After 20 years in the building industry, David Denton is no stranger to working long hours.

And now he’s running his own business, the apprentice-trained joiner who rose to become site manager for one of Britain’s best-known housebuilders, says seven-day working weeks are not unusual.

But the day starts even earlier since David decided to take part in the 25-mile Overgate Mountain Bike Challenge in June to raise funds for the Elland hospice.

“My typical day starts with me leaving the house at 6.30am and getting home at 5.30pm before starting on the paperwork in the evening,” he says. “But some mornings, I’m out of the door at 5am to get some cycling in to build up my fitness for the event.

“I got into mountain biking when I was in my 20s. I also enjoy ski-ing and snowboarding in the winter.

“But I cycled the route of the mountain bike challenge last November and realised how unfit I was!”

David, who lives in Elland with wife Alison and six-year-old daughter Annie, has been in the building trade since leaving school at 16. Within weeks of taking his exams, he became an apprentice joiner at George Booth & Sons in New Mill.

“I remember fancying being a botanist at one stage,” he says. “But it was the thought of having to go to university that put me off!

“I once thought I was going to be a chef, but I did two weeks’ work experience working a split shift from 8am to 2pm and then back on at 5pm. By 1pm I was clock-watching and I realised if I was doing that, then catering was not for me.”

Luckily, David found the right career in construction,

After his three-year apprenticeship, he got a job with McAlpine Homes and after about a year progressed to assistant site manager with Ben Bailey Homes, where he worked for five years.

He became a fully-fledged site manager at Termrim Construction in Huddersfield, with responsibility for schemes including a development of 14 bungalows at Moortown, Leeds.

He later worked for Nu Construction in Elland before joining Halifax-based Southdale, where he was involved in a £12m social housing project.

As the recession bit, David was made redundant in 2011 and took the decision to set up his own business offering joinery and construction services as well as freelance project management.

“There were no site manager jobs around,” he recalls. “I would look on the internet and searches came back ‘zero’.”

Now David is involved in freelance site management, covering for holidays or tackling short-term projects as well as working as an NVQ assessor for those following his footsteps through the apprenticeship route.

He’s also project managing a barn conversion with a difference at Scammonden, where he will have up to 10 tradespeople on site at peak times, including decorators and plasterers.

The property was converted about 15 years ago, but is now being refitted to provide holiday accommodation and requires upgraded insulation.

While David is busy, he says: “At the moment, I think the building industry is struggling and it will continue to struggle for the next five years.”

He says progress on Government initiatives such as Green Deal – with financial incentives to carry out work to make properties more energy-efficient – is proving slow while sources of finance are hard to come by for construction businesses keen to invest.

David says the industry is changing. “The weaker companies have gone to the wall and the stronger ones have survived,” he says.

“What has helped me is that schools, doctors’ surgeries and local authorities are now looking for value for money.

“Instead of being tied by framework agreements, they have the freedom to put work out to tender and use smaller, local companies.”

David has completed work for several schools, including Kirkburton Middle School, while during his career he has been project manager on schemes for the likes of Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds College as well as the groundwork phase of the Bingley Five Rise Locks shopping centre.

Says David: “My big advantage is having a background in both management and ‘on the tools’

“When I was at Ben Bailey, my job as assistant site manager meant dealing with the customers.

“The site manager wanted to carry on building and left the assistant to deal with the complaints! That was fine because I learned more about people.

“When I moved up to site manager it was simply because an opportunity arose.

“While I was working on the tools, someone saw potential in me. I was approached to go into site management.

“I thought I had nothing to lose, so I decided to give it a go. I have been involved in site management for more than 10 years now.”

The role can be likened to that of a juggler – trying to keep all the balls in play by ensuring that men and materials are on site when they are supposed to be, troubleshooting any problems and all the time keeping an eye on the timescale.

David says: “You need to have the right people around you.

“You can be the best in the business, but if you have the wrong people, things will come unstuck. You start on site with a programme and you have to do your best to stick to it. You have to adapt to suit changing circumstances.

“But one thing that never changes is the end date – when you have to finish the job!”

David enjoys the variety of work that comes with running his own business. “Being in management is basically paperwork,” he says.

“But I’m also back ‘on the tools’ which is nice because I am creating something physically myself.

“I enjoy ‘the tools’ more now than if I had just started because it is like doing something completely new after so many years as a site manager.

“But having been in management has given me a greater understanding of other trades.

“Part of being a site manager is to inspect the quality of someone else’s work, so you have to understand about cable routing by the electrician and so on.

“You have to deal with everything from the major ‘civils’ installing flow control systems to prevent flooding right down to the final touches by the painters.”