
• Previous jobs
• What it takes to win

But a few small misses can wipe out the margin.

Here are 4 questions worth asking first:

1. What margin do we actually need on this job?

Not “what feels right”.

What margin covers:
• Overheads
• Risk
• Profit

2. Have we allowed properly for labour movement?
• Delays
• Overtime
• Subcontractor rate changes

A 3–4% labour drift can wipe out profit.

3. Are overheads fully factored in?

This is where most pricing falls short.

Office costs.
Vehicles.
Management time.

If they’re not included, margin isn’t real.

4. What happens if this job overruns?
• Time
• Cost
• Payment delays

If there’s no buffer, you’re exposed.

Most pricing mistakes aren’t obvious.

They’re small gaps that add up.

The key:

You don’t lose money on jobs at the end.
You lose it when they’re priced.

Do you have a clear pricing structure, or does it vary job to job?

19/05/2026

The decision that added £180k profit to a £3M construction business

It wasn’t a new client.

It wasn’t more work.

It was one decision.

Turnover: £3M
Busy pipeline
Margins around 10%

The director thought:

“We just need to grow a bit more.”

But when we reviewed the numbers, the issue wasn’t growth.

It was pricing discipline.

Here’s what was happening:

• Jobs priced slightly differently each time
• No clear minimum margin
• Overheads not consistently included
• Some jobs profitable, others not

Nothing dramatic.

Just inconsistency.

So we made one change:

A non-negotiable minimum gross margin on every job.

That led to:

• More confidence in pricing
• Fewer low-margin jobs taken on
• Better consistency across projects

Within 12 months:

• Margin increased from 10% to 14%
• Profit improved by around £180k
• No increase in turnover

Same business.

Same team.

Better decisions.

The key:

You don’t always need more work to grow.

Sometimes you need better rules.

Do you have a minimum margin you stick to… or does it depend on the job?

18/05/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M and £10M

You might recognise this.
You’ve got good turnover.

Plenty of work on.

The business looks busy from the outside.

But behind the scenes, it feels less clear.

You’re not always sure which jobs are making money.
Cash flow can feel tight, even when you’re busy.
And you’re making decisions without really having all the numbers in front of you.

So you end up relying on instinct more than anything.

Most people assume that’s just part of running a construction business.

But more often than not, it comes down to one thing:

Not having the right level of financial visibility as you grow.

That’s usually the point where things start to feel harder than they should.

Does any of that sound familiar?

I've put together a short quiz that helps highlight where you’re at with this.
Message me “quiz” and I’ll send it over

15/05/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M and £10M

Bit of a Friday thought…

There seems to be a point where things just start to feel harder than they should.

Not because there’s no work.
Not because the business isn’t growing.

But because you’re dealing with more.

More jobs.
More decisions.
More pressure on cash.
More moving parts day to day.

And what used to feel manageable… doesn’t quite anymore.

So you push through it.
Figure things out as you go.
Rely on instinct more than you’d probably like to.

But deep down, you know it could be clearer.

That things could run with less stress.
Less guesswork.
More control.

Going into the weekend, it might be worth asking yourself:

If things carry on as they are now, will the business feel easier or harder in 6 months time?

13/05/2026

Construction business owners turning over £1M and £10M

You don’t need more work

You need better control.

Construction business owners:

I hear this a lot:

“We just need a few more jobs.”

But most of the time, that’s not the answer.

I’ve seen £2M–£5M firms:

• Fully booked
• Strong pipeline
• Good reputation

And still feel under pressure.

Because more work often brings:

• More labour
• More materials
• More overhead
• More complexity

Not necessarily more profit.

If margin is already tight…

More work just scales the problem.

What actually changes things:

• Clear visibility on job performance
• Consistent pricing discipline
• Understanding where profit is really made
• Fixing issues early, not after year end

The shift is this:

From “we need more work”

To

“We need to make better decisions with the work we already have”

The key:

Growth doesn’t fix weak control.

It exposes it.

Do you feel like more work would solve your current pressure… or add to it?

Address

Wokingham

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Website

http://melaniecurtisaccountants.co.uk/, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wokingham-networking-club-spring-into-networking-ti

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