Our Story
Trevor Carter - Managing Director
Our story starts in 1984 when my Father, Geoff, left his job as an Area Engineering Manager for one of the big Supermarkets after nearly 40 years and set up a business to provide Refrigeration Engineering to local Retail and Commercial Customers. He had seen the writing on the wall and didn't like the way that procurement was changing in the Retail sector as he firmly believed that decisions based solely on the lowest price, would lead to poor service and diminished skills in the Service sector.
Having served his apprenticeship in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, he had a real passion for Refrigeration, believing that Refrigeration had changed the world in a very positive way. He was right of course, think how life without Refrigeration would be. During his career he had been responsible for a number of innovations in Supermarket refrigeration.
I had been exposed to the Industry at a young age, often working with Dad at weekends and during School Holidays and from the age of 14, I found myself working with some of Dad's Sub Contractors in various Supermarkets around London and the South East.
So, upon leaving school I had landed myself a position at Prestcold, one of the U.K's leading Refrigeration Company's, in their Design Division. All fired up and ready to carry on the family tradition, I arrived for my first day at their Factory in Maidstone, only to find that they had gone into receivership that morning. Finding my career in Refrigeration cut short, I went off and did my own thing for the next 12 years.
1989 and Dad's business had really taken off. Now based in Reigate Surrey and ironically, serving a number of Supermarkets as well as a number of household Commercial and Industrial Customers. The business was growing significantly and I was invited to join him to run the Operational side of things.
The business continued to grow and during this time, I noticed an increasing interest and demand for Air Conditioning from a growing and diverse range of sources. Air Conditioning had always been the preserve of Computer suites and large Public venues up until this time and not really considered as a different discipline to Refrigeration, although some of the technical aspects are quite different.
My interest in the Air Conditioning market grew and the more I learned, the more interested I became. I started to realise that these two verticals within our sector were very different but that most of our competitors treated them and their associated Customers exactly the same and provided this "new" service in a very traditional way, not really addressing customers needs properly and providing little or no education for prospective buyers. Designs were poor and the equipment being supplied was sometimes not a good fit for the requirements and at worst, sometimes just not fit for purpose.
There had to be a better way....
1994 and unfortunately, following a short illness, Dad passed away and it was necessary to liquidate the Business to satisfy his Estate. So, in November 1994 I purchased the assets and with some of my hand picked colleagues, I established what is now CEK Air Conditioning & Ventilation and focused on the Air Conditioning & Ventilation sector and after a number of iterations, we are now dedicated to providing the very best in Air Conditioning and Ventilation in London and the South East.
What makes us different?
All of our Competitors would tell you that they are the "Best in the Industry", they have the best Engineers, the best technology, most experience and knowledge. And, indeed we have a few worthy competitors who provide good service.
We know that we provide an excellent service (our Customers tell us that) but also we understand that every day is an opportunity to learn and improve, in particular we evolve our Customer experience depending on the changing requirements of each and every Customer. We understand that each Customer has their own requirements and so we aim to provide "Air Conditioning, YOUR way".
We do things - the RIGHT way, NOT the EASY way
What does that mean to you?.... Your project delivered on time, within budget and right first time.
How we deliver this...
We were early adopters of technology, investing heavily in design and selection software to make certain that our designs reflected the exact requirements of each project.
We were leaders in implementing mobile reporting so that we could get real time feedback from our field Engineers and provide support to them in the most efficient way.
We have developed our own standards in Service and Installation to ensure that every new system is installed correctly, to our exacting standards, every time.
We employ our Engineers rather than using Sub Contractors (with some specialist trade exceptions) to make sure that we have complete control over standard and scheduling.
We provide a firm cost for your project and once agreed, we won't hit you with unexpected extra costs unless there are genuinely unforeseen circumstance. Even if this is the case, we'll work with you to minimise the impact.
If we make mistakes, we fix them at our cost. If you make a mistake that impacts on the project, we'll work with you to put it right and minimise cost and impact.
We are always open and honest in our dealings.