Pasquill has certainly experienced the recovery in the construction sector and the knock-on effect on trussed rafter manufacturers.
After a slow start to 2013 business picked up around May and has carried through into this year. Production is 20-25% up on this time last year and, in fact, these increased volumes have been experienced since last June.
"We were expecting the usual seasonal downturn in December/January but that just hasn’t happened," said Ross Baxter, operations director.
"We’re cautiously optimistic about the market and believe the upturn is sustainable based on the housebuilder forecasts," he continued.
Summer 2013 was a very positive period for the company, which took on additional employees to keep up with demand. More new recruits have now joined and all have been put through Pasquill’s "step-by-step" in-house training by the company’s regional trainers.
A new in-house designer training programme was also set up last year, emphasising the company’s commitment to delivering best practice, and to its belief in the sustainability of the recovery.
"We were playing catch-up with demand last summer but are now keeping ahead," said Mr Baxter. "We get some short lead time orders from merchants, with national housebuilders tending to have longer lead times; these can all now be managed well."
Despite the upturn in production, timber supply has not been an issue, albeit prices continue to rise. "We haven’t experienced any shortages," said Mr Baxter. "We have good relationships with our suppliers and are already looking ahead to our supply for Q3. We can also hold a lot of stock on the ground."
Pasquill’s customer base is based around national housebuilders but the company also targets regional builders and self-builders and says the merchant sector is a growing business area.
"At the end of 2012 we split our design teams up to focus on the various market sectors, which have different requirements and accreditation – such as national housebuilders, merchants and so on – and this has worked really well," said Mr Baxter. "They all operate in very different environments – for example, merchants expect a really quick turnaround.
"You differentiate yourself by the service side of the business – the solution rather than the product," he continued. "You consider ease through the factory and ease on site and you become the supplier of choice by designing for the manufacturing process, for site construction and for safety, creating customer value."
