Alsford Timber and Builder’s Merchant

About Alsford Timber and Builder’s Merchant

Alsford is the largest independent Timber & Builder’s Merchant in South East England, with 19 branches across Kent, Surrey, London, East Sussex and West Sussex, supplying timber, tools and building materials.

In addition to retail locations supplying both Trade and DIY customers, we support nationwide and regional developers through our dedicated teams with direct to site and call off services.

Our Mill operation is based at our Head Office in Dartford, and is available to all customer types for bespoke orders. As a business we also offer timber treatment facilities, CNC Machining, Bandsaw Machining, Cutting services, Bespoke timber sourcing, brick matching service, design and supply service for Steico Engineered Floor Joists, and a Dry Lining Specialist supply service.

Established in 1882 we’ve spent over 140 years creating the Alsford brand you see today because, like you, we believe in building things to last.

Company culture

We pride ourselves on Alsford being a great place to work through our values, wellbeing support, and family-feel culture.

We truly believe that we have an extraordinary team in place who are integral to our success.

In 2024 we shared a new company vision for Alsford ‘to be core to our customer’s success through advancing products, services and expertise’. As part of new vision we also wanted to introduce a mission for Alsford. This summarises what we do, and our why. Launched in 2024 our Mission is ‘Working together to improve every building project’.

The Alsford company values were founded from our teams themselves and are a reminder both of who we are as a company, and how we as individuals represent Alsford. Our values are; Honourable, Inspiring, United, Passionate, Innovative and Fun.

Our teams are close-knit, working in overlapping functions that means full company events are a hive of catch ups and nice to see yous, as we cement those closely built relationships between departments such as Accounts, Commercial, Sales and Branches.

Employee benefits and perks

Alsford believe that employee welfare and enjoyment of work, is vital. In addition to the benefits listed below, Alsford is an accredited Investor In People employer, and currently undertaking accreditation in the National Standard for Psychological Safety.

• Annual pay reviews
• Profit share incentive schemes (reviewed annually)
• Employee assistance program that provides services such as financial advice, talking therapies and more for both employees and their family members
• Personal health checks
• 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays), holiday increases with service
• Length of service awards
• Team social events
• Employee “Offspring Club”
• Will Writing Service
• 2 Hours off on your Birthday
• Staff discount for building materials
• In-house training schemes
• Company life assurance of 4 x basic annual salary
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay
• Free Parking available at most locations
• Refer a friend scheme

Career development and growth

Alsford pride itself on developing individuals, and all team members will have every opportunity to progress within our expanding business. Whether you wish to go from yard to branch, or team member to manager, we endeavour to support ambitions and individual goals.

Through our annual reviews, individuals have the opportunity to discuss training opportunities offered via internal training, industry representatives, and external providers. Individuals may also be approached at other times by their Manager to discuss opportunities we think are suitable to them.

We run our own internal academy training, for all branch members to be given uptodate, and relevant product and production information to effectively complete their roles at Alsford. We also use external companies to ensure individual role training is being kept up-to-date such as forklift training, machinery safety training, and other essentials to safely complete your role, all of which will be funded by Alsford.

Each department has its own progression structure, and we welcome team members who are keen to grow themselves, as well as mentor their colleagues through the sharing of knowledge.

Sustainability / environmental stewardship

Environmental Commitment

Purchasing

At Alsford we have a fundamental commitment to ensuring that all timber based products traded through our business are responsibly sourced. Our membership of BM TRADA and ensures adherence and compliance to a strict set of independently audited guidelines. For over a decade we have maintained rigorous standards to achieve Chain of Custody certification for both the Forest Stewardship Council®, FSC® (FSC-CO13153) and the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification, PEFC (PEFC/16-37-020).

Packaging

We are registered with an accredited agent to support us with our obligations under the Packaging & waste regulations. Our ongoing commitment to reduce our impact in this area includes the elimination and reduction of packaging wherever necessary. If we cannot re use our suppliers packaging in a safe and efficient manner only then will we purchase recycled packaging products for our own use.

Waste Management & Recycling

We monitor and measure our effectiveness across all areas of our branch network to minimise the volume of waste we produce. Our partners support us with detailed reporting and meet with us to review progress on a Quarterly basis to ensure targets are met. Using our own commercial fleet we return and recycle product at our own Recycling Centre at Erith in Kent. This supports our branches in reducing the burden of individual accountability and allows us to control and monitor our position as we aim to exceed our 95% target.

Pollution

Our Commercial fleet is amongst the youngest in the country with the average age of our trucks at 3.4 years. All commercial drivers are assessed on a regular basis to check on and improve driving standards with league tables used to assist in improving performances. Telematics is maximised to monitor driving styles i.e. harsh braking, harsh acceleration and vehicle idling. Alsford actively discourage vehicle idling and have introduced a zero tolerance approach to vehicle idling at all Alsford branches. We have also recently invested in upgrading our telematics system in order to monitor our CO2 output. Reports are published on a monthly basis informing drivers of their performance. Alsford’s own training assessors hold drivers’ Tool box talks’ which are designed to generate discussion and raise awareness between drivers on various environmental subjects.