Company History & Profile"To continue a culture of improvement allowing our people to enjoy success through teamwork ensuring excellent service and quality for our customers".
More about Fenhams History: “A long established family business” is a statement that can truly be made, the original partnership formed in 1981, a father and son team of James and Paul Richardson.
James Richardson had served British Gas for over twenty years when he was offered a voluntary redundancy package which he accepted and decided to become self employed with Paul working alongside him learning his trade from the “old man” in traditional fashion.
Trading as Fenham Gas Heating and Plumbing Services the father and son partnership aimed at keeping work locally based and very soon business relationships and a reputation for high standards of workmanship were established.
Paul took over the running of the company and the business grew steadily working on new build projects, private houses, health clubs and other commercial properties.
Paul employed Edward, his brother, and continued to install heating systems but only in the one off private and new build sectors in the North East where less exposure to bad debt was expected, it was decided that it was important to keep the company name going as it had built a solid reputation for delivering quality workmanship over the previous years and continued to hold a solid basis of regular customers. A number of new contracts were won and the company began to grow until in 1997 Paul decided help was needed to progress, it was difficult to carry out installations of heating systems, give estimates, tender for contracts and attempt to keep the books balanced all at the same time, it was apparent that somebody who could take care of administration needed to be found.
Janet Domin who had previously worked for Customs and Excise for eighteen years in VAT and had already helped Paul with book keeping and Vat issues was a perfect solution to help the business progress, so in 1997 Paul invited Janet to become his business partner, a deal was agreed and Janet joined the business on the 01/07/1998 it was felt that a shortened version of the name would mark the change, and the partnership traded as Fenhams Contracts from that day.
Turnover increased from £120,000.00 at March 1999 and continued in a fairly dramatic fashion each year, with sales of 2.5 million at March 2002. By this time the partnership had taken over the whole of the upper floor of the premises in Heaton and was rapidly outgrowing that.
Fenhams were appointed at this time as sole contractor for Northern Electric and Gas, now Npower, selling, designing and installing heating systems to the private one off market place, leads were created by NE&G through various marketing strategies then passed to Fenhams to convert into sales that have topped half a million pounds per annum.
Other contracts soon followed, the most significant for the EAGA partnership installing heating systems in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria under the DEFRA Warmfront Grant Scheme. A rapid recruitment programme was necessary to cope with the increase in work flow and an expansion plan was formulated.
More suitable premises were required and in March 2002 the partnership acquired a site in Gosforth which was converted into head office. After extensive refurbishment and alterations to the building the partnership relocated in June 2002.The Partnership now had the office and warehouse space to expand and recruited to handle existing growing contracts and prepare for new contracts and opportunities that were being developed.
It was essential to seek alternative work which was eventually achieved by switching our attention toward local authority contracts. Doors were hard to open but by dogged persistence a contract was secured with a District Council upgrading heating systems and in December 2002 the partnership was awarded another contract to install heating systems, these two contracts were the first steps into a new market place.
The partnership was also offered a rare opportunity to take over a contract and operatives that had been rescued by a PLC from the demise of another contractor, the contract involved attending gas emergencies across the Northeast of England, this sector of business continued to grow since the offer was accepted and now operate as an entirely separate division.
With the previously mentioned contracts in place it allowed the partnership to maintain staff levels and a steady level of trading which enabled the partnership to consolidate a position of stability refocusing its attentions on growth.
All installations and other work carried out by Fenhams Contracts is subject to 100 % inspection as part of the quality control procedure and its supervisors and quality assurance inspectors are highly qualified to ensure that the reputation for delivering high standards of workmanship are maintained.
Consultants have been employed to guide the partnership through its expansion. The accounts department has been expanded to handle increased sales and turnover with new accounts software and personnel, a business model has also been developed to ensure predictions can be tested and proven on a regular basis whilst also being able to adjust to handle unforeseen and new opportunities, calculating cash flow forecasts daily and tracking actual figures against projected which will keep the partnership on track for sustainable growth.
Turnover is now in excess of £1,000,000.00 per month and still growing, and with a very healthy order book value we intend to keep our expansion plan on target through to 2007 when we expect turnover to rise above the £20,000,000.00 per annum mark.
It is the partners intention to continue with the growth of the company in this manner whilst keeping high standards of workmanship, employee welfare and customer care as the core values and also encourage everybody around to have fun in doing so and enjoy the success!
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Welcome to Fenhams
