Own The Build

In this episode, Paul is joined by Len Foster, construction professional turned communication coach and founder of The Referral Edge, to explore one of the most important — yet rarely taught — skills in commercial management: how to communicate effectively and read the room.
Len started his career on the tools as an apprentice joiner before progressing through site management, contracts management and planning, including senior roles with major contractors such as John Sisk. Today, he specialises in communication, speaking and helping professionals better understand the people sitting opposite them.
The conversation explores:
why communication isn't a soft skill for QSs — it's a commercial and financial skill;
how to establish someone's baseline behaviour before a negotiation starts;
what changes in body language, tone and behaviour can tell you during a difficult commercial meeting;
why you should never interpret a single gesture — such as folded arms — in isolation;
how to use curiosity and questions to understand what is really happening on the other side of the table;
why "Are we comfortable with that?" can be more effective than immediately asking "Are we agreed?";
how silence can become one of your most powerful tools in a negotiation;
why great listeners hear not only what somebody is saying, but what they actually mean; and
what to do when somebody raises their voice, checks their phone or suddenly goes quiet during a negotiation.
Len introduces a simple principle that commercial professionals can immediately take into their next meeting:
ABC — Always Be Curious.
Rather than trying to decode every gesture or assume you know what someone is thinking, use the signals you notice as an opportunity to discover more.
Because whether you're negotiating a variation, agreeing a final account, managing a client or sitting across the table from a subcontractor, your technical knowledge only gets you so far.
The best commercial professionals also know how to read the person sitting opposite them.
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This episode is sponsored by:
clearnorth — The QS People: https://www.clearnorth.co.uk/
CLIC — The Commercial Leadership Collective: https://www.the-clic.co.uk/
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📥 Plus: Grab Paul’s eBooks Mastering Construction Procurement — link below:
Mastering Construction Procurement Strategies for Supply Chain Integration, Tendering, and Commercial Success
Send us Fan Mail

Want to connect with Paul?

Paul is on Linkedin here and would love to talk. You can also connect with Paul at paul@c-link.com or through, C-Link. 
C-Link is software built by Quantity Surveyors for Quantity Surveyors. We save 600 hours of Quantity Surveying time per project in automation. We can make your QS’ so much more efficient.
Watch the Video to learn more; you can book a demo by clicking here.

In this Own the Build Question Time episode, Paul is joined once again by Chris Barber, COO and Co-Founder of C-Link, to tackle four real-world commercial dilemmas faced by Quantity Surveyors and Commercial Managers.
First up: would you pay £100,000 more for a subcontractor you already know and trust?
Paul and Chris debate the value of certainty, relationships and proven performance against the very real pressure to protect project margin. They explore how work references, site visits, supply chain strategy and the wider needs of the business should influence a tender recommendation.
The conversation also explores:
how much a proven subcontractor relationship is actually worth;
whether introducing a new supplier can create value beyond the immediate £100k saving;
the biggest positive and negative margin swings Paul and Chris experienced during their QS careers;
how a £1.3m value engineering opportunity transformed the commercial position on one of Paul's projects;
why mistakes made during the design phase can have enormous commercial consequences;
why bad news and potential variations should be communicated as early as possible;
whether a QS expecting a project to finish at 10% margin should report the gain when only 6% can currently be substantiated; and
how to balance commercial prudence with giving senior leadership an accurate view of where profit really sits within the business.
The final question leads to an important discussion about CVRs: rather than hiding potential upside or releasing it all too early, can commercial teams identify the key milestones that allow margin to be progressively unlocked as project risk reduces?
From subcontractor selection and supply chain relationships to CVRs, margin and lessons learned, this is a practical Question Time episode about something every commercial professional has to develop:
making good commercial decisions when the answer isn't black and white.
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This episode is sponsored by:

clearnorth — The QS People: https://www.clearnorth.co.uk/
 CLIC — The Commercial Leadership Collective: https://www.the-clic.co.uk/
---------------------------------
📥 Plus: Grab Paul’s eBooks Mastering Construction Procurement — link below:
Mastering Construction Procurement Strategies for Supply Chain Integration, Tendering, and Commercial Success

Send us Fan Mail

Want to connect with Paul?

Paul is on Linkedin here and would love to talk. You can also connect with Paul at paul@c-link.com or through, C-Link. 
C-Link is software built by Quantity Surveyors for Quantity Surveyors. We save 600 hours of Quantity Surveying time per project in automation. We can make your QS’ so much more efficient.
Watch the Video to learn more; you can book a demo by clicking here.

In the ninth episode of the Own the Build Leadership Series, Paul is joined by Jonathan Solly, Cost Management Partner at Ridge, to explore the consultancy-side journey from Assistant QS to Partner — and what it takes to make the transition from being a technically strong QS to becoming a business leader. 
Jon started his career in accountancy before moving into construction as an M&E subcontractor QS. After joining Ridge as an Assistant QS, he progressed through the business over the following decade, ultimately becoming Partner and taking responsibility for a 13-person cost management team with a turnover of circa £2m.
The conversation explores:
 why being a technically excellent QS will only take your career so far; 
 the point at which ambitious QSs need to start thinking about the business, not just their projects; 
 why learning to delegate client relationships was one of Jon's biggest leadership breakthroughs; 
 the challenge of stepping into leadership as a relatively young Partner and learning to give respectful challenge; 
 how Jon approaches recruitment, culture and developing the next generation of QSs; 
 why good succession planning ultimately means making yourself less essential; and 
 the career opportunities available in consultancy for contractor QSs looking for greater variety and a different work-life balance. 
Jon also explains why aspiring leaders should stop asking only, "What should I be doing?" and start asking, "What could I be doing?"
It captures one of the strongest themes to emerge throughout the Leadership Series: progressing into senior leadership requires more than being brilliant at your day job. At some point, you have to shift from being a great technician to creating value for the wider business.
A practical conversation for Quantity Surveyors, Associates and aspiring Partners — as well as contractor QSs curious about what a career on the consultancy side could look like.
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📥 Plus: Grab Paul’s free new eBook Mastering Construction Procurement — link below:
Mastering Construction Procurement Strategies for Supply Chain Integration, Tendering, and Commercial Success
Send us Fan Mail

Want to connect with Paul?

Paul is on Linkedin here and would love to talk. You can also connect with Paul at paul@c-link.com or through, C-Link. 
C-Link is software built by Quantity Surveyors for Quantity Surveyors. We save 600 hours of Quantity Surveying time per project in automation. We can make your QS’ so much more efficient.
Watch the Video to learn more; you can book a demo by clicking here.

In this episode, Paul is joined by Matt Mackey, Director at Contollo, who has recently returned to UK construction after spending 16 years working in Australia.
Having left the UK during the aftermath of the financial crisis, Matt went on to build and lead cost and commercial management teams in Australia before returning to Manchester in 2026.
So, after 16 years away, what does someone coming back into UK construction notice?
The conversation explores:
why many of the problems Matt remembers from 2010 are still being discussed today;
the major differences between the role of a QS in the UK and Australia;
why procurement continues to drive a race to the bottom despite decades of conversations about collaboration and value;
whether QSs and client-side advisors have inadvertently contributed to the industry's obsession with lowest price;
why main contractors can't genuinely change their relationship with the supply chain until risk and behaviours change at client level;
how heavily amended contracts can undermine collaborative behaviours before a project has even started;
why early contractor involvement only works when collaboration continues beyond the preconstruction stage;
what the industry could learn from the way projects operated during COVID, when clients and contractors were forced to solve problems together; and
why construction's short-term, project-by-project mentality continues to hold back MMC, innovation and genuine industry improvement.
Matt also compares the two markets directly: Australia's greater speed and use of less-amended standard contracts versus the UK's stronger structure, processes and definition of roles.
Ultimately, the conversation asks a bigger question.
After Latham, Egan and decades of discussion about collaboration, procurement and productivity, why are we still trying to solve so many of the same problems?
A thought-provoking conversation for Quantity Surveyors, Commercial Directors, contractors and client-side professionals interested in how we create a more sustainable construction industry.
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📥 Plus: Grab Paul’s free new eBook Mastering Construction Procurement — link below:
Mastering Construction Procurement Strategies for Supply Chain Integration, Tendering, and Commercial Success
Send us Fan Mail

Want to connect with Paul?

Paul is on Linkedin here and would love to talk. You can also connect with Paul at paul@c-link.com or through, C-Link. 
C-Link is software built by Quantity Surveyors for Quantity Surveyors. We save 600 hours of Quantity Surveying time per project in automation. We can make your QS’ so much more efficient.
Watch the Video to learn more; you can book a demo by clicking here.

In this episode, Paul is joined by James Pearson, a freelance Quantity Surveyor with nearly 20 years' experience across UK construction, to explore the commercial habits that keep projects under control — and how AI is beginning to change the way QSs work.
James shares his approach to managing projects through a structured commercial calendar, explaining why reporting what happened last month isn't the same as actively managing what happens next.
The conversation explores:
why projects rarely lose commercial control overnight — and the small disciplines that begin to disappear first;
how James structures his month around valuations, forecasting, CVRs, variations and commercial administration;
why programme delays and constant firefighting quickly destroy good commercial management;
how regular progress meetings and strong relationships help identify risk before it becomes a commercial problem;
how James is already using AI to interrogate contracts, test claims and strengthen commercial arguments; and
why QSs should use AI as an experienced colleague or consultant — rather than asking it to do their job for them.
James also shares how AI helped him develop the contractual argument behind a multimillion-pound dispute, before offering a warning to QSs simply outsourcing their thinking to the technology.
His view is simple:
use AI to make yourself a better QS — don't use it to replace the skills that make you valuable in the first place.
A practical conversation for Quantity Surveyors and Commercial Managers looking to improve their commercial discipline while understanding how AI can become part of their everyday toolkit.
---------------------------------
📥 Plus: Grab Paul’s free new eBook Mastering Construction Procurement — link below:
Mastering Construction Procurement Strategies for Supply Chain Integration, Tendering, and Commercial Success
Send us Fan Mail

Want to connect with Paul?

Paul is on Linkedin here and would love to talk. You can also connect with Paul at paul@c-link.com or through, C-Link. 
C-Link is software built by Quantity Surveyors for Quantity Surveyors. We save 600 hours of Quantity Surveying time per project in automation. We can make your QS’ so much more efficient.
Watch the Video to learn more; you can book a demo by clicking here.