Up through the ranks

Summary
• Jim Peryer’s first job was at Warwick Brothers in Reading.
• He ran the softwood division of K&B Forest Products at Barking.
• He became Snows Timber managing director in 1998.
• He enjoys sport and is a keen angler.

Brought up in leafy Twickenham, on the western edge of London, Jim Peryer, now managing director of Snows Timber, is another business leader who came up through the ranks.

“My father was a senior executive within what was then the Southern Evans Ltd Group of companies, a large national timber business,” said Jim. “I left school at 17 and my first job was at Warwick Brothers in Reading [part of Southern Evans]. I had to find some digs and just get on with it. Working in the yard, mill, warehouses and anywhere I was needed gave me a tremendous start. It was 18 months before I even got near the sales office.”

Southern Evans had a good management training scheme which gave a solid grounding to a number of senior people working in the industry today. Jim moved onto Widnes in Cheshire, before getting a range of positions in Kettering, Widnes and Northampton. “Widnes was the centre of operations and on completion of training, you stayed until offered a position within the group. It was expected that you’d happily move to where you were needed. It wasn’t very well paid, but you could see a progression path and you certainly did not say ‘no’ when asked to move.”

By 1988 Jim was softwood divisional manager when Harrisons & Crosfield acquired the business. During the integration of Southern Evans, the importing sites were condensed to two. “I was moved to run the softwood division of K&B Forest Products at Barking in Essex and remember 1989 as a brilliant year. But after Christmas it was a different story; the recession came through in 1990 and we had to review everything. One decision I took was to strengthen external sales representation, which helped, but they were tough times.”

The Meyer group also had a site in Barking and by 1995 it had acquired K&B from Harrisons and Crosfield – it then merged the Barking sites. “After a short while I was offered the opportunity to run its site in Newport, Gwent,” said Jim, who moved with his family to the Forest of Dean in 1996.

“Newport needed a lot of sorting out, but by 1998 I was in the position to look for a new opportunity,” said Jim.

Bradford & Sons Ltd has strong roots in western England and is extremely well known there for its builders merchant branches and timber operations, with expected sales this year of £150m. Glastonbury-based Snows Timber is the group’s timber specialist arm, primarily involved in planing and moulding softwood and manufacturing roof trusses, metal-web floor beams and timber frame.

Jim joined Snows Timber as managing director in 1998 and was appointed to Bradford’s group board a year later. “Snows was a £13m turnover business back then; today, the timber businesses are trading at around £60m, although, of course, we’ve taken on other ventures,” he said.

The timber business of the Bradford group now include Crendon Timber Engineering and Crendon Roofing Services, which have substantially increased the scale of business. “Snows has been involved in timber engineering for many years; the Crendon businesses have converted us into a leading national player, adding I-beams, supply and fix and project management to our portfolio.”

While once Jim ran one site, today he’s busy overseeing a group with operations from Oldham, through Castleford then into Buckinghamshire and down into Hampshire as well as the West Country. “That’s why I’ve got a mobile office these days and rely on IT to keep in touch,” he explained.

Active involvement

Snows is a long-standing Timber Trade Federation member and Jim is actively involved. “This is my third year as chairman of the National Softwood Division, which also means I’m on the governing board,” he said. “Our wide range of business activities means we’re also members of the Trussed Rafter Association, the UK Timber Frame Association and TRADA. We have chain of custody for both FSC and PEFC schemes and are members of the TTF’s Responsible Purchasing Policy which is becoming increasingly popular.”

Jim keeps busy outside work. “I enjoy windsurfing and love my sport, especially Gloucester Rugby Club. Gardening is also a bit of a theme, but I only grow what I can eat.”

He’s also an enthusiastic angler. “I have a garage full of tackle and I’d happily fish anywhere – if there’s a puddle I’d give it a go! I used to be a very active match angler when I lived in Northamptonshire, even winning an eight-week evening series once.”

Maybe there’s enough in the garage to set up a shop, but somehow it seems that Jim Peryer has plenty to do within Snows and Crendon for now – good news for the timber industry and probably for a lot of fish too.