Alex Juggins puts the questions to a man with a varied career in the trade who, rumour has it, is pretty handy behind the wheel of a car.
How did you come to be involved in the heating and plumbing industry and what attracted you to it?
After leaving school I began working as a trainee manager in a hotel but I was not enjoying the weekend work. I stumbled across an advert in my local paper for a branch trainee role at a merchant. I applied for the role and I was delighted when I got it; it was from there that my entry into the exciting world of plumbing and heating began.
Have you noticed any changes in the industry over the last 12 months?
There have been continuous changes in the industry for a number of years; the recession hit the industry hard and businesses are constantly having to evolve and optimise processes just to survive. We began to climb out of the reccession and the incentive schemes really assisted in helping people to be positive and start to rebuild.
Unfortunately, there are so many changes on a regular basis to the renewable incentive schemes that they are having a huge impact and the Government appears not to realise the damage they are doing to small and medium sized business. People are investing in being able to deliver the renewable schemes only for them to be removed six months later at short notice, leaving people without jobs and business struggling to survive.
Where do you think the industry is going?
I hope that it will get back to the buoyant days when there was a real buzz and a family feel in the industry. The industry is being forced down the renewables route, which brings with it an inevitable change. There is still a huge amount of education needed in respect of the general public, to help them better understand the technologies available to them and their benefits and savings.
Tell us about your career as a racing driver?
I had been a fan of the sport for many years. I never thought I would ever be able to race until a chance meeting via social media led me to meet a like-minded person who wanted to build a race car. From there, I set about raising the funds to build and run a car and eventually we bought a 1996 VW Golf and turned it into a race car that was finished at 3am on the morning of my first ever race (I qualified 3rd in class).
From there, I gained my entry into motorsport and have started to climb the racing ladder. In 2015, I competed in the Power Maxed MINI Challenge. My approach to sponsorship is different to the usual one in that I try to offer my partners business support or introduce business deals that allow me to show the physical pound note return on their investment, and the exposure becomes an additional bonus.
My ‘Twitter to track’ story has really started to gain momentum and in 2014 I appeared with Mark Webber and Dario Franchitti on the Goodwood Festival of Speed highlights program. I am close to agreeing a fully-funded drive in Europe but I am also looking to enter into GTs alongside this commitment. I am therefore on the lookout for brands to partner with me for a season in GTs – they will benefit from my industry and business knowledge, whilst being able to offer some great client incentives and share in my success.
For more information, contact Clayton directly on 07738 303289 or at [email protected]. Check out his website at www.claytonkingman.com
