Bespoke furniture specialists One Contracts Ltd is relocating to a new, bigger premises following a ‘hectic’ two years in business.
One Contracts is preparing to move into a 25,000 square-foot unit on Old Whieldon Road in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent – more than three times the size of its former home at Fenpark Industrial Estate
This is the third time the business has been forced to move to a bigger building since its formation just two years ago.
Now the company is in the process of turning the empty building into its new headquarters after signing a 10-year lease on the unit.
Work is currently ongoing to construct a joinery workshop, a dedicated upholstery area and install an additional spray booth.
Pascal Parker, who founded the business with his brother-in-law Matt Stocks, said: “We have two units in Fenton and it’s just got to a point where we are struggling for space. We wanted a nicer working environment.
“Our new building is much bigger than what we had before, which means we will be able to employ more people, but first we want to make this new facility as efficient as possible.”
Over the last two years, One Contracts has worked on orders for well-known brands including Holiday Inn, Hilton Hotels and Pizza Express – and it has recently become an approved supplier for food venue operator Mitchells and Butlers, whose brands include Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery.
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The company currently boasts a 20-strong workforce, but it is on the look-out for three new bench joiners and three new upholsterers.
Pascal said: “We are constantly trying to recruit experienced bench joiners and upholsterers to help us meet the demand of our clients, but we are also investing in trainees too.
“We are getting more business and retaining that business. We are actually thriving, but our biggest inhibitor to growth and stability is employment – we are struggling to find the right staff.”
Matt said: “The orders we get can vary from a £2,000 order right up to £250,000, so we are a flexible business, but we need to increase our capacity to cope with demand.
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would get to where we are now this quickly.
“There were four of us in June last year – now we’re up to 20 and we are still recruiting.
“Our growth is purely down to the service and products that we provide, but we need to slow things down a little bit now.
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“The last two years have been hectic and if we don’t take our foot off the gas a bit it will effect our future growth and our ability to maintain our service levels.”
One Contracts Ltd is currently still operating from its unit at Fenpark, but the company expects to be up and running at the new site at the end of the month.