In our first blog exploring the individual accreditation schemes available to UK-based construction companies, Louise looks at Achilles accreditation and what it has to offer your business.

What is it?

Achilles Building Confidence is a UK construction industry accreditation and risk management scheme that is split into two main areas: for buyers, and for suppliers.

The majority of clients approach Positive About Business to help them with Achilles accreditation so that they can grow their business and take a bigger bite out of the supply chain pie so, for that reason, we’ll focus on the ‘supplier’ route.

What’s involved?

1. Your first task will be to register a profile with information relating to your company, finances, products/services.
2. This can take approximately three hours to complete, and when done you will be asked to make your payment.
3. Once Achilles has received your payment, you will be sent a standardised, pre-qualification questionnaire to complete and return within 30 days.
4. Then follows a period of checks where Achilles will ‘validate’ your profile with a data check or perhaps an audit.
5. Once you’ve passed the validation stage, your profile is published and your company visible to buyers.
6. In a nutshell, Achilles streamlines the procurement process and manages risk, allowing you to access national and even global business opportunities.

Why should I bother?

For construction businesses that have achieved Achilles accreditation, it demonstrates to your supply chain that you have met (or exceeded) the standards by achieving a 100% pass rate and commit to adhering to those industry-recognised standards in areas such as health & safety, corporate social responsibility, quality, environmental protection, training & qualifications, and so on.

Not only will Achilles accreditation simplify the tendering/procurement process for your business, but the opportunities it will open can be immense. For example, accreditation will:

1. Build confidence and trust in your business from customers and your supply chain.
2. Save your business money and increase your profits.
3. Demonstrate the extent of technical knowledge and expertise within your business.
4. Help your business gain a marketing advantage over your competitors.
5. Win more work for your business.

You can read more about these accreditation benefits in this article: 5 reasons why accreditation is good for your construction business.

Also, construction companies that have achieved Achilles Building Confidence accreditation are deemed to have met the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) requirements and will receive a 10% discount when registering.

Achilles prides themselves on having “insight” (as opposed to “hindsight”) into the relationship between buyers and suppliers in the construction market. They have evolved over 29 years and your business can learn from their extensive experience of recognising what exactly buyers want from the procurement process.

To paraphrase their own words: Achilles can “drive a new kind of procurement with less risk, fewer costs and fewer compliance issues”.

But I don’t have a day to spend on registering a profile and filling in questionnaires!

That’s where we can help with Achilles accreditation.

Louise Percy founded Positive About Business in 2012 to help small and medium-sized business owners – like you – start their journey to business growth, excellence and improvement.

She is an expert in preparing accreditation assessment applications, and her clients agree.

Your business is in safe hands with Louise, a Technical Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) and an Associate Member of Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

She is also committed to her own Continuous Professional Development and was recently approved by the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety & Health (NEBOSH) to deliver training.

If your construction industry business needs help with Achilles accreditation, please contact louise@positiveaboutbusiness.co.uk