MERCHANT FOCUS: ALLTYPE ROOFING SUPPLIES
Romford, the first Group Depot
and it is such on opportunity for the younger generations within the company to learn from them.” Collectively between the original business and the new sister company, Alltype has 12 branches, making them the largest independent roofing merchant in London. The company’s delivery radius is London and the Home Counties, with trade counter customers tending to stick with their branches, because of the relationships they build up, however Bick says that the back-office technology, and account management means that, say, a customer of the Orpington branch who has a job nearer the Dulwich or Southall branch, they will still have access to all the same pricing and account facilities. “There’s no real inter-company rivalry beyond a bit of healthy competition,” he adds, though each branch does have its targets to meet. “We try to put the Customer First ethos at the front of the mind”
Above: Vince Bick, MD John McGough, Simon Haldane SD
who is managing director of the new business has been a real pleasure, he’s obviously so experienced, and it’s been a huge benefit to me personally working alongside him. The same with Nigel, he is so, so knowledgeable. Between Vince Bick, Tony Wright and Nigel Chapman there is a lot of experience and knowledge. Second to none in the industry
Alltype doesn’t arrange direct-to-site deliveries, preferring for all manufacturer deliveries to come into the branch – usually Woolwich, their central London Distribution Hub – and then out to the other branches or to the customers. “Manufacturers are geared up for making products and for R&D. Our skill is in the distribution, in getting the products to site, providing the service to the customer, and, of course, technical knowledge when required,” Bick says.
“Take the work we do with BMI, for June 2024
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
Vince Bick with Lee Huges
example. We are their 2nd biggest customer behind SIG, as we are with Cedral on the fibre cement side, and we’re not a national. They manufacture and get the stuff into us. Everything then comes into stock and goes out again, on our own vehicles. It allows us to control the service levels, especially going into central London, where the delivery windows are so tight and difficult for hauliers to offload and manage.
All our vehicles are FORS Silver, and all the deliveries are tracked, so our customers can track their delivery they know when it has left, they know where it is enroute and they can see an estimated time of delivery. The minute we deliver they get photographic proof of
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