Perthshire businesswoman on growing building firm to 60 staff

A Perthshire couple have grown their building and civil engineering company to employ 60 staff.

Katie Langley and her husband John began JML Group in Aberuthven 19 years ago.

The company specialises in bespoke SIP (structural insulated panels) house design and luxury garden rooms.

They have since picked up several awards including Best of Houzz 2023 for service and design.

Katie told The Courier more about how it all began, her biggest achievements and more.

How and why did you start JLM Group?

My husband John and I, started the business back in 2005.

John had been working for his father’s civils business and I was with a marketing agency in Edinburgh.

We felt it was the right time to make the break and set up our own family business.

I registered the company and got the JML brand going.

In the early years, we did everything ourselves – I was on payroll and the accounts (with no previous experience) and I built the website after being on a local Business Gateway course.

The vision was to continue doing civils projects and Gabion retaining wall solutions.

We would soon expand into building low energy homes and luxury garden rooms, but we didn’t know this at the time.

How did you get to where you are today?

Lots of hard work and late nights, especially in the early days.

We’d get the kids to bed and regularly stay up until 2am working on admin, pricing and invoicing.

Growing up on a farm, I’ve always had a strong work ethic, and it’s something we’re keen to instil in our kids.

They get involved in the business during the holidays and are currently running their own kindling business using the cedar offcuts from our Garden Rooms projects.

Who helped you?

Business Gateway was a great resource for networking, advice, and development courses.

Both of our fathers had their own businesses, so they were always willing to give advice and support.

We joined the Federation of Small Businesses and appreciate the work they do with politicians to create a better business environment for SMEs like ours.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had?

My father always said: “Never be scared to make a mistake, as from mistakes you have your biggest learnings.”

I’m less relaxed about risk taking than he was, but I appreciate the necessity to push ourselves out of our comfort zones.

What is your biggest mistake?

I try not to think of mistakes as negatives. It’s always better to look forward and focus on the positives.

What is your greatest achievement?

I feel very fortunate to have found the best soulmate in John, my husband, and together we’ve created three brilliant boys and a business that we’re extremely proud of.

Over the last 18 years we’ve gone from four to 60 employees, and we’ve made it a priority to maintain the same family business values in order to ensure that every one of our employees feel valued, part of a great team, and happy to work at JML.

We get everyone together twice a year to socialise and celebrate.

How are you managing rapidly rising costs, and how could the government help?

Recently, we’ve been working with Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service to streamline and improve our processes within our factory and beyond.

Scottish Enterprise have also been a huge support, helping us dramatically improve efficiency with new machinery, doubling production and reducing waste.

What do you still hope to achieve?

Our plan is to find a plot of land in Perthshire and design and build a factory with offices where we can accommodate all three of our businesses and create one JML HQ!

What do you do to relax?

The old cliché of spending time with loved ones is true for me.

I never stop being grateful for my brilliant friends and huge family – I have five siblings and we actually all get on!

I love holidays with the boys and we’re all into sport in a big way.

Exercise is a great stress release for me, along with yoga and our weekly 5K park run in Perth – the best way to start the weekend – followed by a coffee and bacon roll.

What are you currently reading, listening to or glued to on TV?

I love a book and am currently enjoying Paper Cup by Karen Campbell. We recently sped through the Fool Me Once series on Netflix.

Both John and I are avid podcast listeners and gain great insight and top tips from hearing about the journeys of other business owners – How I Built This and the High Performance podcast are a couple of our favourites.

What do you waste your money on?

Bed linen, water bottles and cashmere.

What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?

On waking up, I stretch and do some yoga. I try and keep my mobile phone out of my bedroom so I don’t look at it until I’m downstairs.

What do you drive and dream of driving?

Having a Volvo is very middle aged! I’d love the old vintage Porsche that Sandra Bullock drives in A Time to Kill.