Andrew started tiling in 2001, before setting up his own business in 2006. He joined the Edinburgh Trusted Trader Scheme in May 2017, “to grow my business within the Edinburgh domestic market and build my business reputation” as Andrew was primarily working on commercial jobs.
This has clearly been successful as, “due to the amount of work through trusted trader I have had to make applications for credit accounts with many suppliers to keep up with demand.”
Most of the job enquiries come through as email work requests from the Apex Tiling Services’ Trusted Trader page, while a few come through the Trusted Trader consumer line, which is based in South Queensferry.
Having started as an apprentice himself, Andrew is keen to pass on his knowledge to the next generation, and explains that being a member of Trusted Trader has helped him to do exactly that: “Due to the Trusted Trader Scheme my business has grown which will allow me next year to take on another apprentice, having already trained two apprentice tilers that have gone onto start businesses of their own.Membership of the scheme has exceeded my expectations”
Andrew offered his general feedback about the scheme and vetting process. “The Trusted Trader website is professional, easy to use, very good from a trader interface point of view. The options provided within my section of the site including adding photos, page info, downloading logos and requesting vehicle stickers are all very good and easy to use.”
“Membership of the scheme has exceeded my expectations in terms of professionalism, amount of work, ease of control and ability to customise my own trader web page. I thought the vetting process was rigorous and in-depth.”
The scheme has a dedicated admin team to support the traders during the life of their membership, but also to help them through the initial Trading Standards vetting process, which made the process for Andrew “thorough and easy, finding the support team to be very helpful, professional and informative.”
The scheme has met the objectives for Apex Tiling Services, and the search is now on for Andrew’s next apprentice!
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