Jonathan Reilly

The industry is evolving, and there are exciting changes coming over the next few years. In line with the Government’s plan for a net zero carbon future, and the phasing out of diesel and petrol vehicles by 2030, we will see technological advances and improvements to the charging infrastructure.

During 2021 and into 2022 the business has grown exponentially with the split between domestic and commercial installs at around 60/40, with more businesses switching their fleets to electric thus improving their green credentials.

Additionally, there have been changes to the government grant structures, with homeowners no longer being able to claim. However, more business sectors have been added to the Workplace Charging Scheme to include:

• SMEs
• Charities
• Hotels and small accommodations
• Landlords
• Apartment block owners
• Commercially let premises

Those working from home with a business registered at their home address can also claim £350 off the cost of an installation which is a welcome addition for many.

People often ask when we will stop growing the business but there isn’t an upper limit. We have established ourselves as key players in the EV charge point installer market and continue to build upon relationships with others in the industry. We are CHAS advanced contractors and are in the process of working towards ISO 9001. However, we proceed with caution having witnessed businesses growing too quickly and ending up failing because they simply don’t have the processes and procedures in place to manage the growth in a sustainable way.”

Jonathan Reilly, June 2022.

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“Having been in the commercial signage industry for 12 years, I decided I wanted a change so retrained as an electrician, gained all the necessary qualifications and registered with the NICEIC. That was back in 2010 and during that time, as a sole trader, I wasn’t really getting enough electrical work to grow as a business, so I started doing other work for people, handy man type jobs, which turned into fitting bathrooms and kitchens. However, that wasn’t my plan; I was looking for a niche.

In 2015 I tried the solar panel industry. However, I soon found that as a small company, it was very difficult to claim the grants on behalf of the customers due to the management systems you had to have in place. Then the subsidies effectively vanished so I dropped that idea and carried on doing what I was doing before.

Then back in 2016 I was at Live South –the NICEIC electricians’ annual conference which I always attend to keep on board with any up and coming rule changes and regulations. While I was there, I attended a seminar about the electric car market and found it so interesting and I thought let’s do it, let’s see what this is all about. At that time, there were electric cars about, but far less than there are now, but I could see potential in the market.

By this time I had employed another electrician and, we stopped doing any bathroom and kitchen works and moved on to installing electric vehicle charging points. I changed the name of the business from TQM Limited to Home Car Charging Solutions Limited. When we started out, we thought it would be great if we installed 3 or 4 charge points a month but now having employed more engineers, we are installing somewhere near 80 – 100 units per month.

People will always say: it must be great working for yourself, you can take time off when you want to. But what they don’t see is when you’re on holiday, and you’re still checking your emails and taking phone calls. Having your own business and working hard at it, watching it grow and develop is a continuous source of motivation and you never stop learning.

If I was to give advice to someone starting a business, I would say start out by thinking big. Build the foundations of your company on that basis from the beginning and put good systems and working methods in place. Essentially, be ready for it to be big one day.”

Jonathan Reilly, March 2020.