Kevin O'Sullivan's tips for growth
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Good service and family values.
Kevin O'Sullivan's tips for growth go to the heart of an
aggregates and building supplies business he founded more than 25
years ago.
"We based the business on good service which people appreciate
and it pays dividends," he said. "We are a family business with
family values."
Seven members of the family are involved - Kevin's three sons,
Joe, 31, (managing director), Ben, 30, and Tommy, 28, daughter
Katie, nephew Caley Whitehead, and sister Pauline Whitehead.
When Kevin bought a second-hand tipper on a whim, he did not
know that in 2011, his family business would be among the
fastest-growing in Kent.
He advertised in the local newspaper, undercut rivals and took
his tipper around the Maidstone area. Allsands was born, supplying
aggregates, mainly sand, to the building industry.
It is now a major supplier of around 3,000 product lines to do
it yourself experts, builders' merchants and small
housebuilders.
When he was a lad, Joe remembers having to step over sacks of
cement stored in the hallway of the family home. Supplies were
bagged up in the back garden. But growth was so rapid that the
business moved to the 20/20 business park in Allington.
Recession, which has been especially hard on smaller building
firms, might well have made times tough for Allsands. But the firm
has bucked every trend, with soaring sales. Turnover stood at £2.5m
in financial year ending 2009, but the firm is on target to double
that over the next year or two.
The firm employs nearly 30 staff. There are plans to open a
second branch, perhaps in Medway, where it already has a depot,
Ashford or Tonbridge.
Kevin, born and bred in Sutton Valence to an Irish father,
started his career as an electrical apprentice.
He is now preparing to gradually shift decision-making to a
younger generation.
He has to rub his eyes to believe what has happened to his
business since his decision all those years ago to buy a tipper on
a whim. "It was always a dream," he says.
Wednesday, February 16 2011
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