Case studies

Cut Price Timber Meets its Customer RJ McLeod at SDP Event

Background

Cut Price Timber is a timber and landscape fittings merchants based in East Lothian. In 2024, its director connected with one of Scotland’s main contractors, RJ McLeod, at a Supplier Development Programme (SDP) event. Cut Price Timber has since won approximately £15,000 of subcontracting work with RJ McLeod on the Crystal Rig Wind Farm.

Early Days

Cut Price Timber was founded in 2013 by director Nicol Benn. Over the next decade, Nicol grew the business and continued to seek opportunities to meet new customers. He soon realised that outreach by email was time-consuming, impersonal, and rarely led to success.

During this time, East Lothian Council’s Community Wealth Building Officer, Angela Lamont, and the Business Gateway team introduced Nicol to SDP Meet the Buyer and Meet the Contractor events, which helped Nicol connect directly with contractors.

Nicol said: “What we found most useful about SDP events was having the opportunity to interact with people face-to-face. It’s easier to ask questions in-person than in a faceless email.”

Networking Events

Nicol attended Meet the Buyer South in 2024, and SDP’s City of Edinburgh Council Supplier Engagement Event later that year.

He said: “Construction can be quite old-school sometimes, so it’s good to get access to some of these buyers in person. It ensures we speak to the relevant people about how opportunities can benefit us as a local business moving forward.”

Attending SDP events has enabled Cut Price Timber to take a proactive approach to finding and competing for contracts.

Nicol added: “Now, when we are bidding for something, one of us goes to meet buyers at events. Then when they see a bid come through, they can associate the name with a face of the business.”

Winning Work with RJ McLeod

Cut Price Timber’s RJ McLeod work win came soon after meeting the contractor at SDP’s 2024 Meet the Buyer South event. RJ McLeod was exhibiting at the event and Nicol talked to the team about its opportunities on the Crystal Rig Wind Farm, in Dunbar.

He recalled: “That contract was very helpful for our business growth, as Dunbar was an area we wanted to supply. Local work is beneficial to us because it allows us to cut down on travel costs. If we can get more money through the door, we can put more products back out and grow.”

Over the course of nine months, Cut Price Timber continued to work on the Crystal Rig Wind Farm.

Nicol said: “The value of the first order would have been around about £1,300-£1,500. Over that nine-month period, RJ McLeod probably spent about £15,000 with us.”

In addition to winning business, working with a contractor as recognised as RJ McLeod helped raise Cut Price Timber’s profile and opened doors to future work.

Nicol remarked: “I spoke to somebody yesterday from Cruden Homes and mentioned we had worked with RJ McLeod and that was a settler for the discussion. When you work with somebody who’s got an established name, people recognise that you know what you are doing.”

Future Plans

Having experienced the benefits of SDP events first-hand, Nicol is eager to continue attending them and building on his network.

He said: “I think attending these events will see us headed toward growth in terms of working with local authorities and contractors.”

Advice to Suppliers

Looking back, Nicol’s advice to other suppliers is simple: show up, speak to people, and don’t be shy.

He said: “It can be daunting to attend these events, especially if you’re by yourself, but once you get over that initial barrier, you reap the benefits”.

Nicol added: “Being in the room makes you realise that everyone is there to do business, and it’s a great community to join. The more events you attend, the easier it gets.”

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