A YEAR IN REVIEW
It’s been a while and I’m a little late than I would like to be giving my review of the last 12 months, but I haven’t written a blog post in a while and it has been tough to get back into the routine of sitting down to pen one of these out, but like my Dad say’s the hardest part is starting. Just gotta keep typing.
Last year was a funny one, a real funny one. We came back to a slight lull before we were to start installing a large job which would keep the whole team busy for a couple of weeks, this gave us the opportunity to move all the files and computers up to our new office in Unit 4 which is now where Paula and I carry out our day to day tasks and jobs. It was great to finally move up into a nice new big, clean and quiet office, Paula had been waiting for a bigger office for some time so it was a relief to finally move in.
A PROMISING YEAR
2022 was set to be a promising year, I had been busy pricing for jobs and the feedback I was getting was good, many jobs planned for that spring, then summer and so on and so forth, however, the cost of materials started to rise mainly down to a back log due to COVID and extra cost in duty because of BREXIT and then some psycho decided to invade Ukraine which sent everything through the roof some more. All these factors then turned 2002 into what I can only describe as a costing exercise….. The majority of the jobs that had been scheduled to start were either shelved or cancelled. The jobs I had priced would then start to come back for pricing based on new material costs, they would then come back again asking for a re price based on alternative materials, some quotes were getting to revisions F and revisions G, one job made it to revision N!!! I re-priced it 14 times!
So we were kicking our heels right through spring, I was working hard to price and re-price everything I could, produce drawings to try and speed up the decision making process in order to keep the guys busy, calling around customers, chasing old quotes, then the Schools broke up and all hell broke loose!
SUMMER
We are lucky to have a great working relationship with a number of schools who are constantly developing and improving their facilities. Out of nowhere we received 3 large orders for works to be finished before the end of the school holidays, this was brilliant, however the spell of ticking along had eaten into our reserves so we now had another worry, buying all the materials and paying the wages to get the work out on time would cause cashflow problems down the line, the money would come in later but for now, it was a worry. Being busy is great, “a good problem to have” someone once said, but such an influx of work after a quiet spell, I admit was a bit of a stress. Doom and gloom aside it was great to see the lads getting stuck in after a few months of bits and bobs, they thrive on being busy and it was brilliant to see them at their best.
STEADY BUILD UP TO CHRISTMAS
With the school holidays done with we had a steady build up to Christmas. Things were as busy as ever for me with the quoting and re-quoting, I was also busy producing drawings for jobs to get approval so we could make a start. This was our Autumn which before you know it turns into winter, where the proverbial hit the fan again, I’m not sure why but possibly it was due to budgets but we had an influx of orders for jobs that all needed to be done before Christmas! So, all hands on deck for a huge push before our Christmas break. I’m proud to say the lads did a great job and pulled it off and we sat in the pub on the last day enjoying a hard earned pint!
ON REFLECTION
Last year was tough! Challenging at all angles, we had feast and famine, twice! But challenges grow us and we are better because of it. I guess everyone had an idea of how 2022 was going to go and unfortunately war changed that.
2023
This year is looking promising, I’ve been doing it long enough to take it all with a pinch of salt but there is promise of plenty of work from plenty of repeat clients and customers, so, we better get into it.
Speak soon and take it easy!
Adam
