Understanding your local market can lead to success…
Well, that’s certainly the case for entrepreneur and successful businessman James Kirby who heads up Stirlin Developments, ostensibly a building and site development company based at Skellingthorpe on the outskirts of Lincoln operating a growing fleet of Volvo Construction Equipment products.
The VOICE went along to talk to James Kirby to find out what drives the company’s success which generated a handsome turnover of £3.5M in 2016.
Having left school James started work with the family firm which was involved in selling and fitting kitchens. From there he turned his hand to window fitting and undertook contracts for the local council and then owned and ran an equestrian centre for a couple of years. His break into property development came when he applied, and got approval, for a change of use of the premises turning the centre into light industrial units.
This apparent golden opportunity couldn’t have come at a
worse time, however. It was 2007 and the financial crash had just happened. “I came home that evening, watched the news headlines then switched to Emmerdale pretending it wasn’t happening,” says James. But undaunted, he pushed on and under the auspices of his company Stirlin Developments,
42 THE VOICE MAGAZINE No30 2017
started acquiring and developing mostly brownfield sites the following year. “Understanding the needs of the local property market really paid dividends, especially getting through the financial crisis. Working with local trades people – they supporting us and vice versa – has helped us to nurture a thriving environment for all associated businesses in the locality, which continues to this day.” One such provider is Rickmar Plant Sales Ltd, Volvo CE’s utility dealer covering Lincolnshire and Derbyshire. “We’ve had, and continue to have, a terrific relationship with Ady Brodrick and the team at Rickmar. We like to commit to companies like this who treat us fair and square,” continues James. Stirlin’s first Volvo came in the guise of a five-tonne ECR50D which was delivered in 2014. “Up unto that point we didn’t really own any mobile plant, hiring machines in instead so it was a bit of a leap into the dark owning our own digger! We looked closely at the market place but wanted to aim at the top end and ally Stirlin Developments with a
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