Monday 30 January 2017

Jack of all Trades - Andy Edgar's Journey with A1 Coaches


I’ve always worked as a joiner, having worked for big companies, I’ve been never out of work. My long term collaboration with A1 Coaches started by coincidence:  My brother asked me whether I could check out some repairs needing done at his boss’ kitchen.  At that time, I had been self employed carrying out assignments for a big kitchen fitting company, and I was enjoying some time off, so I just cut short my holiday to see my brother’s boss about these repairs. 



It turned out there were not repairs to be done, rather the upgrading a kitchen.
I immediately felt at ease when talking to my brother’s boss, Colleen. I thought my brother was lucky to have such a nice and young person as a boss, and it soon became apparent that it was awfy easy to work with her when I had to explain the difficult parts of the job and why there would be bits and pieces that had to be changed; she fully trusted my assessment and gave the green light to start the works.


Fitting/upgrading a kitchen is a very straight forward thing, although there’s always the troublesome hidden old pipe or faulty wiring that can hold back the schedule.  Here, however, I never felt any pressure to “hasten up things”, but was encouraged to take the necessary time to achieve the desired results. 

As the works progressed, Colleen seemed satisfied with the results and in the most casual manner we were already talking about future jobs she would like me to have a look at.
Looking back, I was very lucky to have met Colleen as a customer: I easily transitioned from being the-man-in-the-van all over the place from Kilmarnock to Aberdeen, hastily fitting kitchens on schedule, to having a “local customer” who would trust me all kinds of fitting jobs and above all, would allow me to work favouring the quality of the results rather than how long would I take.

And there I was, I was getting jobs locally, no crazy mileages on the van to fit some faraway kitchen, and enjoying a better quality of life, so it landed on me that I could be readily available and keep close contact with this new commercial collaboration if I took my professional driving test. And so I did. Before I knew I was driving for A1 Coaches, enjoying very much the job, with the added advantage of still working on my original trade: I continue to be a joiner.




One of my first projects I am very pleased with was the VIP Bus. Fitting a mobile party bus was a lot of fun!
      

The project I am developing now is the complete renewal of the A1 Coaches offices. We are building a full office block, complete with two floors which will consist of 7 Offices, 2 Training schools, Staff Gym, Toilets, Rest room, Bothie and Locker area.


     


I also obtained my hackney license to allow me to carry out school contracts, as and when required. I find it very rewarding transporting the children back and forward to school.

I am well chuffed with my collaboration with A1 Coaches!


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