BT Preservation – History
The author in his day job running Brick-Tie Preservation
BT Preservation is one of the trading names of my company, Brick-Tie Limited. I started Brick-Tie limited with my Dad and Brother back in 1986. Brick-Tie limited was to be the wall tie corrosion subsidiary of our family damp proofing firm, Yorkshire Dampcourse and Woodwork co limited. BT Preservation trades to this day, from Unit 10, Lancaster Close, Sherburn in elmet, Leeds, LS25 6NS, as does Brick-Tie Limited of course.
Okay, so why the name BT Preservation and not just Brick-Tie? Well, that’s because Brick-Tie Ltd has a name and reputation for its core business, which is wall tie replacement and structural repairs. That name doesn’t conjurer up an idea of damp proofing or timber treatment. It didn’t need to for the first few years of Brick-Tie’s life, because in 1991 I helped my Dad sell Yorkshire Dampcourse, as he had to retire through ill health. I took on sole charge of Brick-Tie Limited as it became independent.
The new owners of Yorkshire Dampcourse naturally asked for a commitment from me, not to carry out damp proofing and timber treatment work through Brick-Tie for at least two years. A it happens I waited for three years before launching Brick-Tie Limited’s damp proofing, timber treatment and basement waterproofing section – BT Preservation.
BT Preservation was inevitable because I’d been working in the damp proofing and timber treatment business since back in 1976 when I joined my Dad’s firm. There were so many surveyors, engineers, architects, builders and domestic clients asking me for help with dry rot and damp that well, I had to do it.
However by 1994 Brick-Tie Limited was already 8 years old. It had a strong brand and was very well known across Yorkshire and northern England, for wall tie replacement and structural repairs. Should I change it’s name? No way! So I decided that we’d just have two trading names; one for those clients looking for wall tie and structural repairs and another for those wanting help with damp, woodworm, dry rot and such. BT preservation was chosen simply because the initials spelled Brick-Tie.
There was another issue. A legacy of Brick-Tie’s past was that it still had a number of franshisees operating as licensed traders in the wall tie business. Some of these were better than others and all wanted to carry out damp proofing too. Some were allowed to do this using the BT Preservation name, however they were allowed only on the provision that they attended more training and obtained their (CRDS and CTIS). Despite my good intentions it was clear, that really, franchising damp proofing is not a good idea. There are just too many things to learn and we started to lose control of quality and service via franchisees.
BT Preservation takes off
Brick-Tie Limited is the owner of the BT Preservation name and are Which? Trusted traders
I decided to halt franchise operations, apart from the excellent franchisee. my good friend Mike Goldsmith, who with his star surveyor of that time (Phil Longden), were already doing well. As time passed Mike was thinking about what’s known as succession. Phil Longeden took over a now independent firm – BAR Group and has gone on from strength to strength since then.
With the entire business now free of any franchisees, I commenced further work to make the company really stand out. The BT Preservation name was kept for the extablished web addresses, but seemed to tie us to the franchisee days. Hence quietly, we modified the name to Brick-Tie Preservation, which is more accurate and it saves people ringing us for help with their phone lines.
Name changing -isn’t that a bit dodgy?
BT Preservation are award winning members of the Property Care Association
What is dodgy is changing the company behind the name and keeping the name. That is known as ‘phoenixing’. It is a method used by companies, when they restructure or get into trouble. If they wish to keep the goodwill they stored up when they were trading, they may try to use the ‘old’ name with ther ‘new’ company. I don’t want to be negative about this because in life people can fail for valid reasons. However, the system is open to abuse and there are serial phoenix merchents out there. They use the same or similar trading name for years and years, giving the impression of being the same firm, when in fact they have gone bust many times. It’s not too bad if they have looked after those who they owed liabilities to, but many use it as a way of avoiding liabilities. These may be financial debts or, in our industry guarantee liabilities.
BT Preservation, Deepshield (another of my trading names – for waterproofing this time), and Brick-Tie limited are all the trading names of Brick-Tie Limited. It’s company number is 2046775. That is the same company number the business started out with way back in 1986. The names can change and be ‘tweaked’ as our customer base and breadth of services grow, but the company is the same. Reliable, solid and ethical.
For further information about BT Preservation, Deepshield or Brick-Tie call me personally at Brick-Tie Limited on 0113 232 8433
Bryan Hindle CSRT CSSW AIOSH
Managing Director of Brick-Tie Limited T/A Brick-Tie, Brick-Tie Preservation, Deepshield and formerly BT Preservation.
company number 2046775 – established 1986.
http://www.bricktie.co.uk