‘Business started with a door found in a skip, is now making £2m a year’ says boss of Luton upcycling company

The founder of Luton upcycling company Green Doors has described how his business is battling a wasteful industry and how dyslexia and ADHD have been his “superpowers”.

Home grown success story Joseph Holman started his upcycling business when he pulled a set of French doors out of a skip while training as a plumber.

A decade on, he employs over 30 staff and operates out of a 50,000 sq ft warehouse filled with thousands of spruced up doors and windows.

“Last year, we rescued over 3,000 items and turned over nearly £2m,” said Joseph. “Not bad for a company that literally grew out of a skip. “Also, so far, we have not had any investment and have grown by reinvesting our profits back into the business.”

Joseph estimates around one third of waste globally comes from the construction industry with skips filled with rubbish from home renovations, office refurbishments and building sites, most of it going straight to landfill.

He explained more than 10 billion doors are produced every year. “Some don’t even make it out of the factory. Although a small amount of these are recycled, nothing is better than reusing”, says Joseph who saw waste as a major business opportunity and chance to make a difference.

Joseph was just 12 when, using his dad’s eBay account, he invested his birthday and pocket money into a bulk order of magnetic ‘stick and ball’ games, which he then sold on.

“I ended up netting a profit of around £2,000 in just six weeks and, from then on, I was hooked on buying and selling anything I could.”

Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia at the age of seven, Joseph struggled at school. But his parents didn't see selling on eBay as a career choice so Joseph decided to try his hand at plumbing. “I was on a £700 apprenticeship wage but making £3,000 to £4,000 a month selling second-hand boiler parts from jobs on eBay.”

It was while working as a plumber in 2014 that Joseph was inspired to set up Green Doors.

He said: “Walking past a skip, I noticed a set of modern, white uPVC French doors. I dug them out, loaded them on to my mate's plumbing van, cleaned them up and advertised them on eBay. They sold the next day for hundreds of pounds.”

Joseph spent days scouring skips for more doors but soon found a “mountain destined for landfill” outside a door and window company. He bought the lot from the owner.

With this stock secured, Joseph packed up his plumbing career and founded his company with a plan to disrupt a wasteful industry.

“Friends and family thought I was delusional and urged me to stick with plumbing, but I knew I could make a difference,” he recalls.

The first few years were tough, making a business from reselling doors and windows was harder than he expected.

“To say it's been a rollercoaster is a bit of an understatement, it feels like we are building the theme park.

“I was stressed, depressed and on the verge of giving up daily and although profitable, still no one could see my vision,” he says.

“For the last ten years, I've paid myself near minimum wage for the hours I've worked and reinvested all profits back into the company.

“We are on a mission to ensure all doors get a second life. It makes sense both economically and environmentally.”

Joseph now attributes his business abilities to his neurodiversity. “Looking back, all my childhood I assumed I wouldn't get anywhere due to my disabilities.

“Now, I know these ‘superpowers’, as Sir Richard Branson would say, are what have got me to where I am today.

“They have given me the ability to see the bigger picture, think differently and take risks."