About
Samuel Shutlar
Drawing from more than
two decades across
construction, property
& business.
I’m Samuel Shutlar MCIOB, an entrepreneur, property developer, Chartered Builder and Founder and Managing Director of Province Group.
My career began on a construction site and has developed through trade experience, construction management, entrepreneurship, property and more than two decades of business ownership.
Today I lead Province Group, pursue property development interests and provide practical business advisory and consultancy to owners who can benefit from an experienced commercial perspective.
It has not been a perfectly straight career. There have been significant successes, periods of rapid growth, difficult commercial situations and a major business failure. I regard all of that as experience. What matters is what you learn from it, what you change and what you build next.
Starting on site
I began as an apprentice bricklayer. It gave me an education that still influences the way I work: understand the detail, respect the sequence, communicate clearly and get the fundamentals right.
As my career progressed I moved into construction management and business ownership, gaining responsibility for estimating, procurement, programme, people, commercial performance, cashflow, risk and client relationships.
Having worked from trade level through to Managing Director, I understand the connection between decisions made in a meeting room and what those decisions mean on site.
Building & operating businesses
Business ownership became as significant a part of my career as construction itself.
Over more than two decades I have built and operated businesses, employed and managed teams, won and delivered substantial contracts, navigated growth, worked through commercial pressure and been involved in the restructuring, recovery and development of companies.
I have also gained experience around business transactions and sales, alongside the day-to-day realities of owning and operating companies.
The headline numbers are only part of the picture. Turnover, order book and growth can all look impressive while cashflow, margin or operational control are moving in the wrong direction. Understanding that distinction has fundamentally shaped the way I run businesses today.
Experience that changed my approach
One chapter of my business career involved significant financial difficulty and business failure. I do not hide it, but neither do I allow one period to define more than two decades of work.
The experience changed the way I think about growth, working capital, margin, risk, project selection and commercial control. It also gave me a first-hand understanding of what business pressure feels like when responsibility sits with you.
I rebuilt with a more disciplined approach, continued developing professionally and ultimately established Province Group around many of the principles that experience reinforced: controlled growth, careful project selection, commercial clarity, close management and accountability.
That experience is also one reason business owners sometimes approach me privately. I understand both what success looks like and what happens when a business needs to change direction quickly.
Province Group today
Province Group is the principal focus of my working life.
We specialise in exceptional private residential construction: high-end new builds, major refurbishments and complex transformations where quality, management and communication matter as much as the construction itself.
I remain closely involved as Founder and Managing Director. I work with our team and the wider professional team around each project, with oversight of the commercial, operational and delivery position.
The objective is not scale for the sake of it. Province is deliberately focused on a select number of substantial projects where we can provide the level of personal involvement and control expected by our clients.
Property development
Alongside construction, I am involved in property development and investment.
For me, development brings together many of the disciplines I have spent my career working with: identifying opportunity, assessing feasibility, understanding construction cost and programme, managing risk and creating a finished asset with long-term value.
My construction background means I look at property with both a developer's and contractor's eye. The design has to work, the numbers have to work and the route from acquisition to completion has to be realistic.
Professional standards
I am a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Building (MCIOB), and Province Group is a Chartered Building Company.
Becoming Chartered was important to me because it added formal professional recognition to practical experience accumulated over many years.
I believe experience and professional standards should reinforce one another. Construction evolves, regulations change, methods develop and good business practice requires continual improvement.
Business advisory
My business history has naturally led to work with other owners, particularly in construction.
Sometimes the brief is growth and improvement: stronger commercial controls, better margin, a more appropriate structure or a clearer strategy. Sometimes the company is already under pressure and the priorities are cash, recovery, restructuring and difficult decisions.
I provide an independent, practical perspective as an active business owner rather than a career consultant. Where specialist regulated advice is required, I work alongside the appropriate professionals rather than attempting to replace them.
I also give some of my time informally and without charge to owners who are facing particularly difficult periods and simply need someone experienced to talk to. It is not a formal charity or scheme; it is something I choose to do because I know how valuable the right conversation can be at the right time.
Where I am today
The common thread through everything I do is straightforward: understand the position properly, take responsibility, make considered decisions and build from strong foundations.
Samuel Shutlar MCIOB
Founder & Managing Director, Province Group
Entrepreneur | Property Developer | Chartered Builder | Business Adviser
© 2026 Samuel Shutlar. PG Integrity Services Limited trading as Province Group (co no: 14097681). Privacy & Terms.