As a family-run business, our people are at the heart of our business. To celebrate our employees and showcase what the construction and M&E industries have to offer, we will be sharing our ‘A Day in the Life’ campaign. This time, we speak with Gill Lambourn, our Maintenance and Small Works Administrator.
Gill has kindly shared with us all about her day-to-day role at Watkins as well as her favourite part of the construction industry.
Q – Gill, what does your role involve at Watkins?
A – As part of the FM solutions administration team, my role involves managing the setup of new PPM contracts, programming the works, placing orders for sub-contractor visits and planning our engineer’s diaries.
I liaise with our maintenance engineers on a daily basis to ensure the works run smoothly and that they have everything required to complete their works and also organise for them to attend to any reactive emergency call-outs.
I prepare and distribute monthly/quarterly and six monthly reports for our clients, submit quotations and put together the invoicing of additional works undertaken, which I submit to our commercial finance team for invoicing.
Q – Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you entered the industry?
A – I entered the construction industry earlier in my career, working as a sales agent/supervisor for a local steel stockholder for 19 years before moving on to a purchasing role for a business that manufactured electrical components for the domestic/aviation and automotive sectors.
Q – Looking back at your time at Watkins, what is your favourite part of your role?
A – I really enjoy working as part of the maintenance team and the variety that this role offers me. No one day is the same and it is an exciting time at the moment as our division is working hard to achieve the targets for our 5 year plan for growth and I am proud to be part of that.
Q – Would you recommend the construction industry to those starting to think about their careers?
A – I definitely recommend the construction industry, it offers a wide variety of roles and it is a more female-friendly industry now than it was when I started my career.
Q – And to finish it up, can you tell me a fun or interesting fact about yourself?
A – A couple of years ago I took up sea swimming and enjoy the freedom of swimming in the open water all year round, I have learnt to handle the cold water during the winter season and find it exhilarating. I annually partake in the New Year’s Day Dip in Thanet, which is great fun and raises money for charity.
Thank you so much, Gill, for taking the time to tell us all about your role at Watkins.
You can learn more about our other team members in their ‘Day in the Life’ interviews.
