Client profile: DW Contractors

If you live in London or Oxford, you’ve probably seen one of DW Contractors’ distinctive white and blue vans – but do you know what they actually do?

First Line Support went to find out …

DW Contractors started life as Dexley (named after its founder, David Exley), a small painting and decorating firm based in an Oxford side street. Since 1986, its gone from strength to strength, and now has 125 staff with offices in Oxford and London.

Although the company has grown, the heart of its work is the same, with the focus firmly on social housing for local authorities and housing associations (groups that own and operate housing for people on low incomes).

DW Contractors today

Today, as well as doing painting and decorating work (bringing in over £4 million last year), DW Contractors carries out multi-skilled repairs and refurbishments, which account for the other two-thirds of their £13 million turnover.

‘We do a lot of work on ‘voids’, or vacant houses,’ Steve Dorrell, Operations Director at DW Contractors, told us. ‘You don’t know what you are going to do till you get there, but it’s your job to make it habitable for the next resident – and to do it as well and as quickly as possible. The other big growth area for us is what we call ‘responsive repairs’, where a resident will call up and need something doing. It could be anything from roofing to brickwork – the whole gambit.’

Steve first worked for David Exley as a student, when he helped him paint the John Radcliffe hospital. Some of the ceilings were hard to get to, but fortunately Steve’s passion at the time was rock climbing, so he rigged up his ropes … problem sorted!

Now Steve helps the company with other tricky challenges. Most of DW Contractors’ clients have high standards, and set demanding targets on everything from completion dates to eco-friendly practices. At the same time, with the company providing all the equipment, all the labour and all the project management for each job, the everyday logistics are hugely complex.

And what's coming next?

For the future, the company is hoping to win some key longer-term contracts and is looking into some exciting new developments in ‘green’ technology, in the UK and Europe, which could benefit both their clients and the environment.

When we ask Steve what the secret of DW Contractors’ success is, he doesn’t hesitate: ‘We do a good job, but cheaper. Simple.’