Doors dumped on a skip opened window of opportunity for boss of £2m business

Rescuing a set of French doors that had been dumped in a skip led to a war on waste and the founding of a business now turning over around £2 million and employing 30 people.

Joseph Holman, CEO and founder of upcycling company Green Doors in Luton and entrepreneurial from the age of 12, says his enterprise should inspire future generations.

Last year alone his business saved over 3,000 items destined for landfill and currently has thousands of doors and windows for sale in its 50,000 square foot warehouse.

Holman says he is on a mission to provide every door with a second life and to stop uPVC going to landfill. He shared with Business Weekly how his company continues to battle a wasteful industry and how dyslexia and ADHD have proven to be superpowers in his surge to success.

Holman says: “So far, we have not had any investment and have grown by reinvesting our profits back into the business. It’s a big issue we are fighting, with about one third of waste globally coming from the construction industry.

“More than 10 billion doors are produced every year. Some don’t even make it out of the factory as they’ve been made to slightly the wrong specification. Although a small amount of these are recycled, nothing is better than reusing.

“A lot of these doors are replacements but their lives are cut short due to aesthetics. That's where we come in.”

Holman began in business early. Aged just 12 and using his dad’s eBay account, he invested his birthday and pocket money into a bulk order of magnetic ‘stick and ball’ games, which he then sold on individually.

“I ended up netting a profit of around £2,000 in just six weeks and from then on I was hooked on buying and selling anything I could.”

Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia at the age of seven, Holman struggled at school. And his parents didn't see selling on eBay as a career choice. Holman decided to try his hand at plumbing. “I was on a £700 apprenticeship wage but making £3,000 to £4,000 a month selling second-hand boiler parts from jobs on eBay,” he says.

It was while working as a plumber in 2014 that Holman was inspired to set up Green Doors.

“Walking past a skip, I noticed a set of modern, white uPVC French doors. I dug them out, loaded them onto my mate's plumbing van, cleaned them up and advertised them on eBay. They sold the next day for hundreds of pounds.”

Holman spent days scouring skips for more doors but soon found a “mountain destined for landfill” outside a door and window company. He bought the lot from the owner.

With this stock secured, Holman pulled the plug on his plumbing career and founded his company with a plan to disrupt a wasteful industry.

“Friends and family thought I was delusional and urged me to stick with plumbing, but I knew I could make a difference,” he recalls.

Holman found the first few years tough as making a business from reselling doors and windows was harder than he expected. But he stuck at it.

“To say it's been a rollercoaster is a bit of an understatement, it feels like we are building the theme park. I was stressed, depressed and on the verge of giving up daily and although profitable, still no one could see my vision,” he says.

“For the last 10 years, I've paid myself near minimum wage for the hours I've worked and we reinvest all profits back into the company to help scale up operations and rescue more stock.

“We are on a mission to ensure all doors get a second life. We believe it makes sense both economically and environmentally.”

Holman now attributes his business abilities to his neurodiversity. “Looking back, all my childhood I assumed I wouldn't get anywhere due to my disabilities. Now, I know these ‘superpowers’, as Sir Richard Branson would say, are what have got me to where I am today. They have given me the ability to see the bigger picture, think differently and take risks.”

Holman now hopes that the throw-away society in general gets a handle on an opportunity that would appear to be an open and shut argument!