Built To Last

When The Window Company (Contracts) supplied and installed 50 windows in the new Hyundai offices at Tilbury Docks for main contractors JW Steele & Sons Ltd recently, it marked the 20th anniversary of the partnership between the two businesses.

In an industry where every single project is subject to a competitive tender, it says a great deal about the synergy between the two businesses that they are still working together regularly on both public and private sector contracts.

At Tilbury Docks, where JW Steele enhanced its reputation by restoring the iconic rooftop Cupola back in June 2014. The Window Company (Contracts) supplied 50 windows in the Rehau system for a building which was being refurbished and upgraded into offices for Hyundai. The windows were all coated to mid-grey RAL7012 on the outside to exactly match the exterior cladding.

This was in stark contrast to the very first job they carried out for JW Steele back in 1997 which was to fix a broken window handle in a house owned by a friend of the then Managing Director Harold Steele. Harold was so impressed with the fact that The Window Company (Contracts) fixed the handle for free, that he asked them to fit a window in his own house and the rest, as they say, is history.

David Geer, the current Managing Director, and Harold’s great nephew, says that the companies work well together because they share the same approach to customer service, quality and reliability.

He said: “The Window Company (Contracts) have never let us down in the past two decades. We trust them implicitly – whether that means sticking to their quote or giving us the best advice on how to meet a window and door specification from a client. We also trust their fitters to be polite and courteous on site and to work around staff, residents or service users on our projects in the healthcare, education and policing sector.”

David Thornton, Chairman of The Window Company (Contracts) said that both businesses share the same values as proud family businesses and have the same exacting standards when it comes to attention to detail and responsiveness. He added: “We are never complacent about our relationship with JW Steele. It matters just as much to us now as a £5m turnover business as it did in 1997 as a £100,000 business. That means even now we’ll respond just as quickly to a request from them to fix a broken handle as we do to an opportunity to quote on a £50,000 job.”

JW Steele and The Window Company (Contracts) are both based in Chelmsford and, while The Window Company (Contracts) has been around since 1996, JW Steele’s heritage goes all the way back to 1900. The company was established by David Geer’s great grandfather John W Steele as a small building company, and has grown to become one of the region’s leading contractors specialising in the refurbishment and repair of public sector and commercial buildings.

As well as the Tilbury Docks project, The Window Company has also completed recent window and door installations for JW Steele at Canvey Island Health Centre and at Ingrave Johnstone School in Brentwood.

Further details are available at www.thewinco.co.uk and at www.jwsteele.com