THE JOURNEY SO FAR

It all started in December 1997 when I fell out with my then boss about something I can’t remember, it would have been something relatively small but it was enough to push me to start out on my own. I remember walking in through the back door of our home, Lisa, my wife greeted me whilst cradling our four-month-old baby Alex (more about him later) “Why are you back so early?” I could feel a nervous smile kicking in, the sort that you have no control over, boldly followed with “I’m starting my own business!”

It was a rollercoaster ride from then on, working hours became far longer and we would often go out as a family to price jobs in the evenings. Lisa would sit in the car and entertain Alex while I met with the prospective customers, I definitely had the easy job, it was the only way we got to see each other.

We carried on for a while working from a van doing general carpentry with the odd larger project. We moved from our first house in 1999 and built a small workshop on the side of our new home. The type of work we did evolved fairly quickly and we started producing our first pieces of furniture. We rapidly out grew the workshop at home and an opportunity to acquire a workshop in Station Road, Flitwick allowed us to expand a little more and we eventually outgrew that too. We moved to our now residence in Barton-Le-Clay, a huge step for us, a much larger premises and more staff. That was in 2012. I naively thought that we were lucky enough not to be affected by the recession of 2010 but these things notoriously have a knock-on effect. Faster than I expanded my business it all went wrong. We hit a wall just after moving to Barton and I had to let two of my guys go. These were dark times but we managed to stay afloat.

I have always been blessed with great staff, our team has always been strong, they all have the same drive to be the best at what they do and as I evolved and learnt more about running my business it became clear that I would need to delegate. The hardest part for me running a business was learning to let go, learning to allow others to help in my quest for excellence and allowing them to excel also. This was a pivotal moment in the growth of the ‘Company’, a word that I use with pride, it seems like such a big word having started from something so small. I slowly but surely moved away from the tools and handed that responsibility to my very experienced and knowledgeable staff. This new style allowed me to concentrate on my customers, making them the priority and allowing time to oil the engine so to speak.

Tom, my cousin has been with us since he left school in 2003, he was my first apprentice and is still with us now. He is the guy who ‘makes stuff’. If you have had a kitchen or bedroom built by us, he is the guy who most likely made it, without him our Company simply wouldn’t work. I like to think I taught him everything he knows but he has taught me so much too and although he doesn’t think so, brings a huge amount to the table. We managed to win the tender for a large project which involved making furniture in pretty much every room of a state-of-the-art new build project in Stockgrove. A project that, at the time seemed immensely daunting. It was nothing we hadn’t done before but the sheer scale of it was mind blowing. Tom seemed so confident, and reassured me that ‘we had this’ perhaps he’d say the same about me and together we opened up a new avenue for the direction of the Company.

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Lisa and I have three children, Alex, Sam and Evie and although I would never have pushed for any of them to become a part of the business, it was always something I liked the idea of. Alex joined our team when he was 16 and served his apprenticeship under the watchful eye of Tom, he is an absolute natural and isn’t afraid to dive in at the deep end and meet new ideas head on, he has grown in confidence throughout the years to the point where I don’t really ever need to get involved. Ollie, our most recent addition to the team although, has been with us for some time now, works alongside Alex as our fitting team, he is the organised level headed one of the two and together they make a formidable pair. They are friends from school and get on really well both in and out of the work environment. I’m always shocked at the sheer number of compliments that I receive from my customers as to how well they conduct themselves and what a wonderful hardworking job they do.

In 2015 Our Company was considered for an award for the Best kitchen category in a prestigious Awards event held in Ireland. We were invited to the award ceremony with no expectations of winning, the competition was so high and we were such a small Company by comparison to others. I definitely would have laid off the wine a bit If I had of known we’d win, and win we did! It was a huge shock! When you see famous Actors and actresses in shock as the camera pans round to them at the Oscars, that’s real, well at least it was for us. Being recognised in the industry was a very proud moment for our Company and helped me to realise just how far we’d come from those humble beginnings.

Although it wasn’t my intention to build a truly family run business it certainly turned out that way. We pride ourselves in providing not only an exceptional quality of work but also a personable hand-crafted experience for all of our customers, I think this is why they keep coming back.