How Blackoak turned customer concentration into a new route for growth

How Blackoak is reducing customer dependency, expanding its capabilities, and building a more resilient pipeline

When Tom Jordan and a long-standing friend started Blackoak 10 years ago, their ambitions quickly extended beyond domestic driveways. 

Tom’s business partner had left his family’s driveway company and was struggling to find enough work. Drawing on marketing experience from his previous career, Tom helped him create a website and launch Google Ads. Enquiries increased, and the two decided to form a business together. 

‘We wanted to get into commercial car parks because that was where the bigger quantities were,’ Tom explains. ‘A car park is bigger than a driveway, so the values were bigger.’ 

Today, Blackoak employs around 20 people and turns over between £4—5 million. The business delivers groundworks for EV charging infrastructure nationwide and has worked on projects involving some of the sector’s largest names. 

But its growth also exposed a significant vulnerability: too much of the business depended on one major customer. 

From a small enquiry to a multimillion-pound account 

Blackoak’s relationship with its largest client began with a relatively small trench repair generated through Google advertising. 

Strong delivery led to further work. Blackoak progressed from repairing trenches to building car parks, then followed the customer into the rapidly expanding EV charging sector. Over time, the account grew to be worth approximately £3 million a year, at one point approaching £4 million. 

The arrangement provided a reliable pipeline and allowed Blackoak to grow alongside its customer. For several years, the company did little active marketing because there was already more than enough work coming through. 

‘It paid the wages we wanted, and there was growth there because, as they grew, we grew,’ Tom says. 

However, the customer eventually recognised its own exposure. If something happened to Blackoak or its founders, millions of pounds of live work would have to be reassigned at short notice. To reduce that risk, it began appointing additional contractors. 

Blackoak’s annual workload from the account fell by around £1 million. 

The reduction did not immediately threaten the business. Blackoak had healthy cash flow and other opportunities available. But it gave Tom an important warning. 

‘They reduced their risk, and we thought we probably needed to do the same,’ he says. 

Turning a weakness into a growth strategy 

The timing coincided with Tom receiving information about the Help to Grow: Management Course at Edge Hill University. He joined the programme to update his business and marketing knowledge and examine how Blackoak could build a more resilient pipeline. 

Diversifying clients lends itself naturally to a SWOT Analysis, one of the business concepts explored on the course. Blackoak’s strong relationship with a major client, specialist groundworks experience, and position in the growing EV market were clear strengths. However, customer concentration presented a weakness, while growing demand for EV infrastructure created a significant opportunity. 

The immediate strategic priority was not to abandon the successful relationship, it was to build additional sources of revenue around it. 

Since completing the Help to Grow: Management Course, Blackoak has secured a £1.4 million groundworks contract covering 32 new homes in Burnley. The project gives the company another substantial stream of monthly revenue and reduces its reliance on EV work. 

Blackoak is also actively pursuing another major EV infrastructure customer so that its future pipeline is spread more evenly. 

‘We’re working hard to get another client on board that is similar to our existing client,’ Tom says. ‘Then we haven’t got all our eggs in one basket.’ 

Moving further up the EV value chain 

Diversifying the customer base is only one part of Blackoak’s growth strategy. The business is also expanding the proportion of each EV infrastructure project it can deliver. 

Blackoak currently carries out the civil engineering and low-voltage groundworks required for EV charging sites. This includes excavation, installing ducting, and equipment, reinstating the ground and completing surfacing work. 

Other contractors are then needed to deliver the high-voltage connection between the site and the electricity grid. Coordinating multiple suppliers can lead to delays, additional costs, and complicated health and safety responsibilities for the client. 

Blackoak is now completing the accreditation and training required to become an independent connection provider. This would allow it to undertake more of the high-voltage work and provide a more complete service. 

The opportunity reflects the Value Chain Model taught on module 10 of Help to Grow: Management Course. By bringing more connected activities into its offer, Blackoak can capture more value while simplifying delivery for its clients. 

Instead of appointing separate contractors for excavation, cabling, reinstatement, and tarmacking, a client could use Blackoak for the complete package. 

‘We’ll be able to dig the trench, put the cable in, reinstate it, and then tarmac it,’ Tom says. ‘Nobody is really doing all of that.’ 

The change could significantly increase the value of individual projects. Tom estimates that a package previously worth approximately £180,000 to Blackoak could rise to around £340,000 when the company delivers the additional work. 

Importantly, that growth would not depend entirely on finding a new customer. Blackoak could generate more value from projects already being delivered for existing relationships. 

Investing in the foundations 

Moving into high-voltage infrastructure also brings additional operational and safety risks. Blackoak is therefore investing in skills and leadership before taking on the work. 

The company has recruited an experienced project manager who has worked in the sector for around 20 years. Tom has also brought in freelance project management support with extensive health and safety experience. 

Together, they are updating risk assessments, method statements, and training so that Blackoak is ready to undertake the work once its accreditation is complete. 

Tom says these hires are part of strengthening the foundations rather than increasing headcount simply to appear bigger. 

‘We haven’t taken on three groundworkers who might not be working for us in September,’ he explains. ‘We’ve taken people on in the foundations of the business, ready to grow.’ 

That includes marketing. Through a university project connected to the Help to Grow: Management Course, Tom met marketing student Ethan, who now works part-time for Blackoak. 

Tom originally tried to restart the company’s marketing himself, including Google advertising, blogs, and LinkedIn activity. But alongside responsibility for finance, the office team, and client relationships, he struggled to create enough time. 

Instead, he gave Ethan the freedom to develop and lead a marketing plan. 

‘He’s creative, he’s up to date, and he wants to do it,’ Tom says. ‘There’s no point in me trying to micromanage him.’ 

Within approximately two and a half months, the work had helped Blackoak build a tender register containing more than £2.5 million in quotations. These are large, complex opportunities that may take months to progress, but the pipeline gives the company greater visibility over potential future work. 

Planning for achievable growth 

Blackoak’s approach to planning has also changed. Rather than creating a rigid picture of where the company must be in five years, Tom is concentrating on shorter and more achievable priorities. 

This reflects the course concept of Adaptive and Predictive Planning. Some elements can be planned with confidence, such as completing accreditation and preparing the team for high-voltage work. Others, including customer demand, project timing, and the wider construction market, require the company to remain flexible. 

Blackoak’s current goals are clear: strengthen its internal foundations, secure another major EV customer, and complete the move into higher-value infrastructure work. 

‘We don’t really make long-term goals now,’ Tom says. ‘We keep them achievable.’ 

For a business that grew one small trenching enquiry into a multimillion-pound account, the value of strong customer relationships is clear. But Blackoak’s experience also demonstrates the importance of recognising when success itself has created risk. 

By widening its customer base, investing in specialist capabilities, and moving further up the value chain, the company is building its next stage of growth on stronger foundations. 

 

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