A Year In Review
As we turn 3 years old this first week of January, FORT’s third year of trading wouldn’t have been the success that it was without the support of our customers old and new, and our supplier partners. We battled supply issues, added new members of staff, grew our delivery fleet, moved into Unit B, opened our roofing yard and joined a new buying group, and that was just the start! Remember the scorching heat of August? And the torrential rain of November? Fun times!
A lot happened in these last 12 months, but here are some of the highlights and stats from 2022, many of which you’ll probably have contributed to!
2,943 Special Orders Completed
From sewage treatment tanks and bent steels to meet a schedule, through rainwater harvesters, block and beam flooring, dry-stone walling, oak porches, special bricks, Siberian Larch cladding, special machined joinery, fencing, Posi joists, glulam beams, roof tiles, windows and bi-folds, roof trusses and cast iron guttering, the chances are that in 2022 we supplied pretty much every part of a house! If there’s anything that you need that's out of the ordinary, even just to talk it through, then the team are on hand to support and help wherever they can. As the saying goes: #INeverFORTTheyDidThat
5 New Colleagues
We were delighted to add Ash, Chelsea, Mathieu, Mel and Tyler to the team in 2022. They all come with fantastic attitudes, an eagerness to learn and exceed expectations and a desire to deliver the very best customer service to all. They also make a cracking vocal harmony group! Unfortunately no photo of Mel, but the other four are below:
The team togetherness is crucial to the way that we operate, and acting like a big family is a big part of that. In 2022 we went to Barbury Shooting School to test our aim, and also went tenpin bowling where I’m pleased to report no clay pigeons or pins were harmed!
12+ Community Ventures & Sports Supported
FORT was proud to support various good causes and local sports and community ventures in 2022. The headlines go to the flashy sporting sponsorships such as Kyle Howarth speedway (who keeps FORT close, with our logo just in front of his upper thigh…) and Spring Note (the racehorse trained in Lambourn who won her first ever race and a strong second place in her second), but we also support Kintbury Rangers FC, Burbage & Easton Royal CC and (most prestigiously of all!) the Aldbourne Carnival Giant Sack Race 2022!
In addition to the sports and carnivals, FORT has been very proudly supporting good causes such as the Lambourn Junction food bank and the fantastic work that they do, as well as 4Legs Radio and their on-going fundraising work in the Lambourn Valley.
FORT also supported the delivery of much-needed aid to Ukraine as part of the Wootton Rivers Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine venture, with two missions successfully completed in April and October, and also contributed to the redevelopment of the Busykids nursery in Bromham as part of a team of charitable volunteers.
The World Cup 2022 Sweepstake raised money for Wiltshire Air Ambulance, while we also raised money for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal in November, and who could forget the money raised by growing those awful moustaches in aid of Movember!
157 Brick Matches
FORT’s site visit and brick matching service was used more than ever in 2022, with customers wanting to get the right brick for their job.
2 New Trucks
We finished 2022 with five 26t HGVs (and a trailer!) and three vans in operation, meaning that we could deliver as far as Norwich and Exeter!
93 Estimating Service Jobs Done
The FORT Estimating Service has helped a lot of builders and self-builders in 2022.
Getting a quantified estimate for labour and materials of a project, with your FORT prices for stock lines and with special order items quoted for, it’s popular with builders from tender to completion.
1 New Website!
In the summer we launched our new website, allowing customers to order goods, pay invoices, and check their prices live, as well as a load of bells and whistles such as a My Quote Builder and My Job File Manager. More to come in 2023, too!
Now that customers can check their prices, they also have the ability to see whether FORT have it on the ground live. Once you have opened your account with FORT, just log in and discover all the great benefits included!
If you’ve not already checked it out, have a look, log in and see how it can make dealing with and keeping up to date with FORT even easier!