February 2022 marked an exciting achievement for Essex based Roofing & Externals Contractor – Acclaim Contracts, as the business passed a momentous milestone in the shape of its 40-year anniversary of trading.
In the same year that Ozzy Osbourne made bat a delicacy, trouble brewed in the Falkland Islands, E.T. and Blade Runner were showing in the cinema and Michael Jackson released the iconic ‘Thriller’ album, self-employed roofer, Peter La-Thangue, was forming Acclaim Roofing.
Having been working for large contractors around East London and Essex on commercial and residential pitched and flat roofing projects, Peter started growing his own initial team of five, from a small office and lock-up in Basildon, Essex in 1982.
Initially operating as a sub-contractor on projects across most sectors, with a substantial amount of commercial and education work, it was not long before Acclaim began to grow the team and offer an increasing range of services, such as external refurbishment works and full external envelope packages. This progression developed the team into the established principal contractor they are known as today – Acclaim Contracts Ltd, directly appointed by local authorities, housing associations, healthcare trusts, various government bodies and major UK airports.
Now boasting offices and warehouses across Wickford and Basildon, Acclaim’s core team includes 38 full-time in-house staff, utilising the company fleet of three lorries, 16 commercial vans, and two fully electric vehicles for ‘just-in-time’ deliveries. These resources are also reinforced with a wide reaching, diverse portfolio of loyal sub-contractors and suppliers, whose relationships have been firmly established over four decades of repeat business and industry-leading payment terms.
With Peter La-Thangue still at the heart of the ongoing running of the business, along with other key family members and long-term management team, Ian Duggan also plays a key role in the ongoing growth strategy for Acclaim, having joined the team in 2000 and becoming joint managing director in 2016.
Not only has the team and service offering expanded substantially over the past 40 years, but the turnover has too, growing from £50,000 within the first year of trading, to over £14 million this present day.
Acclaim attributes this success to the company’s core values, which remain unchanged since the business was formed, as joint managing director Ian Duggan explains: “Our close-knit team is composed of long-term retained staff with a culture of open and honest communication, which is also conveyed to the way in which we collaborate with our clients.
“Repeat business has been our stability over the years, which I believe has been achieved with our primary focus of delivering every project snag-free, treating each job as though our reputation depends on it.
“I know I speak for our entire team when I say that we all enjoy what we do and we all strive to look for new ventures and technology to improve the industry moving forward. Our consistent steady growth giving us all a sense of gratification, without ever having felt a desire to move away from our SME Limited structure in favour of higher risk rapid growth strategies. We continue to stick to what we are good at!”
When asked what the future vision for the business looks like, Ian continued: “Fundamentally, it’s continued stability, a focus on greatly increasing our level of investment into hiring more apprentices and young people into our industry, whilst continuing to promote and upskill internally to ensure we continue with long term growth over the next 40 years and beyond.”
Acclaim Contracts' Ian Duggan recently joined us on The Leaders Council Podcast to discuss the company's 40-year trading milestone. The full interview can be accessed below.
Photo by Anthony Fomin on Unsplash
