31/10/2026
💙If only he knew what he was starting that day…💙
One thing that cannot be copied or put through ChatGPT.…HISTORY!
Back in 1993, my dad sat at a kitchen table in a little council house with a pen, a notebook and an idea.
He didn’t have much.
He borrowed a ladder, patched up a hole in an old bucket and decided to have a go at building something for himself and his family.
No fancy equipment. No money behind him. No guarantees that any of it would work.
And none of the things we take for granted today.
No Facebook. No social media. No websites. No AI. No leaflets. No fancy advertising campaigns, not even a van.
Just a man, a borrowed ladder and the determination to make something of himself.
He did it the hard way.
On foot. Knocking on doors. Morning, noon and night.
Street after street. Door after door.
Some people said yes. Plenty probably said no.
But he’d pick up that bucket, carry that ladder and knock on the next door.
Because back then, if you wanted to build something, you had to get out there and make it happen.
And right there by his side was an 11-year-old little lad. Me. ❤️
Too young to understand what we were building, but old enough to know that wherever my dad was going, I wanted to be there with him.
Little did I know that those early days, following my dad around with his ladder and bucket( more than likely being a pain in his arse tbf) would shape the rest of my life.
And I often wonder what was going through his mind during those years.
Did he ever feel like giving up?
Did he ever wonder whether all that walking and knocking would be worth it?
Did he ever imagine that someone would still be talking about that little business 30+ years later?
I doubt it.
But what he probably didn’t realise was that he wasn’t just starting a window cleaning round.
He was changing the future of our family. ❤️
That borrowed ladder and leaky bucket eventually became something much bigger than either of us could have imagined.
Over the years, we’ve watched customers children grow up, families move into their first homes, and generations come and go.
Some of the people who gave my dad a chance all those years ago are still with us today.
In fact, our very first customer from 1993 is still on our books.
Just think about that for a moment.
Someone who opened their front door to my dad over three decades ago is still supporting the little business he started.
Today, Clear View looks after more than 3,000 customers, and we’ve got a fantastic team of people who help keep everything going.
But sometimes, amongst all the busy days, phone calls, vans and paperwork and stress I think about where it all began.
Not in a fancy office.
Not with a business plan drawn up by experts.
But around a kitchen table in a council house.
One man. One borrowed ladder. One bucket with a hole in it. And a dad who just wanted to build a better future for his family.
I’m proud of what we’ve built, Dad.
But I’ll always be prouder of where we came from - Tan yr Efail - Black Square
And I hope, when you look at what that little idea of yours has become, you realise just how much you achieved.
Because you didn’t just build a business.
You gave your family something to build their future on.
And that little 11-year-old boy who used to follow you around?
Well, he’s still here, Dad. Still carrying on what you started all those years ago. ❤️
And to every single customer who’s ever opened their door to us, whether it’s been 30 years or 30 days, you’ve been part of our family’s story.
Amongst the flashy vans and posh tools we now get to use like computers, Grammarly, Reach and wash systems with electric hose reels and data tracking tools to help us grow etc it's easy to forget how it all began.
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. ❤️
Team Clear View.
