Simon Jenkins is from Banbury in Oxfordshire, where he lives with his wife and their three children. His ‘patch’ is the area of London that is north of the Thames and inside the M25, so as he says: “I’ve got to know the M40 pretty well.”
“Ten years” is the reply to the question ‘How long have you been at F. Ball?’ That’s half of his 20 years in the flooring industry, so what was he doing for his first decade in the business?
Simon explains: “Well, I did a degree in Business Information Systems, which is really a precursor to working on IT projects in the City and elsewhere. But, my father was a builder, so I started working with him to earn a bit of money. Then a friend of mine, who was running his family’s flooring distribution business, invited me to work for them. After a while there, I moved to Wolff Tools on the sales side and then to Instarmac, before landing this job at F. Ball.”
Not that there are any, but in ‘typical’ week, Simon will undertake several site visits (at least one a day), call round to some of the eight wholesalers in his area, liaise with contractors who’ve got in touch with him, and make and take numerous phone calls while he’s out and about. “Site visits can be anywhere; from a domestic job or small retail premises to a multi storey hotel or office block,” adds Simon.
When asked if there is a problem or issue that occurs more frequently than others, Simon quickly volunteers an answer: “Calcium sulphate screeds, especially damp ones. It’s becoming more and more common, especially as these types of screeds are now used much more widely, even on smaller jobs.”
Simon concurs that anybody in a role such as his gets job satisfaction from helping people find a solution to a tricky problem or just giving people sound advice that works. But what else gives Simon a buzz (we doubt it’ll be the drive up and down the M40)? “I’d say the variety, for one, and also the chance to go to places that you might not normally. For example, I get to see some fantastic views across London from the various buildings I visit, including some eye-wateringly expensive penthouse apartments.”
And what does he get up to outside of work: “Well I go swimming once a week and have started doing open water swimming, which is totally different to swimming in lanes in a pool. Last year I swam Derwent Water as part of the fundraising effort for a friend, who has raised half a million pounds over the last eight years for the children’s heart unit fund under the name: Seb4ChuF.
“Otherwise, with a young family, most of my time, especially at weekends, is taken up ferrying the children to their various activities.”
Looking back to his own childhood, it’s unlikely that his current job would have been on his radar, so what did a young Simon Jenkins want to be: “That’s easy, I used to love the TV series The Fall Guy with Lee Majors, so I always wanted to be stuntman.”
Perhaps he shouldn’t go up those tall building after all.