h&b Group has welcomed the rapidly growing, Berkshire-based FORT Builders’ Merchant into its ranks.
Formed just before ethe start of the pandemic, the business has grown for a standing start in January 2020 with one, truck, one van and seven members of staff to a substantial operation with four trucks, three vans and twenty-four staff. Headquartered near the Membury Services on the M4 and operating from the site of a former WWII US Air Force base that was itself built on the location of the Iron Age hill fort that gives the business its name, FORT Builders’ Merchant delivers to customers across Berkshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire.
Following its impressive growth over the last couple of years, FORT states it is now looking forward to the buying deals and other services that h&b offers. Director Tim Gelardi said: “In the past few years we have had two members of staff employed full-time in sourcing materials, fighting for stock and battling for the best prices, instead of actively selling and servicing our customers. Joining h&b has given us a place at the top table, with grown up deals for a grown up business – great prices and access to the best products and brands in the business.
“That means we can now compete effectively on price as well as the service we have become known for.”
Like all h&b members, FORT is “truly independent” and its team prides itself on offering a first class service to customers. As well as knowledgeable, well-trained staff, the firm says it aims to provide customers with innovative products and services that differentiate it from its competition. For example, a full estimating service that takes architects drawings and translates them into a serviceable bill of quantities is said to have proved extremely successful, while products such as bespoke staircases and copper guttering are successfully “attracting retail customers into the FORT branch at Membury”.
h&b has sales in excess of £1bn a year through its growing membership of independent builders’ merchants, and says it offers its merchant members “a real opportunity to improve profitability and grow market share by being part of the most progressive buying group in the UK”.
