We were approached by a chimney sweep who was working locally on a number of chimneys requiring a safe means of access to replace liners and maintain chimney stacks on older properties with a huge variation of roof pitches, stack heights, widths, and depths.
The cost of scaffolding was prohibitive due the short duration of the work involved. Many tradesmen had previously refused to take on the work because of the difficulty of gaining safe access. They simply saw it as “too risky” and/or “too difficult”.
The sweep who agreed to take on the work was an ex RAF engineer who took up sweeping after he left the forces. He had a rough sketch of what he thought he needed, so he made appointments to see a number of tower manufacturers with a view to having one unit manufactured.
He left them all a little disappointed as they all asked the same question, “How many do you want?”. When his reply was, “Just the one” none of them were interested. On his way home, he stopped to fill up with diesel and saw our sign on the nearby building. He decided to pop in to see what work we did and was surprised by what he found. He chatted to us, explaining his ideas and what he thought he needed. We looked at his requirements and took his ideas to the next level, doing everything we could to ensure his work platform would comply with any standards we thought could be applicable. We took his concept and made it a reality, utilising our existing components and materials to create a stable working platform with guardrails and toeboards that could be assembled safely by one person; there’s only so much space to work on a single roof ladder!
Happy with his new platform, he took it away and used it for a few months, during which time we heard nothing from him. Then, one day out of the blue, he returned with platform in hand and some ideas for additional features. He explained what he thought he needed and left his platform with us to modify, which we did. A week later, he took his platform away and we heard nothing from him again for a few months.
When he next returned, he had nothing but praise for his new platform and suggested we took a stand at the show to market them. We naturally replied with the question, “What show?”. “The National Association of Chimney Sweeps trade show.” he replied. Like everybody we’ve told since, we giggled at the thought, but it turned out he was one of the founding members and it really was a thing!
We decided it was worth a try as the cost of a trade stand at their show was comparatively low so now, we had to come up with a name for it, we couldn’t just call it the platform for working on chimneys. Eventually, it was decided to call it the CARS Unit (Chimney Access Ridge Stand) and the name stuck. That was over 30 years ago, and the CARS Unit is still in production with hundreds of units in use throughout the country, and it all started with one man, an idea, and a need to solve a problem.
If you have an access issue and the beginnings of an idea…
Please get in touch today!
Image source: Canva