Castleton Timber celebrates first year trading

Castleton Timber founders Iain Fay and Chris Walker

A Rochdale business is celebrating its first full year of trading, in which it has seen its staff headcount double, every financial target surpassed and its premises expanded.

Castleton Timber, based on Astra Industrial Centre, supplies timber, fencing and other building materials to the public and trade, and has seen its business grow exponentially despite the challenges of Covid-19.

Founders Chris Walker and Iain Fay, who have worked in the building and construction industry for over 25 years, launched the business just two months prior to the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The long-term friends invested their own money in the business and were supported by family in setting up their unit in January 2020 before the pandemic hit. 

As other suppliers in the area closed under the national lockdown, Chris and Iain took the decision to remain open as an essential retailer, quickly learning what was needed to operate in a Covid-secure way, and business rocketed as a result.

Almost overnight, their customer base expanded beyond all expectations, with customers coming from as far as the Lake District for building supplies. Supplies were selling out, new lines had to be added, and very quickly, the pair increased their staff headcount to cope with demand.

Chris explained: “It’s hard to explain what we’ve experienced as a new business over the past 12 months. Back in January last year, I’d given up my job and taken a huge risk to set up on our own. We were working every hour to get our unit open, grafting into the night with no lights or utilities at our new premises, using the beams from our car headlights to get the unit stocked. The pandemic hit, which we could never have planned for and we had two options; close, and probably lose the business within months, or find out how to open safely and carry on.”

Iain continued: “I was still in my job when we opened for business on 2 January 2020, so Chris was holding the fort. I came over to spend some time in the unit in March when the pandemic had hit and everywhere else was closed. The unit was as busy as a supermarket – it looked like we’d been looted. I left my job and have been here ever since!”

The business is a true family affair, involving Iain’s son and Chris’ brother delivering orders to customers, and Chris' cousin and nephew working in the shop. Now the business employs ten staff, occupies two units on the industrial estate on which it is based and has two delivery vehicles making deliveries until 9pm six days per week.

Having achieved a modest turnover in the first two months of trading, the business hit over £1.75m in its first year. In the first week of 2021, its turnover matched the first two months of 2020.

Chris commented: “We know that 2020 is an anomaly in more ways than one and our success has been down to a completely extraordinary situation. We’re certain however, that despite the fact that Covid brought many new customers to our door, it’s been our standards, our customer service and our competitive pricing that has kept them coming back.

“Our customers can now shop anywhere but they continue to come back to us. We firmly believe that’s down to thefriendly, honest service we provide and we’re extremely proud of that.”