Summary
• Frame UK switched to NatWest as its previous bank was not proactive enough.
• The timber frame company has invested heavily in automation and closed panel production.
• NatWest has helped finance capital investment.
• Frame UK consults its dedicated relationship manager at the bank on a range of issues.
Recent relations between the financial sector and much of the rest of the UK business community have been strained. The banks’ previous lending policies took a lot of the blame for triggering the downturn in the first place and, having tightened credit since, they’re now accused of not supporting companies through the slump. The bond between Frame UK and its bank NatWest, however, seems as strong as ever, to the extent that the timber frame producer has just starred in one of the latter’s TV commercials. In today’s business and banking environment the secret of such a successful marriage is clearly worth investigating.
Going back to the beginning, Frame UK launched in 1974 to supply house kits to self-builders. Since then it has become one of the leading players in the UK timber frame industry and diversified significantly.
“We also now undertake private housing, hotels, hospital buildings, student accommodation and holiday lodges,” said financial director Rob Smith. “We’re very active in social housing too, which has stood us in good stead in the recession.”
In line with the development of its nationwide customer base, Frame UK’s production facilities have also been transformed. Its 100,000ft² Redruth plant, which is additionally home to sister truss rafter manufacturing operation Perran, has become highly automated, featuring state-of-the-art technology from Randek, Hundegger, AV Birch and MiTek. With a timber frame workforce of just 80, it can now turn out a 1,000ft² “basic house” every 35-45 minutes.
Besides pioneering automated production, Frame UK also maintains it was ahead of the curve in this country in moving into volume closed panel production, where wall, floor and roof sections are prefabricated in the factory, as opposed to open panel where basic frames are finished on site.
Given the UK’s push for sustainable construction, Mr Smith is confident that timber frame is set to take ever-greater market share here and, within that, feels closed panel will become the main approach thanks to its “superior insulation, air tightness and overall quality”. “And we’re now moving further in this direction with a new line for factory-fitting internal and external cladding, complete with windows,” he said.
Frame UK’s strategic move into closed panel coincided with the start of its relationship with NatWest. In fact, the two were connected, the company concluding that the service from its previous bank did not offer the flexibility and dynamism needed for its increasingly bold development plans.
“We’d been with them 30 years and just didn’t think they were proactive enough, so we held a bank beauty parade,” said Mr Smith. “NatWest ticked all the boxes in terms of service and the effort they put in to understanding our business and ambitions.”
The key link with the bank is Frame UK’s dedicated relationship manager Geraint Elvans who, said Mr Smith, has become closely involved with the company, without being intrusive.
“We’re not overburdened with constant financial reporting, but he’s always available for advice, whether it’s on investment in plant, buying land for expansion, or other finance issues like pensions,” said Mr Smith. “We also bounce ideas off the bank and discuss general topics, such as the economic outlook.”
“We’ve listened to businesses and what they want, as well as fair lending decisions, its access to expert advice,” said Mr Elvans. “We’ve also responded to this with a free business phone and email hotline open to customers and non-customers.”
Where more in-depth consultation is needed, Mr Elvans visits Frame UK. “It’s usually within a couple of days of us making contact, sooner if it’s more urgent,” said Mr Smith. “
NatWest, he added, is also “very proactive” in highlighting new services, “although without any pressure on us to take them up”. Among these, said Mr Elvans, is a new “guaranteed overdraft and price promise“ which ensures “90% of small business overdrafts are renewed at the same or a lower margin”.
Frame UK prides itself on its record of buying new machinery outright, but it uses NatWest’s financing services too, which it describes as flexible and competitive. “In fact, they’ve just financed our latest purchase, a second Hundegger [automated joinery machine] costing nearly £200,000,” said Mr Smith.
“We now also offer a ‘practical guide to cash flow and finance’ to help businesses secure finance and speed up applications,” added Mr Elvans.
Overall, said Mr Smith, Frame UK “couldn’t fault” NatWest’s service, which is why it consented to it filming the business banking commercial at Redruth. The theme was a “day in the life” of the company and the end result was clearly designed to show a modern, busy, hi-tech business thriving with the support of its bank. But it’s also turned out to be another bonus for Frame UK from tying the knot with NatWest. In its initial run it appeared during The X Factor, which had an audience of over eight million, providing enormous exposure.
“And while it’s no longer peak time, the advert is still generating interest,” said Mr Smith. “I’ve just had a call from someone who saw it on Sky Sports in Tenerife.”
