Are you feeling tempted yet?

The four new firms we profile this week reveal the amount of legwork and stress founders need to go through to establish themselves, including waking up in a cold sweat wondering how you're going to pay your VAT bill (see page 10). However, for the quartet of newcomers, who stretch geographically from London to Edinburgh and Belfast, the effort has paid off, not least in the sense of achievement gained from starting from scratch and making a decent living.

The experience of Ron Thomson, David Clark, Paul Durnien et al is an inspiration for all you budding entrepreneurs out there eyeing up your own new venture. It also underlines a varied marketplace amongst QSs and project managers at present, ranging from the growing and flourishing major firms, both here in the UK and abroad, to burgeoning small and medium-sized businesses. And while Thomson has yet to be tempted, the smaller businesses will no doubt attract the interest of acquisitors such as White Young Green and Capita Symonds.

Lagging legislation

Frustration abounds when it comes to the current legislative framework for the industry. First there is the confusion surrounding changes to building regulations such as Part L, due out next month, complete with a loophole that will allow clients to sidestep them for a year if schemes have building control permission before April. The government is also in a fix over a proposed European energy performance of buildings directive (see across).

Oh and the Health and Safety Executive has now delayed its changes to the CDM safety regulations by six months. No wonder our anonymous letter writer bemoans the lack of progress in the sector. Until a consistent set of regulations oversees what we do, the industry will be stuck in the past.