School Supplies Service

[kme]

Has anyone heard of / used / dealt with this group? They appear legit; and I`m considering spending some money I don`t have on advertising with `em -

Thanks all

KME

 

[wozz]

01691664193 - who calls me from 01691664193? 1/2

Have a read mate. I work at a few schools, all came through knowing the facilities manager or getting a call through local advertising.

 

[oscar]

www.schoolsuppliesservice.co.uk

www.scemes.com

and

www.edfirst.co.uk

Are all limited companies owned by the same person.

Steve Meredith

7 The Cross

Oswestry

Shropshire

SY11 1RB

 

[apprentice87]

Hi, My mum was a school teacher for 44 years. So far as i know the schools all get their stuff from a massive firm called "Central supplies" These people will sell you everything from a pencil to a minibus.

As for work to the schools themselves, so far as i know ALL work is done by firms that are on the local authorities "approved suppliers" list [or what ever they call it] These "approved" firms can sub stuff out i suppose, but there is no way that a school head can just decide "ooh, we will employ berts decorators to paint the toilets" It all has to be done through the authority. At least that is how it is in my area, elsewhere might do it differently.

john...

 

[wozz]

Ive worked in loads of local authority buildings (youth clubs / centres / of things like adult learning centres, when Ive asked them they usually say there is no ''approved suppliers' list. Schools are the same, never heard of it, facilities guys use who they want, usually ask for copies of insurances and CRB clearance. The only time ive been told I cant work, is then i got asked to do a job at Bluewater, where they wanted a folder if paperwork filled in!

I used to work for a company that looked after all the school kitchens, didnt work in the schools just the kitchens, as this was run by the council not the school.

 

[revjames]

Yes its true, the last contractor I worked for was 'well in' with the LA and got lots of schools work.

 

[apprentice87]

Well at least in this area, the school can ONLY use people from the firms the LA have approved. Never mind other people might be MILES cheaper, never mind someone might be willing to do it for nothing, simply not allowed.

This applies even to buying things; Say a teacher wants a book, never mind it might be

 

[Evans Electric]

KME note that a lot of schools are breaking away from their respective councils to become Acadamies (new word for Grant maintained I guess) , which I think means they will control their own budgets . In those cases just contact the school itself .

I wouldn't want to be involved with the School Supplies Service TBH sounds like agency work to me.

 

[kme]

Thanks gang - we were considering it; but won`t bother now - You`ve just saved us some dosh we haven`t got

:x fanks

 

[Evans Electric]

Same as the Awesome Oarsman says , in my previous existance we had to be on the B,ham City Council list, and be NICEIC registered ,then the council would rotate the list , when you moved to the top 10 you recieved tenders for various council projects then after a while you went to the bottom of the list again .

 

[batty]

When i started donkeys years back my old bosses worked for schools. Most of the work was tendered for and the tenders had to be in by a certain date. They were not NICEIC registered as far as i can remember. They must have been competitive as a lot of our work was for schools. One job we did was servicing the fan heaters which we got a bonus for which made my wages up all the memories are coming back now.

 

[Evans Electric]

Batts you just reminded me of that deadline business . As you say , quotes had to be in ,usually by midday on a certain date , if you were late it just wouldn't be accepted.

Police quotes were the same , I often had a last minute panic drive from B,ham to Stourbridge to hand deliver before High Noon. Naturally there would be a thousand roadworks and every traffic light on red .

It was of course to prevent any colusion.

 

[wozz]

Last quote I did for a school was in with the building works, the builder had to hand deliver the quote to the architects in a sealed envelope. I said he should buy a wax stamp.

 

[NozSpark]

I thought I was missing out on something here,,, but then "out of the blue" I had a phone call from them today.... Whohoooo ; )

Well TBH I let him carry on with his banter for a short while,,, telling me that the headteacher is now responsible for their budget and they choose what work they want doing and who does the work... this is where I stop him as I currently do some work at a school from time to time and Mrs Noz also works in a school,,,, so we know how it works and I told him so.

 

[Ian Speirs]

The company i work for is very small and we have just had to tender for a contract with our local council to carry out electrical repairs, installls etc and is based on the national rates book. This covers all council buildings, schools, libraries and offices etc. We won the contract for the next 5 years.

 

[alpha spark]

Just had the call today I searched into google and its already been talked about on here. Looks like I've saved my self some money again. Thanks tef

 

[batty]

It is a good place this is.

 

[kme]

A-men to that

 

[M107]

The schools I do work for if they are an academy can source their own contractors as they are responsible for their own budgeting, if they are state run then if the work is below a set costing, they can again source the contractor them selves using school budgets, but if its a larger work/cost it has to go out to tender & is dealt with by the likes of capita.

As for getting on an approved list, the only list you need to get on is the caretakers like list (no such thing as the mythical LA approved list)............do a good job at a realistic price & work to their hours (after school/during holidays) put into the tea fund & your name will soon get passed around the local school fraternity......even to the point where you do work at the teachers & governors homes.

Funny enough I'm off to work at a school today to put in a couple of extractors.