Hi, my name is Russell Davies and I am the proprietor at RS Plastics and Building Supplies. I have been involved in the building industry for the past 15 years, starting as a jobber's mate at 21, doing general repairs on properties that have been left vacant.

Then a position became available at Redland Precast, a division of the Redland Aggregates company producing concrete and lightweight building blocks. The job involved operating large machinery like bulk loaders, tippers, loading shovels with 4.2 tonne capacity buckets, forklift trucks, clamp trucks and block machines.

I was with Redlands for 6 years but the yard I worked at had to close so I took a job at Grahams Builders Merchant as a yard hand. I stayed there for 2 years.

Unfortunately there were no real prospects at Grahams so I applied for a job at APC Trade Plastics in a completely different field, plastic products. After a couple of years the partners I worked for went their own separate ways but I stayed with one and became warehouse manager at his branch selling plastic fascias, soffit and guttering, polycarbonate roofing materials, silicones, sealants and other relative ancillaries.

Then the best thing happened, my boss wanted to sell his company so I put in a bid and it was accepted in May 2003. Now I was my own boss and could carry on with the business and provide the best service I could for my customers.

Definitely the best decision so far !