Located just 2.5 miles from the city centre, CoVault’s flexible new units in Dundee were the ideal choice of business lease for local company City Quay Joinery.
THE success of City Quay Joinery in Dundee can be attributed to its founder taking a highly professional approach to his trade.
Matthew Cherrie began his joinery training at the relatively mature age of 26 and, after working for others for a few years, decided that the best way forward was to set up his own company.
He brought not only his joinery skills but also his previous experience in customer service to City Quay Joinery. That background in working closely with customers is something that he feels set him apart when he was establishing the company, and allowed it to hit the ground running.
“I knew I had to approach things a bit differently,” says Cherrie. “I’m in Dundee but originally from Edinburgh, so I didn’t have the usual client base of loads of family and friends to get things started.”
He put together what was essentially a portfolio – showcasing his previous work and detailing his services, but also including his insurance and company registration. Within a short period of time, City Quay Joinery was contracted to carry out maintenance work for letting agents all across Dundee. Cherrie said: “I’m sure that approach was the reason. In my experience I had seen that most tradesman would just hand in a card and hope for the best.
“Even now that we have the work and have built on that original customer base, anyone working for City Quay Joinery, even people that I subcontract, need to be smart and presentable. I always have a uniform and make sure my van is always clean. Essentially I work for myself, but I’m careful in my choices of subcontractors.”
Until around six months ago, City Quay Joinery was based in what was no more than a storage unit. Cherrie spotted the new CoVault location in Dunsinane Industrial Estate while driving back from a business trip and could see its potential in how it could help to build the business.
There is a website at www.cqjoinery.co.uk, where Cherrie has an extensive gallery of work. He thinks it’s important to have a photograph of himself, simply for peace of mind. New clients can see that the person arriving at their home is the person they have seen on the site.
The Dundee CoVault location is only 2.5 miles from the city centre and a few minutes from the Kingsway, the dual carriageway which provides access to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. “It’s definitely been a worthwhile move for me,” he says. “It’s good value for money and the location means I’m surrounded by other businesses and suppliers that I need to work with.”
Cherrie is also impressed by the use of space in his premises, with CoVault creating a mezzanine level in premises like his.
Like many other trades, which have been busy during the pandemic as people have invested in home improvements rather than holiday abroad, City Quay Joinery has been extremely busy but Cherrie expects that to level off next year. The new modern workspace will allow him to explore his other business ideas. “It allows me to separate the workshop area and the office space. It’s a flexible area and I do have some other business plans, but I won’t have to think about moving when those happen. So for price and location and being able to use the space in different ways, it’s been a really good move. It’s been so much cheaper than having an office and a workshop in town,” he says.
CoVault Dundee is at Kinnoull Road, Dunsinane Industrial Estate, Dundee. Light industrial units from £417 per month.
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