An independent electrical installation business which works on huge office fit-outs is seeing a big upturn in business on the back of bigger contract wins.
Husband and wife team James and Jo Tudge said west Leicestershire-based Central Electrical Services (CES) was growing, taking on staff and investing in apprentices.
The business, based in Ashby Road, Hinckley, has worked with big contractors on projects such as the Amazon drone delivery research and development offices in Cambridge, as well as sites for Boeing in Bracknell and HSBC in Birmingham. It has also installed electrical systems for Eversheds Legal and law firm DLA Piper.
Mr Tudge said the business was started by his dad and step-mum 30 years ago and he joined it in 2004 – prior to the couple eventually buying his parents out.
Mr Tudge, who joined the firm as its business development manager, said the value of the contracts they were winning was going up and they had just got one in Peterborough worth £1.6 million.
Mrs Tudge is a chartered accountant who worked in industries such as insurance, healthcare and manufacturing before joining the family firm.
She said: “It was always going to be the case that James’ dad and step-mum would retire and we agreed that I would be the financial person and we would run it together.
“We’re moving into bigger contracts and a lot of the ones we’ve had recently have been £700,000, £800,000 or £900,000, and we have two £1 million jobs at the moment – including a brand new, four-storey building that we are fitting out for the end client.
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“We think this year we will turnover £8.5 million, compared to £5.9 million last year, which was a bit down because of Covid. In previous years it’s always been between £6.5 million and £7 million.
“We’ve got 42 staff and we’ve taken on three new office staff and two new site-based staff and we’re looking for more site staff to take on in the next year or so.”
Mr Tudge said training up young talent was a key part of the business.
He said: “One thing we do really well is invest in apprenticeships. We’ve currently got eight, and take on three or four a year - and we’ve just had our 51st start.”
Mrs Tudge said: “We’ve got quite a lot of staff who have been with us a long time and the other director in the business, Tom Close, started as an apprentice as we tend to promote from within which means there are lots of opportunities to progress.”
The pair said investment in new office projects remained “pretty buoyant” despite the impact of the pandemic and more people working from home.
They said lots of firms moving to “agile working” meant fewer desks but more investment in things such as work pods and shared work areas.
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Even downsizing offices, they said, was creating new work, as was the growing trend for serviced offices.
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