Work from home spare bedroom business takes off
“Everyone thought I was mad starting a business right in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, but from our first tentative customer enquiry on 26th June this year we are already installing well over dozen pet flaps and dog doors every week and that's growing fast” said John Carolan, founder of Pet Flaps UK
65 year-old John recognises that most people are thinking of retiring when the reach their mid-sixties, not starting a brand new business, but the lockdown was just the catalyst he needed to turn that spare bedroom into a home office and realise his long-held ambitions. Starting with just a website, an old laptop and a trestle table propped up in the spare room John now has 5 fitters installing pet flaps and dog doors all over the Northwest, London & the Home Counties, The West Midlands and from next week will be taking on 2 more tradespeople for customers in Leeds & West Yorkshire.
“There's much more expansion planned, I want to be offering our services supplying and installing our whole range of pet doors all over the UK by next summer!” John's enthusiasm seems unshakeable.
Most of us think of a pet flap as a rattly piece of plastic in the bottom of the kitchen door. That's certainly not the case when you look at Pet Flaps UK's range. Electronic doors controlled from the user's smartphone App, motorised doors for even the really large breeds like St Bernards are just some of the range John's business installs.
Recently an enquiry came in for a custom-made cat flap to be installed in a rather luxurious house on the Isle of Skye. John admitted that while he loves to be presented with a challenge that one was just a bit too ambitious.
With over 11 million cats and nearly 8 million dogs in the UK, and nearly 49% of the adult population owning a pet it looks like John's phone is going to keep ringing and his installers are going to be busier than ever.