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How does Dragonfly Projects compete against larger consultancies in the commercial occupier market?
Dragonfly Projects competes primarily through referrals, flexibility, and a tailored scope of service. Being independent lets the team work evenings, weekends, and wherever the client needs them — at leaner fees than larger firms carrying higher overheads. Freddie Edwards sees going up against the big consultancies not as a handicap, but as a genuine differentiator: Dragonfly offers something fundamentally different.
Referrals first — then relentless flexibility
When asked directly what drives new business, Freddie Edwards's answer was immediate: referrals. Dragonfly Projects does not compete on name recognition or institutional weight. It competes by doing good work and letting clients talk.
The commercial occupier market has accounted for approximately 75% of Dragonfly's work over the last four to five years — a deliberate focus, not a default. That depth of specialisation is part of what makes the referral engine work: clients in that market know exactly what they are recommending when they pass Dragonfly's name on.
The flexibility Edwards describes is concrete, not just a talking point. As an independent business, Dragonfly can second itself into a client's office, show up on evenings and weekends, and shape the scope entirely around what the client actually needs — not a standardised package, as Freddie explains in this episode of Pegasus Radio.
Leaner fees and a different kind of relationship
Larger consultancies carry larger overheads — and those overheads show up in their fees. Dragonfly's independent structure means it can price differently without cutting corners on quality. For clients who want senior-level attention without paying for layers of management above it, that gap matters.
Edwards frames the head-to-head with bigger firms not as a battle Dragonfly is trying to win on their terms, but as a different proposition entirely. The communication range he describes — moving between a boardroom conversation and a chat with the guys on the tools in the same day — is only possible because the team stays small and personally involved. This point is developed at length in Pegasus Radio, episode 51.
That senior-level hire — Louisa Whittaker, who joined from Gardner and Theobald with approximately 12 to 13 years of commercial occupier experience — was brought on board within two weeks. It is the kind of move that signals Dragonfly is not just staying lean by default: it is being deliberate about where it adds depth and where the referral network needs reinforcing.
"The reason why I set up Dragonfly wasn't actually just to be able to run my own business. It was the privilege of being able to become an employer. Business is all about looking after people and businesses, and it's also about looking after our own."
Freddie Edwards — Founder & Director, Dragonfly Projects.
Edwards founded Dragonfly Projects in 2022 after nearly eight years at Quartz Project Services, where he joined as a graduate and left as a senior project manager. Before construction, he read French at the University of Leeds and initially considered teaching. A sailing club connection led to a work experience placement on building sites in his teens — the starting point of a career he has since built entirely on relationship and reputation. He operated as a sole trader for three years before making his first hire, and has grown Dragonfly to a full-time headcount of four, with a stated five-year target of £3 million in turnover.
That founding philosophy — employer first, business owner second — shapes how Dragonfly positions itself externally too. A firm that is genuinely invested in its own people tends to project a different kind of presence to clients, and that presence is, in part, what drives the referral pipeline that Edwards credits as the primary source of new work. More on how this culture was built is available in the full Pegasus Radio episode.
See also
What mistake did Freddie Edwards make as a solo construction consultant and what would he advise others to avoid?
Freddie acknowledges he missed a growth window in late 2023 when he had enough work to scale but did not hire — causing his client book to collapse entirely. He would advise other sole traders to hire before it feels comfortable to do so.
Why did Freddie Edwards transition from sole trader to employer and what triggered the hiring decision?
Freddie operated as a sole trader for three years before beginning to hire in August of his fourth year, primarily because managing a young family made solo working unsustainable. The decision was also shaped by a recognition that growth required skills and experience beyond his own. You can hear him unpack this decision in Pegasus Radio.
What sectors does Dragonfly Projects specialise in and how is the business structured?
Dragonfly Projects specialises in construction project management across two distinct sectors: the commercial occupier office market and the residential developer space. The business is deliberately focused on these two verticals and does not intend to broaden beyond them.
Key takeaways
- Referrals are Dragonfly's primary source of new business — the result of consistently delivering what clients actually need, not a standardised service.
- Independence lets Dragonfly price more competitively than larger consultancies, whose higher overheads feed directly into their fees.
- Flexibility — working evenings, weekends, and on-site at a client's office — is a structural advantage that bigger firms cannot easily replicate.
- Facing larger competitors is, in Freddie Edwards's view, sometimes an asset: Dragonfly is not trying to beat them at their own game, but to offer something genuinely different.
Hear Freddie Edwards explain it in his own words.
The full conversation is on Listenly.