In 1989, Northwich born Keith Darlington set up his own business, Keith Darlington Electrical. Although initially focussing on domestic customers, as the business gradually grew Keith also began to work with commercial clients such as schools, colleges, universities and local authorities.
Twenty five years later, the company, now known as KDE Ltd, is not only still going strong but has expanded to include plumbing and heating services along with bathroom and kitchen installation, currently employs 45 staff and handles a number of large commercial contracts as well as local businesses and domestic customers.
"I'm very proud to be celebrating 25 years in business, a major achievement which owes a great deal to our dedicated management team and excellent staff," says Managing Director Keith.
"Each year the company has gone from strength to strength, with core growth founded on our original values of providing excellent value for money and top class customer service. We're very grateful to all those customers who have supported us over the years by continuing to use our services and products."
Newly appointed Director Matthew Darlington, Keith's youngest son, joined the company six years ago, having always known he wanted to join the business, which is located in Sutton Weaver on the outskirts of Frodsham. He puts their success down to offering great customer service, communication and after-care, as well as reliability.
"We're a family business, and it's good to see that continued," he says. "It can be a little challenging working with my father, only because he's so focussed and such a perfectionist, and that's the ethos the business is built on."
"Many of our original customers from 25 years ago are still with us, so we must be doing something right! We're proud to say that we have a very low staff turnover, in fact several of our staff have been with us almost since the beginning as I believe we offer great job security. I think our customers like the staff continuity as well."
"We've got a great bunch of employees at the moment," he continues. "We do like to employ local people, but we're interested in employing anyone who meets our exacting standards. Honesty and reliability have always been our watchwords, and the most important thing for me is that is we build on all of my father's groundwork and continue to provide a top quality service."
"We are all very proud of what we've achieved as a business over the last quarter of a century. The success of KDE Ltd has been a real team effort, and we'd like to sincerely thank all of our customers and employees both past and present for their support. We're all looking forward to seeing what the next 25 years will bring."
For more information about KDE Ltd, please visit their website:
www.kde-ltd.co.uk
