Michael finds kitchen business a perfect fit

Apr 29 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A YOUNG furniture fitter may have worked for the Saudi Arabian royal family and on TV dramas including Wire in the Blood, but he was not satisfied until he set up his own business.

Michael Telford, 26, set up kitchen fitting business Lifestyle Kitchens and Design in Consett because he was unable to spread his wings and develop his creativity while he was working for other people.

He said: “I had a real flair for fitting and design but I started to become frustrated. I was still an employee and a young one at that.

“I wasn’t able to design kitchens the way I wanted to and I often felt clients could get something better.

“I decided then that I wanted to set up my own business but wasn’t brave enough, and people around me warned me off the idea, saying I was too young.”

Michael, who helped to make the sets for TV programmes and worked on the fittings at King Fahd’s royal hotel in Saudi Arabia before taking the plunge, said he now has no regrets about going it alone.

“I left school after my GCSEs and felt inadequate as so many of my friends went to college and then university, while I was perceived as a bog standard tradesman,” he said.

“However, it just goes to show that with hard work and dedication anything can happen. Out of all my friends, I’m the only one who is self-employed and already living their dream.

“It’s very hard work. It’s harder than I thought it would be but you do get a lot out of it. You’ve got to have the drive.” Michael, who completed a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) apprenticeship, has employed his own apprentice and recently provided a work placement position for his 15-year-old cousin.

“If you get a good apprentice, you’ve got a cracking employee who is moulded the way you want them,” he said.

Almost half of Michael’s new business now comes from recommendations but he also has a showroom at Gledstone House in Consett, where customers can view his designs.