Major contractor of the year (£200m-plus turnover)

Carillion gets things done. While working on the cocoon-shaped Imax cinema at the Glasgow Science Centre, it had to fix curved sheets of titanium cladding to the building's exterior. Conventional techniques were too laborious, so it employed abseilers to do the job. A typically innovative approach from a firm devoted to innovation and client satisfaction. In fact, satisfying clients is at the heart of Carillion's philosophy – it uses a "scorecard" system to keep track of how they think it is doing. But even that isn't personal enough: soon, its clients will receive a bespoke satisfaction package. It is measures like this that mean 65% of the firm's turnover is from repeat business. Add to this its inclusion in the FTSE4Good index of Britain's leading ethical firms and you can see why Carillion is a winner.

SECOND
Kier Group

Here's a statement to make any financial director happy: Kier's turnover has increased year on year for the past nine years. Further, operating profit rose a third last year. The secret of this consistent success appears to be Kier's people. It recruits more graduates than any other construction company. And they don't just work for Kier: about 30% of the company's shares are owned by employees. And with 25% of its turnover partnered, one of the best safety records in the industry and a zero-defects policy, it all adds up to a great year for Kier.

THIRD
Mansell

More than three-quarters of Mansell's clients like it so much that they come back for more and its average KPI score for customer satisfaction is 86%. Among those repeat clients is the infamously tricky BAA, which voted Mansell "supplier of the year". So what is it about the firm that clients like so much? Possibly it's the dedicated management, whose remuneration is linked to customer satisfaction, or the use of IT-based supply-chain management. Whatever it is, the judges all agreed that Mansell is "one of the best around".

Their processes are excellent, and they’re very strong on the supply chain and sustainability

FOURTH
Interserve Project Services

2001 was a year of change for Interserve, involving a new name, a restructuring and an expanding workforce. But all this change seems to have energised the group, as it has secured big contracts like the construction of a £50m convention centre in Dubai and a £55m immigration detention centre in Harmondsworth. One thing that hasn't changed is the firm's record of repeat business – the University of Warwick has now awarded it a total of 27 contracts.