Jim Mitchell in Chamber Spotlight

Eleven years as a member of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce has proved a fruitful relationship for local construction and maintenance firm JKM.The company was launched in February 1990 by Jim Mitchell with a vision to provide good customer service within the construction industry and he later recognised the benefits of joining the Chamber, signing up in January 1997.Jim said: “When we launched JKM there were only the two of us building the business so the Chamber offered an opportunity to get out there and raise our profile in the city.  It provided a great tool for networking with other local businesses and meeting potential new clients.”Since then, JKM has continued to grow steadily over the years and has built a reputation as a leading provider of full in-house services within the domestic and commercial property refurbishment and maintenance markets.It has a dedicated team of highly skilled trade specialists and project managers working together to deliver a service which exceeds customer expectations.  Eighteen years in business and JKM still places customer care at the top of the priority list.The firm has seen a steady growth in staff numbers in the past few years and a recent acquisition of city rival North Building Maintenance, has increased the payroll to more than 70.  Over the years JKM has used the Chamber for various training courses in all aspects of the business; from reception skills, through to management skills and financial awareness.  Telephone training has been one of the best courses for JKM and the advanced driving has been pretty effective, though they would like to see this course run more than twice a year.  Jim said: “We put a lot of our staff through these courses and have honestly always found them to be well organised, value for money and a source of well focused learning for our employees.  It would however, be more convenient if the Chamber premises were more central.” Jim himself is an advocate of the various networking events hosted by the Chamber, such as business breakfasts, networking lunches and also the informative evening lectures.He said: “I’ve attended lots of business breakfasts and have used them for entertaining guests and also to learn more on the particular discussion topics. It’s also really great to get the business community’s take on the topic and its impact on us locally.  The events are always well attended and are a genuinely good way of networking.”Jim recalls that one business networking breakfast about five years ago resulted in an introduction to a company called Style Office Solutions Ltd.  This subsequently led to several years of on-going and mutually rewarding business between both parties and their mutual customers. The value of this business over the years amounts to tens of thousands of pounds.Jim also tries to attend a number of networking lunches.He said: “These are less formal than the breakfasts and provide more lively person to person interaction, which is ideal for networking.  It encourages people to get away from their desk and reflect on the direction their business is taking rather than always being focussed solely on working on it. The most interesting meeting I had was with a web design company Fresh Ideas, which resulted in the production of the JKM website.”As JKM enters its 11th year as a member of AGCC, the company is beginning a new era after moving to larger premises in East Tullos to cope with the growing business.The firm had been based in Probity House in Cotton Street for 10 years but with a 15 fold growth in that time, it had outgrown the property.Its new base has twice the amount of office facilities and three times the amount of warehouse and yard space.Within the next six months JKM is planning to grow its workforce as the company looks set to build on its current £3.5million annual turnover.And Jim says the Chamber will continue to be an integral part of JKM’s training and networking schedule in the coming years.

“It’s a great source for meeting new, young and energetic businesses in the area and it helps to give you a bit of focus for building your business empire.  And you also get access to the database for other Chamber members, so you can have direct contact with some of the most dynamic business people in Aberdeen and across the North-east.”