An Inverness family trailer firm preparing to celebrate 35years in business this year is toasting success with the development of a new £1m showroom complex.

The high-spec trailer centre is set to become the focus of DR Alexander & Son’s trailer sales in the North Highlands area and beyond and will be the first exclusively Ifor Williams Trailers showroom in Scotland.

Four new full-time jobs will be created in sales, administration, spares and servicing the state-of-the-art centre opens next month (February).

The  facility, which includes new offices,  is being built next to the firm’s current site in Seafield Road, Inverness, by local firm DY Fraser Ltd, and the centre will have space to show all models across the Ifor Williams Trailers range.

The investment marks a significant milestone for the family-run trailer business, which was established by Donald Alexander in 1982 and who at 75 is still very much involved in the day-to-day running of the business.

His son, Mark, who has worked for the family business since he was a teenager, said the expansion project was a fitting way of celebrating 35 successful years in business, which the firm will mark this year.

“We’re really excited about the new showroom and the grand opening,” said Mark, 41, who is managing director of the firm.

“The business has grown and grown and we’re really pleased with the way things have gone.

“We’ve worked very hard over the years to build our reputation and establish strong and positive relationships with our customers and in all honesty we probably could’ve expanded earlier but it feels right now and we have the added bonus of celebrating our 35^th anniversary this year which makes it very appropriate.

“There have been lots changes over the years from when I used to work with my father at the weekends as a kid. There’s a new generation of customers today and we’re really focused on delivering the full range of services they require.

“My father is really positive about moving forward with the business and we’re all very proud to be in this position.”

The showroom site was bought from the joinery firm overseeing the development, DY Fraser Ltd, which is relocating.

Bulldozers have already moved in and are demolishing some of the buildings on the site to make way for a new showroom, workshop, parts department and office space.

“It will be a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to buy or repair an Ifor Williams trailer,” said Mark, who lives in Caithness with his wife and three children.

“We’ve outgrown our current space and we’ve always wanted to better ourselves. It will be the first trailer showroom in Scotland for Ifor Williams Trailers so it’s a great achievement.

“There’s a huge market for Ifor Williams trailers in Scotland, particularly in the north, and the demand is right across the model range. We have farmers, builders and livery businesses wanting the reliability of the Ifor Williams Trailers range.

“We’ll be making sure we give our customers plenty of opportunity to see models from the range due to the increased yard space in Inverness, and by swapping stock between our Inverness and Reay depots. We’ll be able to put any model of trailer in the showroom.

“The new site will significantly increase our capacity to stock spare parts and meet our customers’ servicing needs. 

“The business has grown so much over the years and the showroom will make a huge difference to us in that we can display all the products on offer. It’s a place where people can look at the trailers, even in bad weather which is pretty common in the north of Scotland.

“We already provide spares but the new parts department will have a bigger facility to store everything a customer requires from axle beams and brakes through to lights and tyres. We’ll be able to deliver spares to all the islands in Scotland because we’ll have a bigger supply at hand.”

DR Alexander & Son is the North Highlands’ main distributor for Ifor Williams Trailers with premises in Reay, Caithness and Inverness. 

The firm currently employs six full-time staff but the showroom will create a further four full-time jobs upon completion.

“We’ve always been very keen to support the local economy and that’s one of the primary reasons we recruited a local firm to oversee the development,” said Mark.

“The new jobs will be good news for the local economy and we’re hoping to have the new recruits in post by January.”

Peter Nesbitt, the Business Development Manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, said: "We are delighted to see this investment in a new showroom which will provide an ideal shop window for our trailers.

"DR Alexander & Son are an excellent distributor with a richly-deserved reputation for top class customer service which fits in with our own ethos

"I am sure the new showroom will be a big success and will provide a springboard for even more success in future."

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News » Inverness trailer firm unveils new £1m showroom complex