LAUNCHING a Dream Doors kitchen showroom weeks before a national lockdown has not stopped Neil O’Boyle achieving a high turnover.

After completing his initial training, the owner of Dream Doors Gateshead and Sunderland enjoyed only two weeks of normal trading before Covid-19 movement restrictions were imposed.

Rather than wait for lockdown to end, Neil finished fitting out his showroom, hired full-time staff and booked socially-distanced customer appointments.

Keeping his appointments diary full has allowed Neil to turn over more than £200,000 in the last three months as lockdown measures have begun to ease. 

Neil said: “It was quite a challenge, starting a business during lockdown. 

“I think we’re quite a niche market, but we’ve got customers who are able to spend their disposable income. 

“The lockdown meant lots of people were sat around looking at their kitchens and saying: ‘Let’s do something about this.’

“I’m getting through four or five appointments per day and I’m fully booked three weeks in advance. 

“I think what my team and I have done is to follow the Dream Doors model in a very short period of time. 

“We had to do that once we figured out we would be turning over six figures every month.”

Neil added: “I’ve surrounded myself with like-minded people and personally I have always been very positive and very optimistic. 

“I was told in training that I had ‘optimistic’ sales figures, but I turned over more than £123,000 in July. It’s still been a steep learning curve for me, but I like that.”

Dream Doors is looking for more talented franchisees like Neil who are ready to represent an industry-leading and recession-proof brand.

There are just 19 new franchise territories available nationwide, particularly in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Scotland.