Route
to Job: Dan
has no qualms about shooting his colleagues. After all there's
nothing like a spot of outward-bounds paint balling to build
team spirit. Time spent travelling the world's poorest nations
convinced him there's more to life than money and he insists
on a good working environment.
Even so, it took more than games to make a success of Gardenlink.
Eighteen months of landscape labouring in Jersey after his O
levels opened the door to college and a Higher National Certificate
in landscape construction.
He spent five years as a self employed designer before taking
off to India and Thailand for a year. On his return, aged 24,
he worked at London's Clifton Nursery, rising to contracts manager.
But the pressured environment was not his idea of fun so he
decided to go it alone in April 2001.
Typical day: "We
never take on more than three jobs at a time because I like
to visit each site in a day. But I'm still up at 6am to be at
the first site by 7.45am. Our work is mostly in London boroughs,
but we go as far as High Wycombe, and look at projects costing
£2,000 to £150,000.
"By mid-morning I'm talking to designers. Clients don't
often contact us and I have 60 designers on my books. Running
the firm eats into my time and I don't do as much hands-on work
as I would like. By the afternoon I'm organising or pricing
projects.
"I'm usually home by 3pm, but have to sift through admin.
We expect to make a £450,000 turnover this year, but I
must pay myself a smallsalary because I want to build up the
business without taking too much"
Best
aspect of the job:"Praise from a client, rather
than the designer, because clients can't read plans and have
no idea how the garden will turn out."
Worst
aspect: "People who try to worm out of paying
fees."
Ambition:
"To run the best landscape firm in London, but to keep
it fairly small"
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