For Doek en Draad it all started six and a half years ago in a barn of a grower in 's-Gravenzande, the Netherlands, and now Cees and Colin van der Kaaij are back again in 's-Gravenzande. The building at Honderdland in Maasdijk, the Netherlands, was exchanged last December for a 2.5 times larger building in the town where it all began. The new building makes it possible to continue to grow. Cees: "We specialize in the larger greenhouse vegetable growers for both renovation and new construction."
Cees and Colin van der Kaaij
Six and a half years later, Cees and Colin are still doing everything themselves. The extra space is mainly for the growing number of machines and to be able to buy and store larger stocks more cheaply. "In order to keep costs down, we work with subcontractors and freelancers that we support with materials and machines. In the meantime, for example, there are ten pipe rail trolleys in the shed and considerable investments have been made in machinery, while material is also not being cut."
The choice to work with subcontractors is a very conscious one, just like the choice to keep the quotations transparent. This can save money. "We give customers the choice to look at whether they want to carry out certain actions themselves based on our quote. With instructions on location and many hands, it always works."
Colin takes care of purchasing, finances and the materials, while Cees arranges the sales and maintains close contact with those who carry out the installation work. Cees is now 62, and thinking about his replacement. "Yes, we are looking for a jack-of-all-trades that fits the company. It should be someone with the ambition to become co-partner. We intend to find someone this year to build the future of the company."
Business is going well. "On the one hand, it's because more and more growers are opting for a fire-retardant cloth, because insurers have stricter requirements now," Cees explains. "On the other hand, it's because many large growers built a lot ten years ago, and those cloths are reaching the end of their lifespan and need replacement," Cees concludes.
The opening of the new building was celebrated with friends and family.
Leon Strik and Wouter de Jong (Ludvig Svensson)
Henk (HB Techniek) and Barend (Groeneweg Montage)
Tarik and Polat Nihat (Nipo Scherminstallatie) brought baklava.
Adam and Jan van Gaalen
Veronique Meijer and Ben de Heijer (Persoon Advies)
Rick and Bart van Vliet (Van Vliet Kasinstallatie)
Jan Bos (C.G. van Winden) and Ron Vis (Instatech Scherming)
Rens de Jonge (ReVisto Online Marketing) and Roy Kappenburg
Nico van Veldhoven (Van der Valk Horti Systems), Jos Verbraeken (Van der Valk Horti Systems), Rob Bekkering (Van der Valk Horti Systems), Marco Prins (A1 Tuinbouwtechniek), Jack Vijverberg (Van der Valk Horti Systems) and Johan van Erven (Ridder)
Marcel van der Kaaij (Firma P. van der Kaaij & Zoon) and Martijn Boers (Boers Bloemen)
Geert van den Burg (Interieur op Maat) and Bas van der Sar (Van der Sar Plants)
For more information:
Doek en Draad
Buijs Ballotstraat 6
2693 BE, 's-Gravenzande
Netherlands
www.doekendraad.nl
info@doekendraad.nl
Cees: +31 (0)6 - 83 991 244
Collin: +31 (0)6 - 28 792 232