Name of Business: Reestore Heating & Plumbing Services

Location: South Shields

Line of Business: Domestic central heating and gas appliances, service, installation and repair.

Director(s): Michael Rees

Where did you go for business advice?
TEDCO's Building up Business team

How did you decide which line of business to enter?
Past experience and working knowledge; I got my first taste of plumbing helping a family friend in the plumbing trade whilst I finished my education so that I could join the RAF as an electronics technician at eighteen. After leaving the RAF, I concentrated on my knowledge of electronics and worked as a resident engineer for Black & Decker. However, I wanted to start my own business and knew that there was a shortage of CORGI qualified central heating engineers in the area.  I knew I could enjoy this type of work and decided to leave Black & Decker and retrain as a CORGI registered gas engineer.

How did you come up with the company name?
REEStore, is a slant on my surname and the logo is the runic symbol for M for Michael.

What’s the best thing about running your own business?
I can choose my own workload. I can take pride in a job well done and gain satisfaction from providing a top quality professional service in a time when we hear of a lot of cowboy firms exploiting people.  It’s great when a customer recommends us to other people and lets us know that they appreciate the work we have done.

What is the worst thing about running your own business?
The time I need to put into the business, which takes me away from my family and the uncertainty of doing something I have never tried before, i.e. book – keeping and marketing.

What advice would you give to anyone starting out?
Do your homework, ask advice and listen to the replies!  Contact a lot of different people; we found TEDCO very knowledgeable, they gave us very good advice and support. We know that if we have a question or problem, even 6 months down the line, we can still ask TEDCO and they are more than pleased to help us. We also found the Inland Revenue and our bank helpful.