On 7th August 2018, we celebrated our 15th anniversary at B-DACS. A lot has happened over the last five years and it’s exciting to look back over our achievements and think about how we will continue to grow in the future!
A Real East End Success Story
Since reaching our last major milestone at B-DACS – celebrating 10 years in business – we have come a long way. On 7th August 2013, we had just three permanent employees based in the office – Brian and Diane Drummond and their daughter Linzi – and a small but dedicated team of engineers.
However, change was already underway. We were in the process of expanding the team and knew we needed larger premises to do so successfully. So, by the next summer, we had made the short journey to our current offices at 31 Lonmay Drive, staying in Panorama Business Village, and quickly made ourselves at home.
The new office was opened by Margaret Curran, then MP for Glasgow East and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, who described B-DACS as ‘a real East End success story’. Over the next five years, we have certainly kept that up!
How the Business is Growing
B-DACS currently employs 21 people, having added valuable skills across our operations and office teams. Director Brian is now supported in generating business by our estimator Gerard Kelly, while Brian Sorley supports the operation and co-ordination of all our installation projects.
Business development manager Cheryl Turnbull has overseen a major expansion of our maintenance department, building up a portfolio of local businesses and larger chains. We now have a dedicated team of maintenance engineers and assistants and are growing our ventilation work. Linzi Gormley and Laura Kelly comprise our finance department, managing all key aspects within this vital area.
Our investment in people has also really paid off and a large proportion of our team have been with us for many years, growing their skills and experience along the way. We have made a policy of recruiting young people and training them up, offering work experience as part of our strategy. Our longest serving employee Kevin Blacker has been with us since the beginning, joining as an assistant and developing into one of our most senior engineers.
We are also the proud owners of ten commercial vehicles, all decorated with the B-DACS livery.
An Award-Winning Company
B-DACS has been nominated in the Glasgow Business Awards in a number of categories over the years but was delighted to win Glasgow’s Best Performing Business (11-50 Employees) in October 2015. It was a wonderful night and a fantastic opportunity to celebrate.
In recent years, we have also done a lot to improve our management processes to drive continual improvements throughout the business. In 2015, we achieved ISO 9001:2008 accreditation, and we have recently been recommended for certification to ISO 9001:2015. We also won a Mentorsme.co.uk award, marking the success we have generated through business mentoring.
We also continue to grow our reputation within industry, becoming one of only two companies in Scotland to achieve the status of Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Quality Partner, in addition to Daikin D1 and Toshiba T7 accreditations. We also hold the Constructionline Gold accreditation.
Staying True to Our Values
As we grow, it is vital we remain true to the values we have always held. As a family business, we believe strongly in nurturing our staff, delivering an exceptional service for our customers and maintaining close ties with our community.
We are proud to have been recognised over the years for doing these things, from receiving an Investors in Young People award for our work recruiting young people experiencing unemployment, to being invited to speak at a Thank You Event at Glasgow City Chambers for our commitment to paying all our employees the Glasgow Living Wage.
And we have continued to give back to the community, through regular charity events, taking part in the Scottish Business Pledge, People in Skills programme and a Women-into-Engineering event, and lending our technical skills to the important local heritage project Friends of TS Queen Mary.
A Time to Celebrate and Reflect
To mark our 15th year of trading, we held a party in our office which all our staff attended. It was great to bring our staff together to celebrate and we took the opportunity to thank our team for their hard work and dedication over our trading years.
It’s also important at this time to give something back, so we will be having a fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Support and other charities by hosting a coffee morning in our office. This will be an opportunity to showcase our success, as well as raise funds for a good cause.
Reflecting on the last 15 years at B-DACS, Brian said:
In 2003, which now seems such an eternity away, no-one had an idea what smartphones, iPads, Facebook, 4G, Twitter, Uber or Snapchat were. Although we don’t claim to be a part of that exclusive group, I suppose B-DACS would also fall in to that category too.
After being made redundant it was a risk to go it alone rather than take employment with another company. The evolution of B-DACS has been very cautious and pre-meditated – we never considered ourselves hire and fire types, seeking to grow by seeking out potential large projects. This is ultimately unsustainable, resulting in just as many casualties when the projects dry up.
By living within our means and taking work that we knew we excelled at, things started moving quickly, resulting in steady, reliable staff and larger commercial projects, as well as forging a reputation for reliability, friendliness and a professional approach.
The values I had when I started still resonate today with our current team. I would like to think B-DACS is synonymous with a quality, knowledgeable and friendly service to all who deal with us.