Two local brothers are celebrating 40 years in business after starting up as an installation business from premises on the High Street in Bloxwich.

  Martin and Gary Hackett (pictured) founded Leamore Windows and made window frames first at premises in Dudley Fields before moving to their current purpose built showroom and factory in Reaymer Close in Bloxwich.  

  "Martin had started out in building with our father, Stanley Hackett" said Gary "and, at that time, Martin had started doing glazing and then I joined up with him to start the business.  At that time there was a boom in double glazing and people were changing from old single glazed windows.  Initially we were buying in the units from a manufacturer, but we then saw the  opportunity to make our own glass sealed units.  It gave us the advantage of being in control of getting products when we needed them".

  Leamore Windows now employs a workforce of 75 people and has grown steadily over the years to have an annual turnover of £10 million and is now making 1,000 double-glazed units and 450 window and door frames each week.

  "We have been through a few recessions over the years" explained Gary "and have had to cut our cloth accordingly but we have had steady natural growth over that time."  

Leamore Windows has 36,000 square feet of space in Reaymer Close, Bloxwich, including its own glass factory where the cutting takes place.  There are two factories in Reaymer Close where manufacturing takes place including a third that is currently being renovated for use for composite door manufacture.    

"About 50% of our turnover is from retail domestic installations with the rest from selling frames to the building trade and to other window companies" said Gary Hackett.  "The bulk of the domestic enquiries we get are still from recommendations from satisfied customers and from people who know that we have been about for a long time and are still based in Bloxwich.  People also see our vans about and about in the area - we have 20 vans out every day on fittings and deliveries to site".  

Brothers Gary and Martin Hackett are joint managing directors of the business which now serves the whole of the Black Country and as far afield as Stafford, Great Barr, Albrighton and Halesowen. 

    "Often we are changing windows for customers that we fitted 20 years ago because people are looking to improve security and energy efficiency explained Gary.  "We started out serving the local area and then going from glazing to double glazing and then uPVC frames when that got big in the 1980s and from that we started out own manufacturing".  

  According to Gary Hackett, Leamore Windows has adapted with the times and now makes more than 30 different designs of doors and the same amount of windows  using uPVC and composites.

  In the last decade it has expanded into providing tiled roofs for extensions and re-roofing existing conservatories.