A renewable energy expert from St Asaph is celebrating a hat-trick of major awards.
Gareth Jones, Managing Director of Carbon Zero Renewables, believes their emphasis on quality and customer service has been a key factor in their success which has seen turnover grow by 600 per cent in the past year.
Carbon Zero was named Solar Firm of the Year at the Finance Monthly’s M & A Awards 2014 for the UK, Welsh Business of the Year in the ACQ5 Global Awards 2014 and earlier this year, the firm was crowned Solar Firm of the Year at the prestigious Finance Monthly Global Awards 2014.
They are the latest in a host of accolades for the eco entrepreneur who is a former Institute of Directors’ Young Director of the Year for North Wales.
Earlier this year he was re-elected President of North Wales for the Federation of Master Builders.
Another reason for Gareth to be cheerful is the result of an in-house customer survey which showed that 93 per cent of Carbon Zero’s clients thought their service was excellent and the remaining seven per cent thought it was very good. Meanwhile, 100 per cent of customers said they would recommend Carbon Zero to a friend.
The green guru is also practising what he preaches after taking delivery of an electric Nissan Leaf car and installing a charging point outside the Carbon Zero office.
A delighted Gareth said: “The hard work that we’ve put in behind the scenes is really starting to pay off with a 600 per cent growth in turnover this year and the swathe of awards that we’ve won is testament to all our effort.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into our installations from a customer service point of view – it’s that sort of thing that really puts us above and gives us the edge over our competitors.
“This year has been one of the best we’ve had and things are looking very, very strong for 2015, so we’re very excited.
“Sales for solar have massively increased. We’re achieving our targets and more and we are confident the trend will continue next year.
“Turnover is up, profit is up and employment will be up, so we’re certainly moving in the right direction and we’re hoping that 2015 will see another doubling of our turnover.
“The demand for green energy isn’t going to go away and as it becomes more affordable, even more people will be looking to adopt this great source of free power.
“We are getting more enquiries than we ever have had. There’s a lot more ways for people to go solar powered today, than there was many years ago and the fact that the price has come down means, that it has become a lot more affordable to your average home in the UK.
“Our main core area is North Wales but we have done some specialist work throughout the UK. We do feel that there is a lot of work on our doorstep but we are regularly contacted to provide specialist solar services throughout the UK.
“We’re currently pricing some work in Nottingham on a Grand Designs type home and this year we undertook some work in Portsmouth on a large multi-million pound new build home, where we designed and engineered a bespoke flat roof system using Formula 1 technology.
“While solar is a big part of your business, we’re certainly not a one trick pony.
“We do a lot of other things as well. A big part of the business is electric vehicle charging stations and we cater for the domestic as well as the commercial market. We also well into a five year contract to provide maintenance to four hotels for a national chain of hotels. We also have a number of energy saving devices and services listed on our website.
“I was really thrilled with the feedback in the customer survey but the positive results have not come about by accident.
“We put a tremendous amount of effort into making sure that the job does go so smoothly and making sure that customers are kept in the loop throughout the process.
“Happy customers tell other people and we work on a lot of referrals. We’re currently quoting for a project, a domestic solar installation, which will be our 11th generation referral and it all started from one job in Deganwy.
“I now have a Nissan Leaf as my company car and when it’s on charge at our Eco Office, it uses partly solar energy to drive around in. So we do really practice what we preach.”
