Name

Gary Thorn.

Age

45.

What is your business called?

Cube Glass Limited.

Where is it based?

Cumbernauld.

What services does it offer?

We design, fabricate and install aluminium windows, doors and curtain walling systems, mainly for commercial properties but also for residential customers. Lots of architects choose aluminium these days for windows and doors partly because, whether in black, grey or charcoal, it is stylish and looks good, but also because of its strength. This means that you can fit big windows to optimise light without the need for frame supports which detract from the amount of light getting into a building.

Our role is to look at the design drawings we are given by architects and other customers and, using our experience, tell them what can be practically achieved. We do some internal glazing but 99 per cent of our work is with external glass, supplied principally by Schueco, the German aluminium systems manufacturer. Its products include bomb-blast and fireproof aluminium systems, some of which we have installed in high-end properties across Scotland.

To whom does it sell?

Principally to contractors. We always put them through a “Cube Glass” examination which they only pass if they pay us on the agreed terms and don’t try to mess us around with deductions from the agreed cost of works. We also work with end-users and home owners.

What is its turnover?

£2.5m.

How many employees?

14 direct employees and 12 sub-contractors.

When was it formed?

I formed it as a safety net in 2004. I didn’t start trading it until 2011.

Why did you take the plunge?

I had always wanted to work for myself.

It had struck me that business owners seemed to have a better life than the rest of us: they weren’t tied to a desk or factory floor during business hours and didn’t have to ask anyone for permission to take an afternoon off if they needed to. Now, if any of my team needs time off to attend, say, a school sports day, they only need to ask. They can make up the time off afterwards.

I was working as general manager for a company in the same sector. I had increased its turnover by 100 per cent since my arrival. There was an understanding that at a certain point, one of the directors and shareholders in the company would step down and I would buy his shareholding and become a director. In the event, we differed sharply over the value of his shares.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

I grew up in the village of Stepps in the north-east Glasgow suburbs and attended the local school, Chryston High, then graduated with a BSc degree in building engineering and management from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Afterwards I worked in construction-related businesses.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

I was given a loan from one of my oldest friends and another from a finance house, plus our family savings. I was sitting in a tiny office in Queenslie Industrial Estate, near Easterhouse in Glasgow, with just a desk, a computer and a telephone. I called up two major suppliers I had worked with previously at Insutech and asked them to supply my new business. Each gave me £25,000 worth of credit which helped relieve my working capital needs.

What was your biggest break?

Getting the first telephone call from a long-standing customer of my previous employer.

He told me he wanted to work with me regardless of where or who I was working for and placed a good order.

What was your worst moment?

There is a worst moment every time I chase a customer for payment. Too many firms look for a main contractor discount (MCD) of five per cent for payment 35 days after the invoice date, then don’t pay on time, but still want the discount. It’s called “subby-bashing” and it is ingrained into the UK construction sector.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

Working hard but enjoying working hard. And having fun while we do our day-to-day work. My team has been with me for a long time now. Our fabrications manager, Gary Stevenson, has worked with me for 13 years now and we have a very low rate of staff turnover. We all get on. Sometimes the guys will come in and work a Saturday morning if a job has to be finished.

What are your ambitions for the business?

I don’t want Cube Glass to become too much bigger. When we get to a turnover of £3m I’ll be happy to keep it around there. Any bigger and it is inevitable, I think, that I’ll get caught-up in all sorts of bureaucracy and doing stuff I don’t find enjoyable and don’t want to do.

We can get more productive though. We are planning to move soon to new, 11,000 sq. ft. premises here in Cumbernauld which will accommodate a showroom for our domestic sales prospects.

We are investing also in a £130,000 CNC machine which will improve the speed and precision of our curtain walling products.

Having said all of that, I imagine the business could grow towards the £5,000,000 turnover mark. My concern is that I really like what we have achieved and where we’re at and I don’t want to lose the special qualities I believe we have.

What are your top priorities?

Working closely with customers; having fun whilst working hard; enjoying life, not working every hour, and looking after our families.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

Provide stability for business owners to invest more in our employees and enforce legislation which supports sub-contractors chasing late payment from main contractors who have no valid reason for delaying the payment process.

How do you relax?

I take all the members of our team out for an enjoyable lunch.