57 | UK Enterprise Awards 2022 ‘Raising the Standard’ is a strong tagline for a company well over 30 years old. The 90s established South Molton Scaffolding Limited (SMS) is far from a relic or product of the previous century, and this article will take a closer at what makes SMS the Best Scaffolding Company for the South West. In a father-son scaffolding business founded in 1990, a humbler beginning would be harder to find. Both coming from backgrounds in both construction and the armed forces, Jamie and Ron Stoneman have built a respected, premium business capable of working across a good swathe of sites – sticking to safety and solid growth principles whilst not losing sight of those family-run mentalities. Though Ron has since retired, Dom Stoneman (Jamie’s son) has stepped into the role of Managing Director with a clear vision in mind: ‘Raising the Standards’, SMS’s now official motto. Jamie says, “I don’t want it to necessarily get any bigger, I just want SMS to be known as the premium company in the area. My main aim is to provide a professional, reliable service at an affordable price. I would rather stick local than travel for the more ‘glamourous’ jobs.” As the years go by, markets and practices change, it can be easy to look around at the competition and think a radical change is in order. Many see a good shake-up and direction change as essential to stay relevant and bring in a new stream of revenue. But the Stoneman’s seem determined to ‘stick to their roots’ as a local business servicing a local community. Dom Stoneman cited a commitment to an increase in quality and maintaining their high standards over chasing after the glamour or forcing growth. A very refreshing quality over quantity approach. Saying that, the company also tackle large projects across the North Devon area. But even after 30+ years, with that local-first mindset, the doesn’t mean business isn’t growing. Boasting a team of 26, half of which work on new build sites whilst the rest are divided amongst larger contracts and other specialist projects (such as factories, water treatment plants and temporary roofs), they now have a purposebuilt unit with its own offices, training centre and enough room for four lorries to unload at the same time. The business has grown exponentially. Dom himself has secured a threeyear contract with both Kaefer and British Gas, supplying a large quantity of jobs in the Devon area for access to new flue installations. With the latter having been built in 2019, these are fairly recent developments. Said developments are even more impressive with the SMS team still thriving, despite the difficulties of the pandemic across the UK and the industry. Lying in stark contrast to their far smaller, humbler roots. The growth for SMS doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon either. They have recently partnered with G-DECK, a provider of safe working platforms and fall safety measures, to start a new safety deck division. SMS has enthusiastically announced G-DECK’s addition as fall protection to many of their commercial projects and seeks to grow this division and partnership in the future. On top of all of that, there are still those ‘familyrun business’ touches. Alongside Dom, Jamie’s other son Zak, his nephew Josh and son-in-law Sammy all work in pivotal roles for the company. But they weren’t handed those positions on a platter, each of them ‘did their time’ so to speak, qualified and working from the bottom up. And despite being a medium-sized company taking on larger contracts, SMS still makes sure to handpick each member of its team to ensure a good fit and high quality. Even Jamie and Dom still get on with the tools and work. The company is very focused on doing a good job up to the highest personal and professional standards. From a company starting with just a pickup truck and a few labourers, South Molton Scaffolding Limited has had an impressive journey so far. Changing and growing with the times but never losing sight of where they came from and what made them successful. Early on, SMS built a reputation as a reliable and affordable company and it has not strayed from Jun22215 Best Scaffolding Company - South West that concept over the decades. Being marked as the Best Scaffolding Company – South West is truly worthy of celebrating. Contact: Dominic Stoneman Company: South Molton Scaffolding Web Address: https://scaffoldhirenorthdevon.co.uk/
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