Stuart Judge, Commercial Director of Everest Commercial

First Job: HM Royal Navy

When did you join your current company: June 2013

Most useful/favourite gadget: iPhone; this keeps me in touch with what’s going on, doubles as my sat nav and most importantly, it is easy to use!

Favourite/most useful website: Google: it never ceases to amaze me at the sheer volume of information that is out there and available. I keep challenging myself to find a google search that produces a nil result……

Business person you admire: Alan Sugar due to his pragmatic and straightforward approach and outlook, along with the fact that he has created a global business on the back of hard work and determination.

Recommended hotel for business: Premier Inn; a no frills, straightforward and low cost-effective night’s stay that serves a purpose.

Favourite UK restaurant: No particular favourite – customer service is what makes the difference.

Best business decision: To focus the Everest brand into a “Total Service Provision” for the Commercial Glazing sector, servicing multiple product channels.

Other interests: Keen golfer, who likes to cycle alone and with the family.

Working Day: In such a dynamic and growing organisation such as Everest, my day starts at around 6:30am, generally with an early morning meeting or site visit at 8:00am. It is strategically and morally important to understand some of the complexities that our customers’ projects and our operational staff encounter, therefore, a physical presence is key in doing this. It’s also important to keep abreast of the changing face of the commercial glazing market. Thereafter, the day is generally filled with a series of progress, supply chain and customer meetings either in Head Office or locally.

Working Location: The Everest Commercial Division is situated within the main Everest Head Office in Cuffley, a purposely redeveloped building that hosts several hundred staff across multiple disciplines. All Commercial staff are located in the same office meaning that communication is quick and effective, and whilst also able to concisely support the daily on-site activities around the country. I choose to sit in an open plan office very much amongst the daily hub of what is going on and I like feeling part of the process. We adopt an open and approachable policy for effective communications and decision making process.

Trading over the last twelve months has seen a significant upturn, not only in the market but for the Commercial Division, which has already doubled the turnover of 2013. The signs are still positive for the industry and the business, and we are already planning to create a number of new positions under expansion and growth plans between 2015 and 2017. This growth will be underpinned by a very strong and clear marketing initiative, focusing on the business core strength of delivering service around window installation programmes. This, coupled with an expanded product offer to encompass cutting edge structural curtain walling, as well as the already extensive range of timber, PVC-U and aluminum products, sees Everest Commercial well positioned to support its customers.

A challenge

Construction programmes will always be challenging as the industry strives for greater efficiency, and as a business we intend to support not hinder that and are consistently adapting our internal processes to deliver best value and efficiency. As a result of these planned growth activities, it sees us needing to invest further in the core skills and the people that help us deliver our products. Alongside an ever changing and improving industry, fitter qualifications such as MTC approval are where we can add real value to our staff. Our sales staff across the business are directly employed by us and we aim to ensure that we continue to train and develop all our staff to the highest degree so that they live and breathe our objectives. In fact, we’ve just launched our national sales academy, a nationwide hub as a focal point for the company’s commitment to continued professional development. This helps to ensure that their goals are our goals.

We engage fully with our supply chain, which we see as an extension of our core business, operating in conjunction with them to deliver quality and efficiency for all in the process. The Everest brand is synonymous with quality of product and service, and this carries throughout the entire process for our Commercial, Education, Health and Housing customers alike. What sets us apart from the core Everest business is that all our products are bespoke to the property, building or application at hand. We work with customers to develop their ideas into reality by meeting their specifications and develop solutions bespoke to the buildings. The Commercial division plays with complex variables, I don’t think we’ve ever made two windows the same.

High-end development

We are proud of our Everest Elite range – this range is in high-end development, where we add value through products that are difficult to tell apart from timber. There are new products set to launch in 2015 with a keen eye on aesthetic and technical drivers. We are currently in a very competitive marketplace facing a constant battle to work closely with clients and architects to ensure quality of installation whilst waging against the pressure to do it as cheaply as possible. Where we add value is having the financial stability to meet the demands of a complex project. We’ve outlived our guarantee five times over and through our strong assets we can cope with the rigours of a tough market to deliver. And feedback from our customers is testament to this. Everest as a business uses NPS ratings as the metric for customer service and we rank alongside global brands like Starbucks and O2, something we are extremely proud of and our customers, large and small, benefit from.

Our most prolonged and sustained campaign is in education and it’s where we’ve seen success most clearly. The residential sector is where we’re also seeing success flourish. Respecting the customer and the supply chain are key market lessons to learn. For us, it’s not just about putting windows in holes and completing a project – we hold ourselves to account on the time and manner we work with the client, as well as the way the client wants a project to be delivered. We are mindful that our clients have a clear vision of what they want and Everest Commercial tries to engage at every level of the supply chain, taking a consultative approach to the challenge. We’ve taken opportunities in the market and built this division over the last twelve months to double our turnover and we will continue to do this with total service provision. We take on the design, consultancy, planning, logistics, scaffolding, health and safety, installation and warranty in our work – this service is central to the success of Everest Commercial, not just our products.

Sense of satisfaction

My own business goals are quite simple; I want to do a good day’s work and get a sense of satisfaction from the job I do. For me, it’s important that I get the job done on time and well. My aspiration is to continue to grow the business through a strong, credible team of people, all of whom come from a variety of allied sectors. We must have about 150 years of experience between us, which makes for a highly efficient unit. The biggest business decision we’ve made is to take a step away from the core retail business to operate in fundamentally different spaces. We did this by creating an autonomous team and we’ve managed to achieve considerable success through this, whilst still ensuring the two business divisions dovetail harmoniously despite being one legal entity.