Register +

A quick chat with Siobhan and Steve from Wisteria Care, a successfully expanding family business. Firstly, could you tell me, how did you start your business originally, I understand it’s in the care sector, is that right? The idea to start the business came when Siobhan had children at home and wanted more flexible work. When starting a business it seems a good idea to work from what you know, and as Siobhan had worked in the NHS with the elderly for 20 years as a Ward Manager, care for the elderly was a natural choice. We initially purchased a care home near Yeovil in 2004, which was a success and had a very high occupancy rate, but then in 2009 we decided to branch out into domiciliary care in clients own homes, as there was plenty of demand for high quality care, initially we could use staff from the Care Home, and it involved far fewer fixed costs than expanding into additional care home provision. And how did you expand from there? The business has just continued to expand. From small beginnings, it has grown to cover South Somerset and North Dorset and into Wiltshire, and we have contracts with both Somerset and Dorset as well as numerous private clients and operate currently through offices in Yeovil and Shaftesbury. Over the years we have built up a reputation for providing quality care and aim to be considered the best agency in the areas where we work both as an employer and for the care we provide.  We have always been cautious with expansion, as growing the business can initially stretch the cashflow until the money starts coming in, however even so the business has expanded 40% pa for the last two years. While we thought of ourselves as being a small business, the number of employees and hours that the business is doing means that we are now transforming into something more significant and we are looking to expand through additional offices. There are huge opportunities to grow the business by working closely with local councils and the NHS. What lead you to choose rebuildingsociety for your expansion loan? A recommendation by our broker as a source of finance for developing the business. The 5 year timeline fits in with our business requirements and the interest rate is very affordable. Well thank you very much indeed for choosing rebuildingsociety and we hope you have a super fantastic day and a super successful continued expansion!