When it comes to bathroom designers and fitters you really are spoilt for choice. With big brands and one-man-bands and then everything in between, you can pretty much guarantee finding a bathroom and someone to suit you.

But why should you choose a smaller company over a large national corporate? Surely you have more quality and a better chance of a good deal and getting your bathroom finished on time with a large company? There are more guarantees with a large company, aren’t there?

Well, not always. With recent news that Tesco are pulling out of the deal with Mark II, allegedly causing over 200 job losses, you could be forgiven for doubting the bigger chains and how much is guaranteed.

Tesco (not known for their bathrooms expertise but more their love of groceries) teamed up with Mark II in 2008. Mark II are a large distributor and have warehousing and expertise. They were a good partner for Tesco and enabled them to offer bathrooms at a good price and also to deliver on the promise.

But then it all changed. Tesco pulled out and now there are many, many unhappy customers with incomplete orders and lost money.

Still think the bigger chains are a safe bet?

 

Why should you choose a smaller bathroom company? (Because every little helps you)

We’re not small… but we’re not too big that we don’t care, either. We like to know everything about everything with our bathrooms and that’s important. Growing into a huge national business is great for the business… but not as good for you, the customer.

 

Why is a smaller company better for you and your bathroom?

A company of our size is large enough to avoid the problems of really small companys, like lack of staff or buying power. Over the last 20-ish years we’ve completed between 110 and 150 bathrooms each year – that gives us a lot of experience and knowledge of how to help our customers.

Larger companies can become impersonal. They simply can’t manage every bathroom fitting with the care and attention that we can. It’s totally understandable but it’s not really an acceptable offering for you or your new bathroom.

 

What guaranties do small bathroom companies have over large chains?

Great marketing and brand awareness makes us think that many of the huge corporates offer more security and a better service.

McDonalds are a large chain but do they give you the same service and quality fast food as your local sandwich shop? We’ll bet they don’t. The reason is that the main person – the owner – the company director, isn’t involved with your lunch like they are at the local sandwich shop.

A more personal service is what a company like us can offer. Our staff generally don’t leave so we’ve worked with each other for a long time. That’s extremely important in any business and you’ll find that with many smaller businesses more than with the larger ones.

 

What’s in it for you? Why would you go small over a big well-known brand?

We sell what we want to sell.

This means we don’t stock items, bathrooms, furniture or bathroom suites that don’t meet our standards.

We’re not a franchise so we’re not under license to sell any particular manufacturers. We choose the best bathrooms and we only sell what we’d have in our own bathrooms.

That’s not to say that all large companies sell tat. Just that they are under obligation (thanks to multi-million pound deals) to sell all the range from one supplier. Even the best manufacturers make the odd duff suite or poorly designed cabinet.

 

Why don’t we think that Tesco and Mark II was a good choice anyway?!

If you were unfortunate to make the leap into a Tesco bathroom and are now looking for compensation then we’re truly sorry. We don’t have much experience with either Mark II or Tesco directly (although we like the offers on their wine).

But we know that a large national company tends to be inflexible. Their fitters will all be subcontractors so you don’t know who you’ll be getting and what their standards will be like. And they’ll lack the community team spirit that a bathroom company like us will have.

When you’re buying a car you won’t need this. You’ll need a strong group of international companies working tirelessly on every aspect. But when you’re dealing with your home and employing workmen in it – it’s a whole different ball game.

We can’t see how these types of companies will have as much control of the fitting teams like a smaller company would. It’s back to the McDonald’s argument. Is Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald’s as we know it) in full control of the Saturday kid in your local restaurant? We doubt that very much.

More or less all of the fitters that work for us have worked in the houses of the Alan and Gary Heath. If we didn’t trust them in our own houses then we wouldn’t trust them in yours.

 

We firmly believe that we’re better placed to give you the bathroom that you dream of. We do it for ourselves so why not for you?

 

To speak to us about creating your dream bathroom, call Alan Heath and Sons on 02476 691 469 .