COMMENT
Celebrate good times
T
here are a million and one motivational speakers out there, all coming up with a variation on a theme of making us better at running our businesses. They come in all shapes, sizes, hues and varieties, including a range of qualities, however most usually have an underlying theme: recognise what good looks like in your particular sector and aim to emulate it.
One of the reasons that BMJ launched the BMJ Industry Awards in 2018 was to give us and the rest of the industry another opportunity to hunt out good, recognise it, applaud it, and celebrate it.
Who are the best people to decide what good really looks like in this industry? The people who work in it day-in, day-out, who chose to spend their hard-earned money because of the levels of customer service they receive, or who decide to take on a particular supplier because they know that great customer service can only be given out if it’s received.
This is the only industry awards programme that is voted for by the people who do really understand what good looks like.
This year’s entry window is closing at the end of this month. We have a secure online voting portal, and some kind of security algorithm that ensures all is above board and there’s no cheating. It works out if your Aunty Edith is voting for you 86 times, and it balances things out so that the biggest companies don’t just get all the votes. I don’t know how it works as I zone out every time the geek department try to explain it to me – but it does.
Do you believe that you are the best merchant in your area? Do you know that your landscaping display, your bathroom showroom, your latest marketing campaign, stand head and shoulders
CONTACTS Builders Merchants Journal
Datateam Business Media London Road Maidstone Kent ME15 8LY Tel: 01622 687031
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
EDITORIAL
Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382
frussell-horne@datateam.co.uk
Assistant editor
Will McGill 01622 699185
wmcgill@datateam.co.uk
Production Controller: Nic Mandeville
above those of your competitors? Do you have an apprentice or a trainee that you think should be celebrated? Is there someone in your organisation that is heading for great things - are they a real Rising Star of the sector? Do you believe that your plasterboard/ insulation/cement/landscaping/paint/roof tile/ bathroom suppliers are the bees’ knees? Is there someone there who will go out of their way to get you out of a hole if necessary? Can you think of someone who epitomises all the good things about this amazing sector, who has it running through their blood, their bones, their very soul? If the answer to any of these, or preferably all of them, is Yes, then you need to get yourself to
www.bmjindustryawards.co.uk/enter and put your nominations in before we close the window. The gala lunch, when we will reveal the ultimate winners, is on Friday September 27th, and we are heading back to the art-deco splendour of the Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden. I’m really excited about this year’s event, as we have finally managed to book the lovely Mark Durden-Smith as our host. I have the teeniest schoolgirl crush on him, and, as it’s also my birthday that day, I shall be fairly giddy. There are some amazing merchants and suppliers out there, there are some incredible bathroom showrooms, landscaping displays – I know, I’ve seen them – and some extraordinarily talented individuals. They all deserve to be recognised and celebrated. So come on, enter, vote, book tickets, have fun, celebrate. You know you want to. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
“
There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.
JRR Tolkein
CONTENTS 4 Newsround
The news from around the industry.
8 News Extra The BMF focuses on HR
10 Apprenticeship Special Meeting some of the industry’s apprentices 12 Meet the future
Keyline’s Owen Sutton talks to BMJ about his role.
13 People Who’s moved where, and 10 minutes with…
14 Business Helpdesk The latest advice from the BMF’s business support partners.
17 BMJ INDUSTRY AWARDS 2024
Nominations close at the end of April 18 Viewpoint
Our regular and guest columnists. 21 IBC Focus
A special extended feature about the IBC merchant buying group
32 IT Latest developments with IT suppliers
33 Rainwater Management Climate change means having to deal with more of the wet stuff.
38 Heavyside
A new twist on click-and-collect 40 Timber
ADVERTISING
Group Sales Manager: Dawn Tucker 01622 699148 07934 731232
dtucker@datateam.co.uk
Media Account Executive Morgan Borthwick-Hunter mborthwick-hunter@datateam.
co.uk
01622 699126
Publisher: Paul Ryder
pryder@datateam.co.uk © Datateam Business Media Ltd 2024
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.
CIRCULATION
ABC audited average circulation
July 2018-June 2019: 7,801 SUBSCRIPTIONS
UK 1 year: £97 UK, 2 years: £164 Outside UK: one year £113/$204; two years: £196/$353
Can your stock cope with decking season?
42 BMF Industry Voice News and views from the BMF’s own pages. 44 Product News
Latest products and developments from suppliers.
46 And Finally News and the Prize Crossword.
SUPPLEMENT TRAILBLAZERS 2024 Who’s Who in Merchanting 2024
April 2024
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3 ”
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