60-Second Interview: Steve Hiscock from Harris & Hiscock Ltd.
Quick fire questions with Steve Hiscock
Name: Steve Hiscock
Age: 53
Company: Harris & Hiscock Ltd
Job Title: Managing Director
How did you get into the flooring industry?
It’s a slightly unconventional route into the trade. Whereas many pick up the tools when they leave school, I actually started out at Barclays Bank and at just 19-years-old, I was the youngest branch supervisor in the country. I later went on to work for Whitbread, managing pubs.
Perhaps slightly more conventionally in the trade, my father Robert (Bob, as he was known) had his own business, and I went to work for him when it was enjoying growth and needed more manpower. Ten years later, he was retiring, and I took over – that was 20 years ago. Now, we’ve got 23 full-time employees and business is booming.
What’s been the biggest change in the industry over the years?
When I first started out, we were doing a lot of jobs in hotels and hospitality, and back then we’d be given four weeks to do a pub. Now it’s ten days. The time pressures to get jobs done, clients’ expectations and what can be achieved in certain timeframes has changed considerably. It’s understandable that they don’t want to be closed for longer than needed, but it’s a challenge having so many trades on site at the same time, working on top of one another.
Looking forward, what do you think will be the biggest change in the next ten years?
Finding skilled labour is a challenge that I think all contractors reading this will recognise. I’d say the younger generations aren’t as keen on manual work and instead want to work on computers – maybe not even in an office.
With the rise of social media, youngsters think they can earn a lot of money working on their phones in their front room. Clearly, this works for some and there is a business model there, but the ‘influencer’ market is competitive, and I don’t think it’s as easy as they make it look.
Here, we take on trainees and teach them from scratch, and we’re pleased to be doing our bit to support the trade – someone’s got to!
What’s the best job you’ve been on?
Ascot Racecourse is one of our prestigious clients. My team really enjoys working there, and I really enjoy working with them too. They understand the need to give us the time to get jobs done and done well, so if we say it’s ten days we need, they give us ten days uninterrupted. It’s a nice environment in which to deliver a good job and I’m always proud of what we do there.
What’s the worst?
We’ve had a few domestic and residential projects which haven’t been the prettiest of environments to work in – places like hotels with live-in staff are always a challenge.
Do you have a go-to product for certain jobs?
Our company is built on reputation, and our business principle is we do what we say we’re going to do, when we say we’re going to do it. Everyone knows it’s all about delivering results, on time.
So, we need products that back that up, and F. Ball products do what they say on the tub (or sack). They’re reliable and we never have any problems. We always use the products and will continue to do so for those reasons.
What do you like best about the job?
I like it all, really. I enjoy the variety and the fact that’s it’s not always office based. Meeting people is a pleasure. The sense of reward you get from seeing something that’s dated and in need of refurbishment and then delivering a top result that people say looks really smart. It gives me a sense of pride.
What is your least favourite thing?
There’s nothing I don’t enjoy; I’m never not happy to come into work. The only thing I would say is the frustration we sometimes face in awaiting outstanding payments. Fortunately, it’s not something we’re up against too often.