David Gregory
A little bit about how I ended up here......I've been involved in the building industry since I left school, well, before in fact! I had a work experience placement at a small firm in South Gloucestershire when I was 15 years old and I loved it. At the end of the week I was offered a Saturday job, so I must have done something right!
I then worked there part time, alongside studying for my A-Levels before moving onto college to do my ONC and HNC on a day-release basis. This meant 1 day at college and the other 4 weekdays being spent in the office working on extensions, new builds and renovations (with weekends and evenings often being filled with coursework).
After finishing college I attended University to undertake a day-release degree. During my degree I moved to a larger company, based in the Cotswolds, working on high end, one-off residential projects for high net-worth individuals, which gave me a very different insight into the property world.
Myself and my partner, Victoria, decided to set up the company back in 2008 as we wanted the challenge of creating something and I felt that there seemed to be a trend for adding floor area, without necessarily improving the house. There can be a tendency to add a shiny new room and ignore how the old rooms might then be used.
As most people will appreciate, a Degree is not where the story ends as CPD continues to keep me very busy to ensure that I'm up to date with the latest changes, products and materials.
Supporting a small family-run business
Since starting the company we have had three wonderful children who are usually nearby as we are home educating them.
In the 'spare' time I do have, I am in the process of carrying out a deep 'retrofit' on our own property, parts of which date back to 1740. It's had a good deal of change and neglect since then however, so there is a good deal of unpicking to do before we can start to rebuild it as a home.
Wherever possible I am using natural materials, and where that's not possible for things such as the windows and doors, I want to use materials that can be easily recycled, such as aluminium. As with any project, budget will be the constraint of course, although I am looking to do as much myself as possible to keep the costs down.