Kevin Ellis of Ellis and Hughes in Leicester is the Master Builder of the Year.
He saw off the very best of Britain’s builders to win his title for the stunning transformation of a run of the mill house into a fabulous, five bedroom family home. Kevin won a Nissan LCV worth up to £20,000 and plumped for the Nissan Navara.
When you collect a new car, you’d hope for a sunny, dry day so you can drive it out of the showroom without getting it dirty wouldn’t you? Life isn’t always perfect though, so on a pouring wet day in January, Kevin walked the short distance from his yard in Leicester to Sturgess Nissan to collect the keys to his brand new Nissan Navara.
Because of the weather, the presentation was made indoors. Paul Gozzard, Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Fleet Sales Manager for Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd presented Kevin with the keys, watched by Chris Sturgess, Chairman of Sturgess, Derek Bostock, FMB National Vice President and John Watson, FMB Regional Director.
As you can see in the picture, Kevin is thrilled with his new Navara. He said: “It will be great not to have to put all my tools in the boot of my car anymore.
Paul Gozzard Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Fleet Sales Manager for Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd said: “It was a pleasure to present the keys to this Nissan Navara to such a worthy winner.”
What a prize!
Kevin chose a silver Nissan Navara Aventura - the one with all the whistles and bells. He said: “I never saw myself buying or driving such a vehicle but I am really impressed with it. It has all the luxury extras as standard and drives so much better than other pick ups that I have driven.”
He had been using his old, but beautiful Mercedes SL as a truck for the last four years, which hasn’t been ideal, so the Mercedes has been retired, and Kevin has now landed himself with a new project (as if he wasn’t busy enough), he is restoring his old car to its original showroom condition.
His new Nissan is already working hard for its living, visiting loads of new clients, and dropping off the odd forgotten material or tool to site. The new signwriting has been designed for it and Kevin says: “When it is applied it will really look ‘the business’.”
Not only is it a great delivery vehicle, but the Navara doubles up as an office. Kevin said: “I am currently using it as my mobile office (blue tooth facility is great for that) and the built in sat nav means I don’t get lost quite as often.”
Smart and rugged partnership
Kevin said: “Apart from its price(!), the best thing about the Navara is its versatility. Smart yet rugged - if only the same could be said of me. Oh, and it has a manual gearbox which makes it less thirsty.”
Extra workload
Talking about the upturn in business following his Master Builder of the Year win, Kevin said: “Becoming Master Builder of the Year 2008 has been great for business; I have received a lot more enquiries since winning the award.
“Before I won, we would usually have a waiting list of just over a year, but recently we have had two projects postponed with a combined value of £400,000. We have had a number of enquiries since the award that have been as a direct result of winning though. They are good enquiries that should cover the postponed projects and we are still getting enquires from our normal recommends.
“In truth we are as mad as ever and looking to expand during the recession in preparation for the upturn. (It helps to be positive in these times). As such, the win fills us all with optimism for the future and a bit of a safety net by way of additional quality enquiries.”
