Joseph Holman’s ‘side hustle’ has now grown into a £2m turnover business which employs over 20 staff and saves thousands of doors from being dumped into landfill.
“I pulled a set of French doors out of a skip, cleaned them up and resold them, says Joseph Holman, founder of Green Doors, explaining how he started his business.
“I saw this as a great way to make money and make an impact. So I started trawling skips looking for items to resell. Then, one day, I spotted a mountain of goods outside a door and window shop and decided to rescue the lot. I sold them on and reinvested the profits into more stock.”
Holman’s company, which celebrates ten years in business on Thursday, has grown by following this winning formula of rescuing items, reselling them and reinvesting the profits.
“We started with nothing, bootstrapped our way through the entire 10 years, and are now a business with over 20 staff and making a big impact.”
The Luton-based company, which took the title of ‘Small Business of the Year’ as well as the ‘Net Hero’ award in this year’s Small Awards, upcycles doors and windows at its 25,000 sq ft warehouse and sells them online.
Filling a gap
Holman has tapped into an eager marketplace, where customers are motivated by tight budgets, as new doors are very expensive. But also, concern for the environment, where reuse of items is now a badge of honour among the eco-friendly.
For Holman, his business is very much a mission to change the world. “My dream is to save every usable door from landfill and to give them all a second life,” he said.
“Last year, we saved more than 3,000 items from landfill and we’re constantly scaling up. I am certain our impact over the next ten years is going to be far bigger.
“So far, we’ve grown by reinvesting profits back into the business, but now we are looking for an investor to help us grow faster.”
Holman began in business early. Aged just 12 and using his dad’s eBay account, he invested his birthday and pocket money into a bulk order of magnetic ‘stick and ball’ games, which he then sold on individually.
“I ended up netting a profit of around £2,000 in just six weeks and, from then on, I was hooked on buying and selling anything I could.”
Academic Struggles
Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia at the age of seven, Holman struggled at school. Meanwhile, his parents didn’t see selling on eBay as a career choice.
It was while working as a plumber in 2014 that Holman was inspired to set up Green Doors.
“Walking past a skip, I noticed a set of modern, white uPVC French doors. I dug them out, loaded them onto my mate’s plumbing van, cleaned them up and advertised them on eBay. They sold the next day for hundreds of pounds.”
Holman spent days scouring skips for more doors but soon found a “mountain destined for landfill” outside a door and window company and rescued the lot.
Changing Trades
With this stock secured, Holman packed up his plumbing career and, on August 22, 2014, founded his company with a plan to disrupt a wasteful industry.
“Friends and family thought I was delusional and urged me to stick with plumbing, but I knew I could make a difference,” he recalls.
“For the last ten years, I’ve paid myself near minimum wage for the hours I’ve worked and we reinvest all profits back into the company to help scale up operations and rescue more stock.
“It’s a big issue we are fighting, with about one third of waste globally coming from the construction industry.
“More than 10 billion doors are produced every year. Some don’t even make it out of the factory as they’ve been made to slightly the wrong specification. Although a small amount of these are recycled, nothing is better than reusing.
For more information about Green Doors visit https://greendoors.co.uk/
