Trained by Wickes. On his own books since 2021.

TaylorMade Kitchens is Nathan Taylor. He started out doing carpentry and kitchen fitting for a Wickes approved installer, who suggested he put himself forward for a new scheme Wickes was piloting: a proper apprenticeship for installers.

It ran for two years, split between live sites and ten block weeks at the WEBS training centre in Nottingham. Kitchen fitting, tiling, flooring, plumbing and electrical awareness, customer service, and how to actually run a business. Eight apprentices started it. Nathan was the first to finish and set up on his own.

It is a very thorough programme, and what I really liked about it was the variety.Nathan Taylor

He qualified in 2021 and started trading on his own on 1 August that year. Since then the business has grown around one idea: one person owns the whole job. The trades who come in behind him for the certified work are people he already knows and works with regularly, not whoever was free that week.

Most of the work is within twenty minutes of Coventry, which matters more than it sounds. If something needs looking at six months after the job is finished, he can actually get there.