TwoTwenty takes its name from the maximum domestic residential stair rise height (220mm).

The unorthodox name is a good clue for how the company operates and how it seeks to be different in the staircase manufacturing market.

Based at Foston near Derby, the company was started by Ali Wright and Tom Day back in 2004, specialising on staircases for new build homes, conversions and renovations.

It will have an expected turnover of £5.5m this year and the company recently made several senior management appointments, with Scott Peden, TwoTwenty’s general manager, being promoted to the role of managing director and Jason Stain being promoted from sales manager to commercial director.

When TTJ visited the company earlier this year we found boundless enthusiasm, with both directors painting an optimistic picture of future development for TwoTwenty.

Mr Peden described the company as focusing on quality and service, operating a small joinery shop with a large manufacturing capability.

It has 50 staff on two sites – the other at Kirkby Lonsdale, Lancashire was set up in 2006 and is half the size of the main site. The company has seen continued growth and even during the recession business was doubled.

“We increased the sales force in the recession and actually sought new customers,” added Mr Stain, admitting it was a massive risk.

“Ali made a conscious effort when the recession hit to not let any member of staff go because we had the right people.”

When customer Prestoplan, a large scale timber frame manufacturing business which accounted for large volumes of staircases, folded in 2014 it was potentially a problem for its suppliers such as TwoTwenty.

“It caused a few ripples but we made a conscious effort to deal with it,” said Mr Stain.

He added that TwoTwenty was an important supplier of staircases to builders’ merchants and builders.

Mr Peden said the staircase/joinery product industry had a poor reputation for service, but the fact that TwoTwenty takes responsibility for the whole process from on-site measurements and quotations to drawings and final delivery, is very attractive for clients.

It offers a design and build process for the SME builder, which can ease things when specification might change during the build process.

“Full on-site surveys are offered as standard and drawing sign-off is never required,” he said.

The physical visit, he said, was important for accuracy, as 20-30mm “can make all the difference”.

The company identified a 70% sales conversion rate from its site visits, compared to 25% for enquiries into the office.

“Our builders that we deal with like the fact that we come and see them and take responsibility,” he added.

“It’s about simplifying the process to do things that the customer should do but perhaps does not have the time to do it,” added Mr Stain.

“Making it hassle-free for builders or merchants is what we aim to do.”

As ever, speaking to the right contact is key, with Mr Stain saying the person in charge of pricing a job on the site was important and could see added value benefits.

“As soon as you talk to a product buyer they tend to look only at cost and want to drive the price down.”

Builders’ Merchants

TwoTwenty works with all the major merchants – customers include Chandlers and Jewson – and it offers a three-step sales process.

Within three hours of an enquiry being made, the client gets a call and within 24hrs a site measure is arranged to suit the builder and the build process.

“We build relationships with our customers and they tend to use us,” said Mr Peden. “Our customer retention is approximately 73%.” Merchants achieve a margin from the staircase sale.

“But we have a lot more to negotiate with than price. With the relationship, the customer goes back to TwoTwenty, but the merchant will still send the PO number to the merchant. So there is less paperwork and the merchant margin is built in,” he said. As well as bringing control to the process, TwoTwenty prides itself on a two-week lead time, about half the industry standard of four weeks.

It also markets itself for the high specification level of its entry-level products.

Talking Timber

TwoTwenty’s use of timber includes 22mm MR MDF for stair treads, 90mm newel posts and 42mm spindles, the latter being slightly thicker than the industry standard. “We want our products to stand out from the crowd,” said Mr Peden.

It uses FSC-certified radiata pine from New Zealand. It previously used southern yellow pine and hemlock but wanted to make stairs in one species and all FSC-certified. Staircases are also made in oak and other hardwood species, while painted and stained finishes are available.

International Timber supplies the NZ pine and majority of the softwoods. It does have other suppliers as well, but not many as it prefers to work with a small base of timber companies.

“Timber prices are a big issue,” said Mr Peden. “We have to manage and absorb price increases of timber. They are big volumes and it’s going to have a massive impact going forward.”

As a member of the British Woodworking Federation’s Stair Scheme, it applies the scheme sticker on products that conform to the scheme.

Factory Expansion

One of TwoTwenty’s recent developments was expansion of the Foston factory’s offices and creation of additional storage space.

This project was completed three years ahead of its original plans – testimony to the fast growth it has seen in recent years. What’s more, there is further room to expand in the future.

TwoTwenty has also boosted its dust extraction system with an Air Plants installation and has a biomass boiler and Untha shredder to maximise use of its woodwaste. This heats the water for the factory, while the addition of solar panels means the company is effectively carbon neutral.

Excess electricity is sold back to the grid. Machinery includes two Felders, three Masterwood machining centres and an AXYZ CNC router.

In total, TwoTwenty is producing around 100 flights a week, equating to a yearly production of around 5,500 flights.

The products include assembly packs, glueblocks and wedges, with all straight flight sections ready assembled.

Diversifying into other products such as making doors and windows has not been classed as a priority at the moment for the company. Although, Mr Peden did point out that wood window companies often follow TwoTwenty’s lead in their business practices.

The company’s efforts have been recognised – it won Business of the Year in the Burton Mail’s Business Awards 2016, Housebuilder Best Internal/Interior Product Award 2017, Future Manufacturing Awards Regional Winner 2017, plus the BWF Process Efficiency Award in 2017 in recognition of new, efficient processes in the joinery industry, which boost business performance and provide customers with the best possible products at the best price, quality level and delivery time.

Case Studies

A prominent project completed by TwoTwenty was the supply of staircases for the conversion of the former Terry’s Chocolate factory in York to luxury flats by specialist heritage contractor PJ Livesey. The award-winning conversion saw TwoTwenty supply staircases for the entire renovation.

More than 100 flights of stairs were supplied, many situated within the duplex apartments.

This included the communal staircases providing access to each level and to post rooms, bike sheds and refuse areas as well as the staircases within the duplex apartments and penthouse suites.

Another stunning project was at a conversion of a Jacobean farmhouse in North Yorkshire.

As the property is Grade II listed, the homeowners were not allowed to build the extension directly onto the original property.

Instead a new entrance hall was created, with a grand, floating staircase linking the original part of the house with the new.

The “floating” oak and pine design eliminated structural newel posts going to the ground floor, with steel required instead, meaning fitting was very complex and had to be millimetre perfect.