Iron man steps in after fire and flood

Nov 26 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

“That’s why a lot of companies cannot do this. There are a lot of good builders but they cannot adapt to that environment.”

Companies affected by fire or flood often cannot afford to stop work, giving Forshaw teams another challenge.

Hanlon said: “If you’re working in a factory that cannot shut down their processes it means working out of hours and scheduling work so that the factory is still operational.”

Forshaw employs 50 people at its head office in Liverpool and other offices in Crewe, Kinmel Bay, in North Wales, and Horwich, in Lancashire.

The business was founded in 1948 by Les Forshaw and became one of the city’s best-known painting and decorating businesses.

In the late 1980s, the company began moving into the insurance market. Today, around half its £5m turnover comes from fire and flood disaster repair work, and the rest coming from general claims-related repairs.

Hanlon describes Forshaw’s role as “complete claim management” from taking the call from an insurer to handing a property back to its occupiers. The group works in partnership with loss adjusters, claims handlers and brokers including leading claims management firms Crawford, Merlin and GAB Robins.

Hanlon, a director at the group alongside Richard Forshaw, Lynne Forshaw and Martin Cornes, joined the building trade straight from school.

He started at Balfour Beatty under the Youth Training Scheme and rose through the ranks before joining Preston company Kerfoot as general foreman.

Then, 15 years ago, his friend, Forshaw director Richard Forshaw, suggested he join his business.

But, at the same time, Hanlon was preparing for another challenge – going to university for the first time. He had signed up to a four-year course studying sports science and biology at Liverpool University, and chose to combine a full-time degree with working for Forshaw.

“That was a cracking time in my life,” he smiled.

“You often hear students whingeing about studying. I got married in my first year, had my first child in the second year and had my second child just before my finals.

“I finished with a 2:1, was the student union sports personality of the year, got full colours for boxing and half-colours for ski-ing.”