A Cheltenham construction business has received more than £38,000 in research and development (R&D) tax credits after identifying ways to innovate within its building projects.
Love2Build, established in 2015, described the windfall as a “much-welcome sum of money following a rough last year”.
R&D tax credits are an HMRC incentive designed to encourage 海角视频 businesses to continue to grow by innovating. A limited company can receive a reduction in its corporation tax bill or a cash payment.
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The Gloucestershire company said it would reinvest the cash into the business; pay off government-backed loans; purchase new tools; and rebrand with a new logo and website.
R&D tax firm Access2Funding helped Love2Build secure the credits.
Daniel Duncombe-Davis, director of Love2Build, said: “The terminology ‘research and development’ can make people think their business is not eligible but what I’ve learnt from Access2Funding is that as builders, a large proportion of what we do every day is R&D.
“We’re always thinking on our feet, trying to find solutions to problems. If there’s something that’s not going to work on the plan and you are altering it with your own design input, then that could be R&D.”
Love2Build said it had taken on a series of innovative projects in recent years.
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One saw the business carrying out extensive work on a farm that involved creating a technological advancement in the way builders provide structural support when removing walls, while allowing as much of the area as possible around the work to still be used.
The company said it produced specific custom-made fabrications so the product would work and used “trial and error” to achieve the result.
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According to Dawn Coker, chief executive of Access2Funding, a business seeking to resolve a scientific or technological uncertainty within its projects by creating new processes, products or services, or amending existing ones, could be performing R&D without realising it.
“By its very nature, the construction industry poses many opportunities to innovate, as challenges crop up in projects and businesses must adapt and overcome to achieve a solution," she said.
“Yet so many qualifying projects are being undervalued as day-to-day business when they could be put forward as part of an R&D tax credits claim."
Latest HMRC statistics show the construction sector is lagging behind other industries when it comes to claiming R&D tax relief, accounting for just 4% of all claims across the scheme.