Pictured: (l-r) Nicky Bains, Steve Fletcher, Harpal Bains
and Sue Bains
A Black Country mother and son's trio have expanded their home
care service business by purchasing new premises after securing a
six-figure loan from Lloyds TSB Commercial.
Diamond Home Care Ltd provides domiciliary care to the elderly
and physically disabled across the West Midlands. They visit
people's homes and help them with their daily routines - from
preparing meals to getting in and out of bed. Further services
include accompanying clients out of the house to appointments or
with their shopping.
Established by Sue Baines in 2007 in her converted home garage
in Halesowen, the business now has a turnover of £500,000 and
employs five office staff and a further 45 people who go out into
the community.
The new office building off Birmingham New Road in Wolverhampton
will enable the business to further diversify in the future, with
plans to convert the large attached warehouse into a day
centre.
Harpal Baines, director at Diamond Home Care Ltd, said: "My mom
converted our garage into an office four years ago now and since
then the business has really taken off. There is a huge demand for
home care services in the region and it was becoming impossible to
service this demand from such a small space.
"We plough all of our profit back into the business so we had no
capital to put behind the purchase of new premises and struggled to
find a bank that would provide us with a 100 per cent mortgage. The
funding, support and guidance that Lloyds TSB Commercial has given
us has been invaluable - we simply could not have made the move
without it.
"The loan has also enabled us to invest in new IT infrastructure
that links the two offices and makes the business far more
efficient. We get referrals from social workers and the council but
word of mouth referrals are what keep us in business. This is why
it is important that we can continue to provide extremely high
levels of service so that our growth continues at the same
pace."
Steven Fletcher, relationship manager at Lloyds TSB Commercial,
said: "Diamond Home Care Ltd is a prime example of a start-up
business that has gone from strength to strength, even during what
have been difficult economic times. From converting a garage and
delivering and managing all services themselves, to employing fifty
local staff, they have come a long way in a short space of
time.
"These new premises will be a great asset to the business and
allow the Diamond Home Care team to expand in areas that to date
they have not had the opportunity to consider. They came to us with
a strong business plan, and their drive to succeed and enthusiasm
for the home care industry was obvious.
"Lloyds TSB Commercial provided £6.7 billion gross lending
to UK SMEs during the first half of 2011. We are pleased to be able
to provide funding to a business like this that gives such vital
support to the local community and look forward to seeing how the
business develops from here."