2 minute read
Growing electrical awareness
A brave move to switch the focus of the business has paid off for Livingston-based, third-generation fi rm Boyd Brothers
CHANGING TACK
Until a few years ago, Boyd Brothers was a fairly typical electrical contracting business, notable mainly for the manner in which it had passed through the generations. Started in 1967 by John Boyd – a former mining electrician – as a general contracting fi rm, the business moved on to his sons Ian and Robert (Robert unfortunately passed away a few years ago) and is still very much a family-run business today.
“It’s just been a general progression over the years; the business is now in its 51st year and we’re now run by the third generation,” says Ian. “Th ey handle all of the day-to-day business now, and Lorraine [his wife] and I try and do as little as possible,” he jokes.
In 2013, however, the business took the brave step of moving away from its breadand-butter of working for main contractors. “We were experiencing horrendous problems with payments, so we decided to withdraw our services from all main contracts and the construction industry in general,” explains Ian.
“We probably had around 20 staff at that point and a few of them were sizeable contracts but, like many subcontractors, we experienced payment problems and that’s why we came out. We had to restructure ourselves at that point.” Th e fi rm still operates as a traditional electrical contracting fi rm, but now only takes on work direct for blue-chip end-clients, including various housing associations.
It was obvious, however, that the business needed to fi nd another area on which to focus its attention. Initially it targeted the renewable sector, with some success, focusing on wind turbine and solar panel installations, until changes to the feed-in-tariff hit the solar sector.
ELECTRIC VISION
But the real niche the business discovered was in installing electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, which now accounts for around 70 per cent of its work. “Back then it was very much in its infancy, and we would do maybe a job a month initially,” says John. “Th e fi rst contract we did was for Caledonian MacBrayne, installing the fi rst rapid-chargers at their ferry terminals.”
Since then the market has taken off , partly
on the back of government support for EVs as well as the wider move against the use of diesel vehicles. “We have a very wide customer base,” adds John. “In the last couple of years we have done a lot of workplace charging, for companies like Diageo, Scottish Television and, recently, Royal Mail, which were looking to bring EVs into their fl eets.” Local authorities are another big sector; Boyd Brothers has installed infrastructure for 30 out of the 32 authorities in Scotland, and estimates it has installed around 85 per cent of the public charging infrastructure in the country.
Despite this success, John believes the market
