Q-who? You cannot create experience – you have to undergo it!

Albert Camus once said, “You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.” And there aren’t many in the FM industry with more experience than Luis Lopes!

Luis is Q3’s Operations Director and was one of the original team when the business was formed in 2018. However, his experience in the industry goes way back to 1989 when he arrived from his native Portugal and got a job as a cleaner with a well-known cleaning company of that time, called Ramoneur. The company provided the first step on his career in FM and even helped him open his first bank account, with £1 to his name.

From there Luis progressed with Lancaster cleaning through a series of promotions, to be site supervisor, area supervisor and finally, area manager.

Then things really took an upward swing when he joined Cleanevent. Here, and later with Mitie’s specialist events and leisure division, he would be responsible for some iconic venues including Ascot Racecourse, Cheltenham Racecourse, Aintree Racecourse, Newmarket Racecourse, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Arsenal F.C., Fulham F.C., Chelsea F.C., Aston Villa F.C., Twickenham Stadium, Wembley Stadium, Silverstone Circuit, Cheltenham Racecourse, Odyssey Arena, O2 Arena, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, and Farnborough Air Show. That would look pretty good on anyone’s cv!!!

As well as managing cleaning on big-event days, there was also the day-to-day cleaning for the various conferences and meetings that these venues hosted to supplement their revenue, as well as out-of-season, deep clean projects. Luis learned how to be flexible, switching from the routine one day, to ramping up for the big-game events the next.

His management style, based on fostering close client relationships, goes right back to the lessons he learnt at that time. Regular face-to-face meetings to check clients were happy with the quality of service deliver, KPI performance, check H&S and compliance, and so on – exactly as he works today.
Luis will always build his diary around quality time with clients, making sure the relationship is good and that there’s a happy ship and crew. He still loves working in this FM business because every day is different and relationship building with many different clients and operatives is what keeps him stimulated and on his toes. But dealing with a challenging client, or a difficult member of staff, can still present a challenge, and he’s not afraid to set aside his usual friendly demeanour, play hard ball and make some tough decisions.

Having worked for both big and small FM companies, allows Luis to see things from two very different perspectives. For some clients, the big brand players can be a bit “marmite”, with lots of red tape, and it can be hard to get quick decisions. Small companies sometimes struggle with resource and to convince clients they have the ability and scale to do a job. But with Q3, he has the benefit of the experience from both ends of the industry and the autonomy to make things happen.

He loves nothing better than applying all those years of experience to tackle a situation and improve the way things are done, increase productivity, reduce costs, and get results.

“Experience beats knowledge every time!” is one of his favourite sayings.

As Q3 has evolved over the last 8 years, there have been openings and opportunities for Luis as the company has grown. That particular experience has been one of his favourite times, because in Luis’s own words, “It’s been awesome to be part of the journey