By the side of... Applebridge Family

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By the side of... The Applebridge Family

Haines Watts has worked alongside Applebridge from the early days. Jonathan Scott, Tax Partner explains, “Haines Watts has always been a sounding board for Applebridge.”

“They’ve obviously come up against issues that any company would have in that growth journey. Because of the level of trust and transparency we have as their business advisor, we seek to provide solutions for any issues that Applebridge comes up against.”

“The people around you are equally as important as what you’re trying to do.” That’s the advice Donny Hughes, CEO at Applebridge, would give to anyone looking to start a business.

His company, Applebridge, has evolved as a problem solver in the construction industry, one that stands on its own two feet and ‘engineers the foundations of tomorrow.’ Applebridge’s ability to make sites work commercially whilst delivering every aspect of the pre-construction phase has fueled their growth over the past few years – a journey that has been swift but at the same time well-organised and well-executed.

"We wanted to work with a company with similar values to Applebridge, and Haines Watts have created an environment that feels like a family relationship. They are always available, friendly, and professional."

Donny Hughes

CEO

Applebridge Family

“We wanted Applebridge to be more than just a groundworks company,” Donny says. As a business owner, he puts a sharp focus on the needs of his customers. “We don’t think about competitors,” he explains. “We think more about the clients we’re working for. We think about what are their needs and what can we do to make their job easier.”

Working with clients across the North East, Yorkshire and Derbyshire, Applebridge employees over 200 staff and highly-skilled tradesmen. “Our company values are very family based,” says Donny.

"We wanted to work with a company with similar values to Applebridge and Haines Watts have created an environment that feels like a family relationship, they are always available, friendly and professional,” he says. “On the whole, we can always get in touch with whoever we need to get in touch with. And we get on in both a professional and a private way.”

“Haines Watts have added value by showing us where we were being inefficient from a tax point of view, from an employment point of view, and basically the whole structure,” Donny explains.

“They’ve helped us restructure the financial aspect of the company and have really opened our eyes to things that we were doing but we weren’t taking advantage of.”

“On the auditing point of view, once they’ve come in, they’ve helped us restructure how we do our accountancy,” Donny says. “It’s benefited us, and it’s made the auditing process a lot quicker. It’s been able to get us our accounts online so much faster than we used to do it.”

Haines Watts has been alongside Applebridge since it was turning over £10m, it is now looking to try and achieve £70m. Jonathan says, “Haines Watts has grown with Applebridge and developed the structures, the efficiencies, the controls that come with having a large group of businesses.”

As Applebridge looks toward the future, the company has year-on-year growth in its sights. As part of this, Donny is looking to improve the companies that they currently have, improve the structure within those companies, and bring through apprentices along with other members of staff. "I feel that there is a bright future for Applebridge,” Donny adds.