Always be true to yourself, it will get you far.

I left school with poor grades and no idea what I was going to do with my life.

I took the easy option and took on a site labouring job, working for my dad to get me some regular cash, however, it did not turn out to be so easy. It turned out I had an accident every Thursday! I pushed the wheel barrow up the scaffold battens and fell into the skip with the rubble. I hit my hand with a lump hammer, fell off a ladder and the final straw was pushing a live plug pin into an extension lead with my bare hand. Yes, I was the idiot who went for a long stand, went to the butchers for chicken lips, tried to start the Stihl saw manually by running up and down the road. My Dad must have been so embarrassed and he told me to stay at home on a Thursday.

I will never forget the day I was sat on scaffolding in Halifax grinding out mortar on a re-pointing job when a very special person said to me “what are you going to do with your life” I replied, “I’m happy working with you!”

Gary Debenhams’ (RIP) instant response was “sorry pal, your sacked! I’m not going to ruin your life” he said, “get a proper job and make a good life!”. I was gutted and never said a word all the way home. This was the turning point in my life, without even knowing it. Later in life, Gary turned out to be one of my closest friends and I miss him every day.

My parents would not let me take them for a free ride and I still had to pay my ￡20 board, so the only option I had was to get another labouring job, but this time I had to get 2 buses in the dark, on wet, freezing cold mornings. I was asked to help the joiners load the timber onto the scaffolding. I was mesmerised watching them install a traditional lean-to roof structure. This was the point when I realised what I wanted to do as a career, I was going to be a joiner!

I joined LCC Building college for three years on ￡40 a week. I was very fortunate to have been introduced to Mark Drake who taught me to be an old school Joiner, he gave me work every Saturday for ￡30 a day, and I did not take this opportunity for granted, turning up week in week out without fail.

The day came when I qualified, and was introduced to the big scary world of construction. I was lucky enough to land a job working away shop fitting with a team of really good people. They made me work hard, but I had so much fun and boy did I get a taste for drinking after a long 12hr shift.

I had now become confident to stand on my own two feet and decided to chase the money, I wanted to get on the house ladder. Most of my early years were spent working on domestic properties constructing extensions & loft conversions and I quickly became a working foreman, managing all trades.

The domestic background gave me a good foundation for management, this was someone’s home I was working in and by this time I was a home owner, and treat my work place like my own home. I quickly progressed in my career and teamed up with a guy who became my business partner. Richard was much older than me, but as a team we worked well and I was fortunate to learn a lot from his experience. We had a great run and made a big impact in the domestic world and made loads of good contacts, but unfortunately everything comes to an end.

Coming up behind me was my younger brother David, who also decided to be a Joiner, so I took him under my wing and off we went on a new adventure. It had only been a month and I was approached by a man who really changed my life. I was offered a job as a Site Manager working for a commercial contractor. I was unsure about the offer, as I was determined to make a success of my new business. However, I decided to discuss this with my wife, only to be hit with a bomb! My wife was “pregnant”. They say things happen for a reason and taking this opportunity was one of them moments. The 2008 recession started and the domestic market was non-existent. My new role was working on pub fit out schemes and this sector was still going strong and as such I was one of the lucky ones to not be affected by the recession.

There were many trades that I worked with in the domestic world and I managed to get a job, including my younger twin brothers Martin & Darren who became apprentices. This was the point in my career when I returned the favour to the people who looked after me growing up. I was back working with Mr Debenham and without even knowing it, our world had completely changed.

After many years of progressing in my career and managing multi-million-pound projects in construction & refurbishment as a Senior Site Manager, I was promoted to a Contracts Manager, this was another completely different world!

Everyone who knows me personally knows that I am very competitive and always want to be the best, this showed in my job and in my personal sporting career. Every time I got comfortable in a role, I was pushed into a different job role and before I knew it, I was pricing jobs, acting as a QS, and a Senior Contracts Manager.

The reason I was pushed into different roles was because of Rick Firth, he was the big man who mentored me without me even knowing it, and now I look back, it’s unbelievable how much I had progressed in such a short time. I had become part of a team running a ￡10 million turnover business, and I’d also become a mentor to so many other people.

I became proud of myself, I have children, a beautiful wife and was living a life I never expected! My dream was always to run my own successful business, but every time I made future plans there was a twist to how thing were going to change. I was offered a position as a Company Director and was recognised as someone who had potential to take over part of very respected successful company.

Unfortunately, life is not always good, I have had plenty of life changing experiences that will live with me forever, but I experienced the biggest bomb shell ever in 2019, after 13 years of hard work, it had all gone.

However, on reflection I learned a lot about myself and taking time out gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate my life. I had become so work focused I had forgotten about the most important people in my life! My two daughters and the most supportive wife in the world. I realised my next move had to include them, as these girls are my team.

I soon realised that life is all about chapters, and I had so many opportunities due to my hard work, loyalty and dedication. I have decided to take on a new adventure as Director with a new company and a new business partner and I’m very excited to see where life is going to take us.

You don’t need to go to university or be the smartest person in the room. You need to work hard and concentrate on your own goals. My wife always reminds me, everything happens for a reason.

Moral of the story is, never give up, and always give the next generation an opportunity, as it can change someone’s life without them even knowing.