Mark Hatlee had been successfully running his building business since 1983. But there had always been one time-consuming little chore that he hated. Whenever he needed to make a new joint on an old, paint-encrusted pipe, he had to remove every little scrap of old paint. Using a flat blade, this took valuable time - and was very, very boring. A blowtorch, though quicker was unsafe.
After a few evenings in his garage, Mark invented a new tool that did the job in a fraction of the time. He had created something that was quicker, and a whole lot greener than a blowtorch. And he had made life easier for plumbers everywhere.
With a little help from his friends at Cookson Marketing, Mark soon had a product name, an identity, a retail website, a film demo of the tool in action, packaging and point of sale. He also had trade PR and advertising.
Next, following an targeted sales initiative by Cookson Marketing, PipeStrip became listed by a number of independent retailers, the largest of which, to date, is the Wolseley Group. As a result, PipeStrip is now available from over 500 trade outlets throughout the UK.
And plumbers everywhere can whistle a little more happily while they work.
