The Untold Truth About Tenders and Trades: Pamela Cunningham’s Fight to Build Again | Episode 39

Pamela Cunningham didn’t wait for the perfect moment, she built opportunities long before they existed. From helping her husband grow ROSSCO Tiling into a high-end, in-demand business, to launching her own consultancy for small construction companies, Pamela’s story is all about urgency, graft, and backing your ideas before anyone else sees the vision. In this episode of Success or Excuses, James Fleming sits down with Pamela to uncover the real journey behind her work in procurement, tendering, training, and the reality of building businesses from scratch. From juggling motherhood and a rapidly growing trades business, to navigating industry barriers, to launching an academy the hard way, this conversation digs into resilience, the messy parts of entrepreneurship, and what it actually takes to help small businesses level up. Pamela doesn’t just talk about visibility, growth, or opportunity, she’s lived every inch of it. Whether she’s pushing tradespeople to stop under-pricing themselves, helping them understand the tendering world, challenging outdated systems, or driving change through workforce development, every part of her story comes straight from experience. This episode is full of honesty, real-life industry insight, and the kind of practical lessons that every small construction business owner needs to hear. If you’re in business, in the trades, or trying to grow something from the ground up, this one will hit home. Key moments include: ✔️ James introduces Pamela and asks her to share who she is and what she does ✔️ Pamela on supporting her husband’s early days in ROSSCO Tiling and the reality of growing it ✔️ How their social media visibility began and why positioning was a challenge at first ✔️ Growing the business from splashbacks to full bathrooms to high-end residential and commercial work ✔️ Pamela rebranding the business, creating systems, and helping shift it into a premium offering ✔️ The story behind launching their tiling academy and the barriers they faced with funding and employability support ✔️ The challenges with colleges, councils, public sector procurement, and why small businesses struggle to access help ✔️ Why so many tradespeople lose money on tenders and how to prevent it ✔️ Pamela explains her new programmes: helping businesses become genuinely “tender-ready” ✔️ The accreditation trap: why so many companies pay for certifications they don’t need ✔️ Building a strong workforce before chasing big contracts ✔️ Pamela’s mission to help small businesses win profitable work, not just any work ✔️ The Skilled Trades Network and why she’s creating a space where trades, CITB, councils, and colleges can actually come together ✔️ The reality behind running a family business, managing people, and learning to delegate ✔️ Pamela’s top three pieces of advice: urgency, relationships, and dropping the pressure to have life figured out early Follow James Fleming: LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesflemingtpwtd/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/successorexcusespodcast YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@SuccessorExcusesPodcast Website → https://thepowerwithintraining.com/ Follow Pamela Cunningham: Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/pamelaxcun/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelasmeconsultant/ Timestamps: [00:00] James opens the episode and welcomes Pamela [00:44] Pamela explains who she is and how visibility became part of her journey [02:10] Early days of helping Ross grow ROSSCO Tiling [06:29] Pamela’s background in procurement and how her idea for supporting small businesses began [11:29] Tendering mistakes small construction companies make [12:41] Why accreditations and certifications are often misunderstood [16:58] Pamela on public vs private sector procurement [19:35] School engagement, careers events, and inspiring young people into trades [22:05] Early growth of ROSSCO Tiling and shifting from bathrooms to specialist work [26:20] Launching the tiling academy and the struggle with funding [31:47] Pamela’s challenges navigating employability support and public sector systems [37:31] Growing the ROSSCO team and developing people [40:58] Pamela’s new programmes: helping businesses become “tender ready” [46:09] The Skilled Trades Network and why she created it [51:54] Pamela’s top three pieces of advice [54:08] Where to find Pamela online