As we look back over the last 20 years in business, we can’t help but reflect on some memorable moments and projects that still make us laugh to this day. At Kilworth, fulfilling the needs of our clients is always our priority, however bizarre those requests may be…
Join us as our founder, Neil, shares some key moments!
The Answer is Yes… But What Was the Question?
In 2016 we were in full swing, in the middle of a full FF&E fit out at a new build Care Home on the outskirts of Reading, when the client arrived on site. As is good practice, Neil took time out to say hello and do a bit of a walk round to show him how things were progressing.
Needless to say he was delighted with the way things were coming together, but in the middle of saying how wonderful everything looked, and how pleased he was, he dropped in a throw away comment about the already unboxed and assembled, 66no. new 32 inch televisions. It was something along the lines of “wow it looks amazing, it’s coming together so well, but those TVs are too small, let’s change them for 40 inch televisions. You can use the 32 inch ones on one of the next jobs where there are smaller rooms”.
The comment was so ‘throw away’ that Neil nearly missed it, so in a double take he asked him to rewind and sure enough he hadn’t misheard.
Now bearing in mind this was Wednesday and we were due to complete on Friday, ready for CQC on Monday, the next phone call was to Mr Fix-It (Adrian in the office) and was something like “what’s the chances mate of getting 66 40 inch televisions to site in the next 48 hours?”
Well he did it, Friday morning the lorry turned up, the team unloaded them, built them, put the 32” televisions back in the empty boxes to go back to the warehouse until needed later in the year – job done!
So therein lies our company philosophy, of course the answer is yes, what was the question?
You know who you are, Mr H from Warwickshire!
Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch
A highly valued customer, who has been supporting us since the beginning, had a logistics problem. A member of their management team was moving house and needed to relocate their chickens. Yes you read that right, chickens. But… they were moving to a much smaller place, near their existing home in Surrey so the chickens, unfortunately, had to go!
Don’t worry, no animals were harmed in the creation of this story!
So the person in question thought that they would offer the chickens to one of the groups’ care homes for resident interest.
Well, of course it was always going to be the furthest away care home that wanted them… Norwich!
We get a call, “can you help?” – of course the answer is yes! So our driver needs to get this 380 mile round trip done in the day for obvious reasons, Leicester to Surrey to Norwich and back to Leicester. He gets a flier, arrives at the house, loads the chickens in their transport baskets (along with a huge castle of a chicken coup) and duly delivers them and reassembles the coup at the destination in Norwich.
Another problem solved for a client, a completely random but true story, four eggs laid on the journey and a happy customer!
The really funny bit, we only realised later that our company initials are KFC!
Piecing Together the Jigsaw
Back in 2009, we were asked to go and measure up for a flooring job at a pre-school in Milton Keynes. When Neil arrived it was clear to see that the existing floor was very tired and dull, and in much need of change. The Manager was a lovely lady and very excited at the thought of a freshen up for the children.
The first question to her was, “do you know what you want or would you like some suggestions?”. Well the simple answer was, she had no idea, and asked if she could leave it to us to come up with some suggestions.
The second question to her at that point was “how brave are you, how about a floor that looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle?”. Her eyes widened and she said that she thought that would be fantastic.
So after measuring up and getting some ideas on the colours she liked, Neil went back to the office and literally got on the drawing board. By hand, we scaled and drew out a full jigsaw puzzle, compiled of numerous vinyl squares (2m x 3m each), all with various linking shapes and colours and that became the plan… we still have that drawing in the job file.
So the quote was submitted and accepted by the school, without them seeing the plan as they wanted to be surprised at the end.
Fitting day came, and when our master fitter, Richard Harris, saw the plan his words were – shall we just say, almost as colourful as the floor. But Neil knew (they’d worked together for so long), that secretly Rich loved these kinds of jobs so over to him.
Every link and piece was cut manually using a plywood template, no laser cutting, no manufacture assistance – all just quality craftsmanship. And what an end product he created!
On the last day, the client arrived at the school to lock up when we had finished. As she walked into the building she stopped abruptly, put her hands on her head and started to cry. Both Neil and Richard looked at each other in panic, then she ran up and threw her arms around them both and said “this is the best thing you could have done, it’s perfect and I’m crying as I’m so happy!”
They were both so proud, and Neil expressed how happy he is that both Richard and himself still work together today, he is as much a part of our flooring success as anyone.
Oh, and Rich never admitted it, but he absolutely loved that job!
All a Job Well Done
At Kilworth, we take our client requests personally. If there is a will, there will always be a way.
We hope you enjoyed reading some memorable moments from the last 20 years. We also hope you don’t see these as a challenge, but if you do, then bring it on!
Our team is dedicated to going above and beyond for every client, whatever the project may be.