David Smith

David Smith is our regional account manager for South West, West Midlands and Wales. He serves construction clients ranging from small domestic contractors to heavy civils contractors and major housebuilders with 2,000 operatives. David has clients working on projects from domestic extensions and social housing to factory refurbishments, hospital extensions, civils projects and HS2. David has 25 years’ experience as a site manager and joined Hudson 11 years ago.

David says the main issues facing construction firms are a slowdown in the new-build housing sector, HMRC status inspections, opportunistic employment tribunal claims and CITB levy queries. A recent success involved a construction SME which received a 25-page employment tribunal letter from a long-standing subcontractor claiming unfair dismissal and holiday pay. Hudson's proper documentation proved the subbie was legitimately self-employed throughout, protecting against costly liabilities. The case was quickly withdrawn, and the subbie immediately found work with another firm using Hudson, demonstrating that genuine self-employment status allows skilled freelancers to move freely between projects.

David started his career straight from school, training as a bricklayer before moving into building underpinning. As his career progressed, David moved through the ranks to site management working on a variety of projects. Based south west of Birmingham, David is a grandfather who enjoys spending time with his family and travelling.