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鈥淢y parents were a little upset,鈥� Mark Anderson recalls. 鈥淲earing blue jeans and a hard hat was not the vision they had for their college son. I was a very good student鈥︹��

The founder and owner of MGAC, the US project manager and cost consultant that has been making waves in the UK recently with a series of acquisitions, had toyed with the idea of going into the church 鈥� his dad had been a clergyman and he, Mark, thought it might be for him.

He eventually went off the idea but it was a wedding at which his father was officiating that opened up the pathway to a career in construction.

Anderson Sr had just overseen the marriage of the then executive vice-president of a US contractor called Davis Construction, set up in 1966, and which is still going strong today. 鈥淚 think I can get you a job in construction,鈥� his dad told his son afterwards.

Anderson Jr gave it a go. He found he liked it and embraced the variety of the work. 鈥淚 started out as a ditch digger.鈥� That was over 40 years ago.

鈥淥ne of the other aspects I liked is that you spend other people鈥檚 money in lavish ways,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n 1980, I was making $10/$15 an hour and, if I did overtime, it was $21 an hour. A lot of money back then.鈥�

He eventually set up a construction business in 1989 鈥� it is called Rand and still going 鈥� but moved away from general contracting and into consulting nearly 30 years ago when he formed Mark G Anderson Consultants. He is now the firm鈥檚 president and CEO. 

The G stands for Guthrie and is an ancestral name, with his family鈥檚 roots going back to Aberdeen. Two very distant relatives fought and died in the First World War. 鈥淏oth of them were in the British army.鈥�

The jump to consulting

His move into consulting was driven more by a desire to be his own boss, after a fallout with his partner at the contracting business. 鈥淚 found myself working till 2am in the morning five, six days a week and being criticised for not working hard enough.鈥�

He says there is a phrase in the US which runs thus: 鈥淒on鈥檛 start a land war in Asia.鈥� It is usually code for 鈥渄on鈥檛 bite off more than you can chew鈥� and has been attributed to various generals since the Second World War.

On this, Anderson says: 鈥淒on鈥檛 start a land war in Asia 鈥� and don鈥檛 be in a business partnership.鈥�

He says partnerships are flawed 鈥� too many competing interests and, besides, people usually fall out over money.

鈥淣ever had a partner in this business,鈥� the 62-year-old says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just me.鈥� If he got hit by a London bus tomorrow, there is a five-strong executive board to step up.

He says partnerships too often fracture on differences of opinion. 鈥淯sually, it鈥檚 about not having a common vision,鈥� he adds. 鈥淪ome might want to invest [money], others [want] to take it home.鈥�

Lifestyles can be expensive, he adds. 鈥淚f I don鈥檛 make money in a given year, no one鈥檚 looking over my shoulder. If I choose to invest all of it in the business, the only person I am accountable to is me.鈥�

Expanding MGAC

Anderson set up MGAC in 1996 and the firm was largely unknown in the UK until it bought 100-strong UK cost consultant RLF in 2021. Last September it bought another UK consultant specialising in project management and cost consulting, picking up the seven-strong Flint & Partners, set up by former Davis Langdon partner Peter Flint.

The deals mean that MGAC now has around 110 staff in the UK, with four offices including Brighton, Birmingham and Glasgow.

A further 230 or so people are based across the Atlantic at six offices stretching from its headquarters in Washington DC up to New York and Toronto, across the border in Canada, and across to Seattle and down to San Francisco and Los Angeles on the west coast.

Around half of the UK staff work out of an office in the heart of the Broadgate campus in the City, which sits across from British Land鈥檚 under-construction 2 Finsbury Avenue being built by Sir Robert McAlpine and designed by Danish practice 3XN.

The quality of what you spend on a building over here is higher. We tend to tear them down after 30 or 40 years in the US

鈥淭he quality of what you spend on a building over here is higher,鈥� Anderson says. 鈥淲e tend to tear them down after 30 or 40 years in the US. There is a really high standard here.鈥�

But what the US may lack in quality, it makes up for in speed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite different,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e have a 12 to 18-month design process and then construction of 24 months. We do that all the time, that鈥檚 just the expectation.鈥�

He and his executive managing director, Ashley O鈥機onnor, admit that they have been surprised at how long processes take in the UK. 鈥淭he speed of business in the US is very different to the UK. It鈥檚 much quicker.鈥�

Some of their work has been caught up in the latest red tape row to hit UK construction 鈥� the problems getting sign-off on schemes under the gateway 2 initiative which have seen a growing call for the government and building safety regulator to get its act together.

鈥淭here is more red tape over here, without a doubt,鈥� O鈥機onnor, who is based in the Washington office, says. Talking about the issues with gateway 2, she deadpans: 鈥淭here鈥檚 not apparently much that can be done.鈥�

But one reason why the US can build more quickly is because of its size, Anderson concedes. 鈥淲e have more space. London is highly congested but in the US there is a lot more open land.鈥�

He reels off a list of places where the firm is working in the US: a multi-billion dollar headquarters building in Nashville, Tennessee, schemes in Texas and California 鈥� all big places. It is also doing a major scheme in Cleveland.

鈥淲e do more business in Ohio than any other state 鈥� don鈥檛 ask me why,鈥� he adds. 鈥淵ou can do these really big schemes in lots of places in the US.鈥�

International growth

But the firm has been interested in becoming an international business for a while now and London was an obvious port of call: common language, common laws and customs.

O鈥機onnor, who has been with the business for seven years having joined from Aecom, says: 鈥淭his is a global city and a great jumping-off point for other projects. It鈥檚 easier to open an office here if you鈥檙e an American than, say, Milan. London is so old but it constantly regenerates. I love that.鈥�

There is also another reason why UK firms have been in its crosshairs. Anderson says the US does not really have any quantity surveyors. 鈥淲hen we set up, it was all PM. QS is not really a thing in the US. Cost is more cost consultative in the US.鈥�

The UK methodology of delivering projects is widely accepted around the world

So, why buy UK QS firms then? 鈥淲e鈥檙e an international business. If we were in Kenya, we would be talking about QSs and the UK system of building. As you travel around the world, the UK methodology of delivering projects鈥� I won鈥檛 say it is sort of standard 鈥� but it鈥檚 widely accepted around the world.鈥�

When MGAC began the process which saw it buy RLF, the firm was initially handed a shortlist of 80 would-be possibles. Anderson says he spoke to around 30 before it was whittled down to five.

Now he is eyeing more. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always looking,鈥� he adds.

Typically, he says it is firms that get in touch with him about a deal 鈥� not the other way round. So, what do they say? 鈥淚 have partnership problems. Can I get out and join your firm?鈥�

US vs UK markets

He does worry, though, about the high number of business failures in the industry over here. Since MGAC bought RLF, several high-profile firms have gone under. The most obvious has been ISG, which went down last September.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the failures,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he market is healthier [in the US]. There are more players in it, more competition. They have higher margins on the general contracting side.鈥�

O鈥機onnor adds: 鈥淚 think construction is better regarded in the US than it is in the UK. The perception is that it can be very profitable. Over here, it can be seen as a fragile industry.鈥�

Anderson says the sort of margins he is after are 20% 鈥� 鈥渁fter all the salaries have been paid and I鈥檝e been paid. That鈥檚 a good target.鈥�

The firm turns over $100m (拢79m) with around 拢15m of that coming from the UK, where its jobs include working as project and cost manager on the scheme to turn the former House of Fraser on London鈥檚 Oxford Street into mixed use.

Our clients have an expectation that we will walk through fire to get them what they want. We can bring that attitude to the UK and I think that鈥檚 a value a lot of people don鈥檛 see

He thinks this number could double over the next few years as it looks at more work in the public sector, such as hospitals and education, along with commercial and data centre schemes.

He thinks being from overseas is an advantage in the UK market. 鈥淢aybe we can look at a different way of solutions, look at things differently. The joke in the US is that I hire a PM so they think about my project while they are cutting the grass 鈥� so I don鈥檛 have to think about my project while I am cutting the grass.

鈥淥ur clients have an expectation that we will walk through fire to get them what they want. We can bring that attitude to the UK and I think that鈥檚 a value a lot of people don鈥檛 see.鈥�

Before he finishes up, Anderson says he is a big fan of cities: Paris, Istanbul, Chicago, Washington DC. He says the US capital is 鈥渕anageably sized, on a European scale鈥�.

He likes London, too. He comes over every four to six weeks, usually for a week and stays in a flat in Mayfair while he is here. 鈥淟ondon is one of the great cities. It鈥檚 very hard to complain about coming to London.鈥�

His favourite building in the capital is the Bloomberg 黑洞社区, but maybe his favourite scheme overall is the Elizabeth line. In fact, he raves about it. 鈥淗eck, yeah! It鈥檚 brilliant. It鈥檚 so quick.鈥�

Maybe this country can do jobs that are the envy of the world after all.