‘One hundred per cent there is a sense of shame […] It affects your family; it affects you – of course it does.” Richard Dors is speaking in the kitchen of a cold, deserted building on an industrial estate overlooking Bristol. Dors’ firm Dancourt built its own office space, with a car park and construction yard out front – but all are now empty. Sipping tea in the corner is Dancourt’s other former owner – and Dors’ best friend – James Sinclair. He agrees with Dors: “There is that feeling of embarrassment, shame, failure, because we know the people further down the line.”

When Dancourt voluntarily entered administration on Tuesday 17 July this year, it owed creditors, including several other subcontractors, £5.3m – although it was itself owed £2.6m by principal contractors. 

“As directors we couldn’t carry on,” Sinclair says. “Another fortnight and we wouldn’t have had enough money for wages, we’d have lost the offices, and personal guarantees would have kicked into place. It just focuses your mind when you could lose family homes and stuff; the risk suddenly became too big.

“You don’t sleep right, you’re waking up at 3 o’clock in the morning with a bank balance in your head”

James Sinclair, Dancourt

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