However, focusing on this metric alone can be dangerous, causing growing pains and resulting in a business that isn’t equipped to deal with its own growth.

The growth of your company must be responsible and sustainable, and ISO certification can help you achieve this.

These certifications establish the processes that help your business to grow while maintaining profit margins, as well as opening up new opportunities to tender for larger contracts. Read on to discover which ISO standards can help your construction company grow, and how.

Improve The Quality of Your Service with ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is a quality management system designed to help improve your internal processes so that you can provide consistently higher quality results for your clients. This can grow your business in two main ways; growth will be sustainable as your processes will be better, while certification in itself will help open up opportunities to tender for large contracts, which typically require suppliers to comply to stringent quality guidelines.

When it comes to sustainable growth, ISO 9001 is specifically aimed at increasing efficiency, and encourages business to follow best practices to reduce costs. It helps you to implement a system of continuous improvement using non-conformance reporting and trend analysis, giving you the tools to drive sustainable growth.

Implementing the ISO 9001 standard also leads to reduced errors by establishing tried and tested processes for your employees. As a result, costs are reduced, helping you to avoid the need to redo any work while increasing customer satisfaction, which is essential for profitable growth, since the cost of acquiring a new client is much higher than gaining repeat business.

When it comes to new clients however, the standard can help you to access opportunities that aren’t open to companies without the certification. That’s because the vast majority of pre-qualification questionnaires ask for ISO 9001. Companies without ISO 9001 certification can end up working much harder to bid for such tenders, and still not come out as a preferred supplier due to not meeting this requirement.

Reduce Waste and Improve your Environmental Reputation with ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is the standard for environmental management systems, helping you to reduce waste management costs and demonstrate your commitment to protecting the environment. Implementing it provides many of the same benefits as ISO 9001, in that it contributes to cutting costs and helping to make your firm eligible for working with larger clients.

One of the primary benefits of the ISO 14001 standard is that it’s based around identifying cost savings when managing your resource and energy usage, as well as minimising costs associated with waste produce. In a nutshell, this standard improves efficiency to reduce the environmental impact of your operation, reducing the costs levied for disposing of or using polluting materials and improving profitability as your company grows.

As with ISO 9001, large companies tend to set strict standards that their suppliers must meet, as their environmental credentials are often under scrutiny of the media and environmental activists. The result is that some tenders may require applicants to hold ISO 14001 certification, to ensure environmental standards are maintained throughout that company’s supply chain. Therefore, holding this certification can open doors to opportunities that may not be available to construction firms without it.

Foster a Productive Workforce with OHSAS 18001

Addressing health and safety issues can sometimes be seen as a regulatory burden, but the truth is it can lead to increased profitability and a more consistent service, down to a number of factors.

First, great health and safety standards can have a dramatic effect in lowering employee absence and turnover rates. Second, healthy employees are happier and better motivated, leading to increased productivity. And thirdly, there is a lessened threat of legal action, since the risk of injury and the employer’s liability is lowered by proactively reducing workplace hazards.

All this is possible via the OHSAS 18001 certification, the internationally recognised standard for occupational health and safety management systems. The result of all these improvements is increased profitability, reduced liability and less regular incidents that could take employees off work for weeks while they recover.

Achieving this certification can also help improve your company’s reputation among potential clients, clearly showing your company looks after its workforce and building confidence in your management systems. Again, this can help you win new business.

Cutting costs and building your firm’s reputation

All three of the standards above help to cut the costs of delivering your construction services, increase the consistency of results for your clients and build a strong reputation to help attract and pitch for new, larger projects. As a result, your construction company can become more profitable, reducing the risks of maintaining a large workforce and expensive assets, leading to sustainable growth.