From the age of nine Dundee businessman Andrew Renwick was chasing leads for the family firm.
While most children his age were delivering papers, Andrew would be stamping suppliers’ invoices, sorting cheques and writing customer addresses.
Three decades later and the 42-year-old is now managing director of Caltech Lifts.
Started by his father Howard in 1978, Andrew has grown the company to be one of the largest of its kind in Scotland.
Caltech Lifts currently has 30 staff and Andrew, who works with his brother Fraser, is targeting £6m revenue by 2026.
Career ambitions
The dad-of-two always knew he had an ambition to work for the family company, he just wasn’t sure when.
The former Monifieth High School pupil left school at the age of 17 and then studied economics at Dundee University.
During his time at university, Andrew was heavily involved in the boxing club, being named club captain from 2002 to 2005, and competed in lightweight and light welterweight classes.
After graduating, he ran Dundee University Sports Union as president for a year.
After that, Andrew decided to take a year out and went travelling visiting family in the east coast of America and Australia.
The former Barnhill Primary pupil said: “I ended up working out there, doing landscape gardening, labouring and things like that.
“I lived in youth hostels and made some great friends with great experiences.”
‘Assault left me with 27 fractures’
But Andrew also went through a “horrendous” time which saw him end up with 27 fractures to his face after being assaulted.
He said: “There was really bad racial riots at the time between Lebanese and white Australians.
“Police in Sydney were lining the streets and said it’s the worst they’d seen since the 70s.
“At the time I had my kilt on, and unfortunately the Lebanese guys had taken against me with my kilt, so I got hit with a brick.
“I ended up with four titanium plates in my face, and a bit of recovery.
“It didn’t get me down. It was just one of these things in life and I’m here to tell the tale.”
Start of Caltech Lifts journey
Upon returning home in 2007, Andrew briefly worked for whisky brand Whyte & Mackay, before joining the family business.
The Dundee-headquartered firm maintains 1,500 lifts in the UK, completes installation projects, and also sells stairlifts.
Andrew, dad to Maggie,10, and seven-year-old Mabel, was determined to prove himself in the job and not just be seen as the boss’s son.
He said: “I started off at the very bottom and took a pay cut and a car allowance cut.
“I went from a brand new Volkswagen Jetta to a 15-year-old Ford Focus.
“I didn’t want to come in as the boss’s son. I wanted to prove myself.
“Business development was my first job to try to pick up sales.
“I had no engineering background whatsoever, but my dad, even though it was a small team, it was a good one.
“He had a very good technical manager who’s still with us today, Paul Phillip.
“So I tapped into a lot of Paul’s knowledge and I did sales for about six months before I took on the general manager role.”
Learning on site at Caltech Lifts
It was during this time that Andrew’s passion to always keep learning really shone through.
He said: “I was basically managing all the projects. At the age of 24 I was going into these big site meetings with construction teams of big builders.
“I’d bring Paul along for his knowledge, but you were trying to learn lift regulations, lift engineering, contract management.
“I was really having to wing it and learn as I went. It was tough, but when you are passionate about a subject, you enjoy it.
“I was learning lift regulations, sizes and engineering principles of how it all works.”
Andrew didn’t shy away from the challenge and embraced it all wholeheartedly.
He said:Â “I enjoyed it and got a real buzz. Being thrown in the deep end, you have a lot of responsibility, so you don’t really have any choice. It’s that kind of fight or flight.
“I’m always trying to learn. People laugh at me, but in my life, whether I’m out in the garden or unloading the dishwasher, you’ll see me with headphones in.
“I’m not listening to music, I’m listening to podcasts or audiobooks, and it’s always useful things.”
Move to bigger premises
It was in 2013 when Howard decided to retire and Andrew, who operates Caltech with brother Fraser, took over as managing director.
In March last year the brothers acquired the former McGill premises in a £1 million deal.
The building in Harrison Road now operates as Affinity Business Centre, with several sitting tenants.
The duo, with two business partners, have set up a new company, Calsum Property Ltd.
Caltech moved from its former base in Port of Dundee to Affinity Business Centre in July last year.
Andrew, who lives in Auchterarder, said: “We always wanted to buy somewhere bigger.
“We’re carrying on running it as a business centre because it makes sense. It’s quite profitable.
“We needed something for our growth. We’ve got one of the main offices and a warehouse.
“Two warehouses are rented out and there’s about another 20 offices here, which are rented out to various businesses.”
‘It was a game changer for us’
During the years Andrew has faced many business challenges including a shortage of skilled workers.
But the closure of the former Michelin tyre factory in 2020 with the loss of 850 jobs did lead to a silver lining for some workers thanks to Caltech Lifts.
Andrew said: “One of the big challenges that goes on today is probably the skills gap and the labour shortage.
“That’s a really tough one in the lift industry. After the financial crash in 2008, you saw a lot of multinationals put a halt to apprenticeships.
“We’ve got two apprentices just now, one in the office and one out in the field.
“This includes our first female apprentice lift engineer, Bobbi, who came from Michelin.
“The transferable skills from a well-trained electrical-mechanical engineer — like those from Michelin — were an absolute game-changer for us.
“We must have at least 10 ex-Michelin engineers working for us now. And they’re world-class when it comes to their engineering.”
Expansion plans
Looking to the future Andrew is hoping to add a second office in Glasgow and reach £6m turnover by 2026.
He said: “We’ve got a pretty full order book this year.
“Probably our next move would be looking at doing more in the Central Belt.
“We’ve got a lot of lifts in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There’s so much work to be had through there.”
Conversation