Bower Fuller

Bower Fuller is a mechanical and electrical business that focuses on commercial work. Their sector mix has a substantial overlap with the work mix of Barnes Construction including:

• Local authority education
• Hospital work
• General commercial
• Laboratory and science related
• Expensive residential schemes

The division has offices in Ipswich and at Dartford and covers work in both the Eastern region and around the London area.

The overall headcount is around 80 individuals of which 40 are site staff – 22 electrical and 18 mechanical. 9 administrative and management staff are based in Dartford and 31 in Ipswich. The Ipswich staff are split between 8 pre-contracts, 13 contracts management, 2 surveying and 8 administration, trainees, and management.

While Bower Fuller does undertake some works direct for end-user clients, most of the works are for main contractors, of whom a good number are direct competitors to Barnes Construction.

For this practical reason, the relationship between Bower Fuller and Barnes Construction is at arms-length. Bower Fuller will often price a particular project opportunity for BC and for other main contractors, doing so on the basis that the pricing is the same for all, as this division will be keen to work for whichever wins the project. To have the opportunity to take this approach it is very important for other main contractors to understand that the key point is that BC will not be offered a better price than they will receive. Absent this sense, they might have a reason to exclude BF from their tender opportunities.

While Bower Fuller undertake a wide range of project sizes, most of the projects are between £0.2m and £5m in value. The largest individual project so far is around £6m.

To view Bower Fuller's Management Team, click here.