DISTRIBUTION FOCUS: MARKOVITZ INSULATION & DRYLINING
AN INDEPENDENT HEART
A distributor that understands the needs of independent merchants because that’s where it grew from, Markovitz Insulation & Drylining MD Mike Davies talks to Fiona Russell Horne.
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ometimes you have a hunch that you just have to act on. That’s how managing director Mike Davies felt about setting up Markovitz Insulation & Drylining. A division of Derbyshire-based builders’ merchant M Markovitz Ltd, the Insulation and Drylining distribution arm only began five years ago, yet has grown to 11 branches across the UK, with more to come. Davies says that he had an idea that there was an obvious gap in the North-West for a distributor with the mindset of an independent merchant. “Something I’d been mulling over for a few years came to a head when I had a conversation with Steve Bagshaw, our now national sales director. Steve was looking for a new challenge and had come in to talk about selling insulation through one of our merchant branches. What started out as a planned half- hour chat turned into a four-hour meeting, by the end of which we had devised a one-, two- and three-year business plan. A week later, we had signed off on our first warehouse. Five years later we now operate from 11 distribution centres, with more planned.” Not that it’s all been plain sailing, Davies points out. “We have branches in Portsmouth, Gatwick, Ipswich, Bridgewater, Bedford, Wolverhampton, Chesterfield, Warrington, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow. We even opened five during the Covid lockdowns in 2020. At the point when Covid hit, we had three new premises lined up. Together with David Hopkins, the Markovitz CEO, we decided that, if we didn’t go forward with
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them, we would probably look back and forever regret it. So, we pushed ahead. That was the best thing we ever did.” Now though, some of those branches are reaching capacity. “It’s a nice problem to have, that the smaller depots we did in the early days are outgrowing their spaces. We are now going through a phase of relocating those branches reaching their capacity to much larger premises.”
Looking the part
Davies says “moving the Lichfield business to our new Wolverhampton branch, which opened in June, is an example of the direction the business is moving in. It’s newly built, got masses of capacity and looks the part. It’s a proper distribution depot.”
Growing out of a builder’s merchant background as it did, Davies says that Markovitz Insulation & Drylining has a different feel to more typical distribution businesses. “When we set up our new branches, we make sure that the managers understand the head office function is there for support, integrating them from day one into the fabric of what is still a family-run business. That’s not just talk, we put investment in. Right from the start we make sure there is plenty of stock, and plenty of trucks. In fact, if a new branch manager says they will need three trucks, we’ll give them five. Because we know that the branch is going to grow, or that a truck might be in for service, and we want to ensure that the customer experience doesn’t suffer.”
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net November 2023
The important thing is not to let people down, Davies says, whether that be customers or one of our team. “Every branch has at least one spare truck on the ground. As soon as they start growing into that truck, we’ll get them another one. We never want to stop the business growing by not having the resource to support them. We’ve probably got 10 trucks at head office, just waiting to either open a branch or to support the existing depots on their ever-growing journey.” Davies believes that the flat management structure that’s come across from the merchant side is a real benefit. “We don’t have tiers of management all needing
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