Sole trader Dominic Toovey helps clients bypass high-street retailers and still end up with a luxury fitted kitchen – he makes a decent living too. Tim Wallace hears more.
Q: Tell us about the way you work
A: We agree a plan where the client inputs their vision and I ensure it’s achievable and on budget. I don’t tell them what type of design they want and stretch their budget just for the sake of numbers and showroom sales.
The design is a 2-way consultation process. I invite them to research their own products from what we’ve discussed on the brief. They then buy them at base cost so no inflated prices are inflicted on the overall project. This method of ‘self-buy’, with me overseeing everything, means they’re buying the entire kitchen off their own back. That cuts out the huge profit that a high street studio would make if the client was ordering from them. Appliances might cost £5,000-£6,000 but they would be considerably more if you let the retailer take over and basically spend your money.
Q: So your client only pays you for the labour?
A: Yes, I get a copy of the paperwork but it’s not on my books. I don’t have a showroom, just a small factory, so it’s down to photography and using the internet. It’s a lot of work because I’m the salesman, I’m doing the budget, the fitting… I’m wearing all those hats as a one-man-band.
I’m completely different to a showroom. Customers show me high-street quotes that are staggeringly high. They can be horrendous. I don’t know how they get away with it. There’s a joke in the trade that they look at the client’s car on the drive and say, ‘we’re ok here.’
Most people tell me they know they’re being shafted so I tell them to stop and reconsider. I can show them how you can buy everything yourself. I have the experience and I know the pitfalls.
Q: Wouldn’t showrooms argue that they need to cover their overheads and pay staff?
A: Yes, studios are forced in a way to inflate prices and put that chunk on top. But some customers happily assume a kitchen is going to cost them a lot of money and get ready for that. Then I come along and say I can do it for less than £30,000. In the past I’ve lost out on jobs because people think I’m too cheap. Then I wonder if I should put 20K on top but I won’t do that.
Q: Why aren’t you tempted to charge more?
A: I’m not driven by money, and I’m currently booked up to the middle of next year. I’d rather have that than do 5 or 6 kitchens a year for £100,000. That will just increase my tax. I don’t want to hit the VAT threshold.
Q: What’s your background?
A: I’m 55 and I’ve been around fitted furniture since I was 16. I was fortunate enough to work with a cabinet maker and an installer. I had a grounding on German and French kitchens – mainly Rational, Mobalpa and Wellmann – and time at the joiners’ workbench. I’m a sole trader with a base near Banbury in Oxfordshire and another in Staffordshire. I don’t have a website; my work is all through word of mouth other than a few parish magazines. I trade as Provamp Kitchens, Bedrooms & Bathrooms but I also do decking, stonework, even shepherd’s huts.
Q: How much money do you make?
A: I’ll do maybe £50,000-£60,000 turnover a year and that serves me well. That’s labour only because I’m not buying materials. If I take on too much work there’s not enough time to go out and see the customers and make a link. It’s like a hobby to me. I enjoy being on site and producing what the client expects. There’s another joke in the trade that showrooms are the factories and get all the grief and the people making all the money are the fitters.
Q: Where are products sourced from?
A: Hampton Kitchens, based in Sutton Coldfield, produce all the base and wall units. They take the delivery of the doors from PWS, drill them out for the hinges, rewrap them and deliver them. I also use a made-to-measure company called hdoors, which are good if you want to do bespoke wardrobes, and Just Granite in Staffordshire for worktops. I’ve used all these companies for 25 years plus.
Q: And you help convince clients that the quality of the furniture is the same, whether it’s from a studio or sourced more cheaply?
A: Yes, it’s only when I go out with sample units and show it’s MFC or MDF with a wrap and it’s not a solid door that they start to realise what they’re buying. But hopefully they pick up on the pricing and refuse to pay the extra. Because units are all MFC unless you go down the bespoke route with solid timber. I also do that in my little workshop, but nine out of 10 jobs are MFC, chipboard units and while they’re very nice, and different colours, they’re all run of the mill. They’re pretty much the same.
Q: Do showrooms see sole trader installers like you as a threat to their business?
A: I’m not too sure how many guys like me are around. I only know of one other installer like me who is time served. Finding someone confident enough to go in and do this type of work is difficult. There are installers out there who clients choose and they end up in a terrible mess. They don’t always stay within their remit and try to do building work, plumbing and electrics.
Q: Have you worked for any showrooms?
A: Years ago I used to work for all the sheds and Howdens but stopped doing their installations around 2005. I wanted to do my own designs and produce my own portfolio of jobs. I do get showrooms ringing me but I’m always booked up.
