Blackwell Heating marks its 20th anniversary

I always remember a former Editor recommending that I use a local phone number when I started working for myself, rather than my mobile. People appreciate knowing that you are locally based - an investor in the town rather than an outsider trying to seem regional.

A good example of that is one of the best-known heating firms on my patch.

Blackwell Heating has spent 20 years at the heart of the town and made the decision from Day One that the name would be straightforwardly proud – owners Andy and Claire Thomas have lived in the Blackwell area - the gateway to the town from Scotch Corner - for more than two decades and wanted to fly the flag for all it meant to them.

At their shop and offices on High Northgate in Darlington, just a few minutes from the new Hopetown railway venue, Claire tells me that the business began because the couple saw something missing from the region’s plumbing and heating offering.

“Andy had worked for bigger companies on larger scale pipework and water treatment sites and recognised that the domestic side of the sector needed a bit of that personal aspect we could bring to it,” she said in her office above the shop.

“He had always prided himself on the professionalism that he and his colleagues brought to the job working with the bigger businesses, and he wanted to continue those standards but with people in their own homes.

“It was around the time when there were rogue traders and the like on TV programmes and we wanted to show that not everybody works like that – some people are honest and decent and just want to earn a living getting jobs done well for customers down the road.”

Starting a new business in any town has its challenges, but Andy had built up a good reputation and word soon started getting out that he and his growing team were available for heating, bathrooms, kitchens and plumbing work for businesses and homeowners across the Darlington, Durham and Teesside area.

“There were tough times, of course, but we knew that this was the right place to do it and that if we stuck to our beliefs and started to build those five-star reviews, then Blackwell Heating would grow really quickly. There wasn't so much social media back then, so it was literally word of mouth that led to us needing another engineer to share the workload, then Andy needed to bring in somebody else to help him and the business started to fill that gap in the town that we had identified all those years ago.”

Today the company undertakes everything from fire and fireplace installation to plumbing repairs, boiler installations and maintenance, a full repair service encompassing gas, oil and LPG central heating systems and boilers, and kitchen and bathroom projects starting at the design stage and covering the full installation process.

That amount of work needs resources, so the firm now has 22 staff, and both Andy and Claire discovered some time ago that growing a team who share a vision is one of the great joys of running your own business.

“There’s no better feeling,” says Claire.

“When we get apprentices at school-leaver age and Andy can train them and watch them become qualified engineers – that’s a really rewarding part of what we do.

“But then we also have time-served engineers that start with us and there is nothing much more to teach them on the skills front, but Andy always says ‘I just like to put a bit of finesse into it’, so he will pass on to them the pride in the job that he has always had and the attention to detail that turns four stars into five.

“It's not the fact that the heating system would run any differently if the paintwork wasn't quite so tidy, but you are in someone’s house, so we want to respect that privilege and let them know they can trust us so they are happy to invite us back.

“We find that people who initially know us on a smaller scale because we’ve done a service or fixed the tap or toilet will then ring us back for the bigger job where we're maybe with them for two or three days and they let us in and out of their homes because we’re from Blackwell Heating. The bond is soon there and we’ll never stop being proud of that.”

Andy as MD and Claire as Company Secretary clearly have priorities in how they run their business and they want to keep developing it, but always staying in sight of those founding principles of trust and skill.

They are determined to keep offering a personal service no matter what renewable technologies change their industry. If there is a more efficient way of doing something vital like heating a house then Andy and his team will already be ahead of the game whether that is with ground-source heat pumps, solar or hydrogen-ready boilers.

That sort of tech is changing all the time and in two or three years time there may be something we haven’t even head of yet but you can trust Blackwell Heating to be the ones who will be telling us about it and recommending the best way forward.

That level of service is also recognised within the industry with one of the year’s big events - the tenth anniversary of the North East Energy Efficiency Awards – leading to THREE successes for the Blackwell Heating team, with Andy being Commended in the Vulnerable Customer Support and Business Development Manager categories and then Highly Commended for the Installer and Contractor title.

Claire tells me: “We were just so pleased to be nominated, and then two or three days before the award night we saw how many people were actually in each category – including national names who were alongside us - so we thought ‘oh well, at least we’ll get a night out and have a meal….’ “But then when your name gets called it is really quite touching. Obviously, the installer of the year one was massive just because it’s a great title to be part of, but I think the one that we were both really pleased with was the Vulnerable Customer Support.

“That meant so much to us because no matter what the business has been through we have always tried to look after our customers and make sure they have everything they need - and if that sometimes means going beyond our working day, that’s fine with us.

“We've got so many customers that have relied on us and we've helped them out for no other reason than we just had a place in our heart for them.

“I remember so fondly one lady who called on us for everything. She was absolutely terrified of men as a result of trauma she had been through but she needed a boiler repair. Bless her, she was petrified and on medication so wasn't the easiest person to deal with in the beginning. But I tried to put her mind at rest straight away and she soon started to relax and trust us and from then on, it was a matter of whatever she needed she rang us - from putting handles on a new set of pans to sorting out phone chargers.

“Andy would also go and pick shopping up when she was really poorly because he has a bit of a soft spot for people that have been through some big challenges in their lives and just want something to go right.

“So, yes, it was very nice that the judges at the awards recognised that we have been going the extra mile for our customers.”

This is a business built on a determination to serve and look after its customers. There is no hiding place with a name like that – everyone knows it and where it is and Andy and Claire wouldn’t have it any other way.

“One of the guiding principles here is that we only supply products that we would happily use in our own home,” said Claire.

“So if Andy or I feel that something is not of a certain quality or to our usual standard, then we're not going to fit it in anybody else's house. Everyone has a budget for different jobs and we can always give you a price at the lower end of what you might have been expecting, but that doesn't mean that it's going to compromise on quality.

“We’ve worked hard for 20 years to build a business that people trust so that when that van pulls up outside their house or office they know the problem is already being looked after.”