Yorkshire-based independent builders’ merchant Woods of Hornsea has become the latest recruit to the h&b Development Group.
Woods of Hornsea is a single branch mixed merchant based in the Yorkshire coastal town of Hornsea, run by husband and wife team Nick and Mandy Tudor. The Tudors took over Woods in 2016 when it was a DIY / hardware store with four employees and have grown the business to a £2million turnover success with thirteen staff and a full range of light- and heavyside building materials sold from the trade counter and yard.
Now, Woods services local builders and tradesmen with delivery facilitated via a fleet of 7.5 tonne crane trucks which are “ideally suited to the locality”. And with a branch and office refurbishment and extension in addition to joining h&b, the business is “looking forward to putting ambitious expansion plans into place”.
Nick explained: “We are very excited and enthusiastic to be joining the h&b family. h&b was recommended to us by various people – from other members of the group and contacts in the industry – and when we talked to the team at h&b we wanted to get involved. As well as the great deals we are confident that being part of h&b will give us access to the biggest and best brands in the building industry.”
The h&b Development Group is designed to “offer smaller merchants a proven route to growth and full group membership”. With a “basket of deals and the support and guidance of h&b and its partners”, members of the h&b Development Group can grow turnover and margin to a point where they can join the main group after reaching key growth marks. This “proven gateway” to buying group membership is said to be a unique initiative in the merchant sector and has already seen a number of merchants successfully graduate from the scheme into the main h&b group.
h&b has sales in excess of £1bn a year through its growing membership of independent builders’ merchants, comprised of 110 merchant members with nearly 300 branches that trade in partnership with around 280 suppliers.
