Building a business by having the right people in position is increasingly seen as the way forward for plumbing and heating contractors. One that is living this approach is Presmac of Newburn, near Newcastle, where the involvement of JTL has been vital in assisting the creation of a £2 million annual turnover in 18 years.
It was 1997 when John Maclennan and Phil Preston left Gateshead public works department to start on their own. They established their first unit in Blaydon before moving to Newburn in 2006. By this time they had been joined by office manager Jackie Scott, whose role now encompassed the management of three JTL apprentices, ably supported by Ian Ramsey, training officer with the charitable company.
Having acquired their new property outright the two directors faced a major crisis in 2012 when a freak flood caused by a combination of work on a nearby culvert and some of the worse rainfall on record forced them to find emergency accommodation. This was achieved within two days and the business continued uninterrupted, despite not being able to move back to Walker Davidson House for 13 months. Today the business has 10 employers – three of whom having come through JTL apprenticeships, with a further three apprentices in either the second or final year of their programmes.
Director John Maclennan says that he believes the ideal size of the business would be a field staff of 10-14, in meeting customer needs in plumbing and heating that stretch across a large part of the North East.
“We reacted to the economic downturn by going out and meeting more potential customers and this helped both our business performance as well as making Presmac better known in the local area,” he commented. “We have also been involved with JTL since the training company started to offer apprenticeship support in plumbing and heating, sometimes finding our own apprentices or alternatively using a JTL shortlist of possible candidates. We firmly believe in the advantages of apprenticeship training.”
The quality of the combined efforts of Presmac, JTL and day release at Newcastle College has clearly paid dividends for the business, reflected in the fact that three former Presmac apprentices have been named as past regional finalists in JTL’s annual awards. This has contributed to the word-of-mouth reputation of a company, both in support of work in the local community and through numerous main contractors, councils and housing associations.
The two directors, each being qualified plumbers, continue to take a close interest in the work and projects of their staff. John admits to periodically wanting to get more hands-on on a job than he knows he should, but expertise in taking briefs and keeping the operational staff updated on progress is a major task in its own right.
“The support and checks on progress of our apprentices we get from JTL is extremely valuable to us,” said Jackie Scott. “I think this is shown in the number of our people who came through this route and continue to make such a significant contribution to the business.”
Presmac Director John Maclennan