Lion Rouge reaches ten years trading in France

I felt it important for it to be known that we have in July, reached ten years of trading as Lion Rouge in France.

Usually as most clients and people that know me, I am busy either installing, visiting clients, dealing with ordering and processing ( – often clients are receiving quotes and responses and unreasonable hours of the day!)  so seldom do I get a chance to sit and chance  reflect on how Lion Rouge has evolved .

I am sure that if I could clearly remember our thoughts at the outset of how the business would progress , where we wanted to take, the size  it would all seem very naive and maybe foolish to more established people we came across in the early days.

What we have done is grown what I consider a perfectly sized company in Lindsey and myself . By this  I mean  it is manageable (just!) , it can be flexible and adapt to clients needs .  I can undertake single glass unit replacements but also undertake work in the tens of thousands of euros.  I know each and every job, I know what can be done for it, what cannot . The little, important details of the job, the house, the people. I know Max the dog, or Bert the cat – who are every bit a part of that time in a clients home as the work itself.

I do not want to lose this for myself , for Lindsey and most importantly the clients – This is why I politely decline work outside a set area, I am very honest about lead times so as to not give false hope or promises. We choose to stay the size we are as I like to think our size and the way we operate allow us to be the best we can be.

We get through a lot of work each year given the size of the company which takes a huge amount of organizing and planning. Most who know me know I live the work – you have to know the job, know the product, mistakes or errors in processing are extremely costly financially and in terms of time.  It is sometimes to the detriment of my personal life but I believe for it to be successful it has to be.

I never talk in terms of turnover needed per month or x number of units on a job.  For me it is working on someone’s home, often a life- long goal to be in France in whatever form.  To help make their house, their standard of living better.  Invariably it is one of several significant improvements that can be done to a property and I never forget this – In almost all instances changing of windows and doors has a huge affect to the people concerned- we never lose sight of this and it is a privilege to be able to work on so many homes and add to the current chapter in the properties history .

Over the last year to eighteen months we have reached a point whereby we needed to change our suppliers from whom we started out with.  I am a firm believer in building good , long term working relationships which has always worked well in treating people fairly. As such this was never an easy choice to make but one we felt necessary to secure our long term supply chain.   Significant time was spent finding the right company to work with and whilst it is not necessary go over the finer details , it has been a very positive move for us and ultimately our clients.

For fear of rambling on I will finish this little update up with saying some thankyous.

To our customers, past, present and future. We really do appreciate the work whatever size , if we can help we do.  Thankyou for placing your trust in us , I always treat homes as if I were my own and do the best job that I can.

To my Parents- their guidance, knowledge and advice personally and professionally has had a large effect on how we treat everyone, the standard we work to and how we conduct ourselves . It can be a very isolated position running a business but I have been fortunate to have my father to share the unseen burden , and I’d like to think the have done the same for him at times.

Lindsey , we wouldn’t be here without her  it’s that simple.

Thank you and I look forward to the next ten years.

Carl