How Liam’ s decision to start his own firm paid off
ENGINEERING
Driving force – Imperial Engineering owner and director Liam Shaw.
WORDS: DAVE ROBSON PICTURES: CHRIS BOOTH
How Liam’ s decision to start his own firm paid off
IMPERIAL SERVICE
From working out of his van to running his own successful engineering firm – it’ s been quite a four-year journey for Liam Shaw.
When Liam used his life savings to begin Imperial Engineering in 2022, it was a bit of a leap into the unknown.
But four years on, it’ s paid off handsomely, with the Stillington-based firm now a team of five and boasting a string of notable clients for its turnkey engineering solutions.
Skelton lad Liam“ found” mechanical engineering as an 18-year-old. He recalls:“ A few of my friends were doing it and I thought it sounded right up my street.”
After studying mechanical fitting at TTE and an apprenticeship at Tees Components, he landed- via a stint at British Steel- a mechanical supervisor role at Biffa on the Wilton International site, near Redcar.
But with Biffa being bought out, and with ambitions to run his own firm to help plug the industry’ s skills gap, Liam took the plunge in 2022.
He said:“ It was D-Day for me. Yet almost immediately, two offers of work came in – one for 14 days and the other for 10, running back to back.
“ It was‘ now or never’ – I’ d set the business up and invested my money, so if I didn’ t take the opportunity, I was never going to do it. And I thought no one could
Workshop – fabricator Karl Stonehouse weld prepping an end cap. take my qualifications away if it didn’ t work out.”
But work out it did, thanks initially to the hours he put in, driving around in his Vauxhall Vivaro van to do unsociable hours and carrying out work others wouldn’ t touch, combined with his scrupulously high standards.
He chose the name Imperial Engineering“ because it sounded bigger than we were”.
He explains:“ I thought it was a name we could grow into. I didn’ t want to call it something like‘ Liam Shaw Engineering’ because I knew I’ d want to change it in the future if we went along the path I wanted to. I didn’ t want to be just like a backstreet firm.”
With his workload growing, he needed a base.“ I was doing work for global companies. So, when they were asking me where I was based and I said,‘ My van’, I knew I needed somewhere.”
The first base was a“ shoe box” workshop on Lingdale Industrial Estate. A few months later, he moved in at Goldswains Court, Stillington, where he’ s been for nearly two years.
And with business going so well, he admits it’ s a case of when, not if, he gets bigger premises.
The team is currently Liam, 31, plus workshop supervisor Dean Haw, fabricators Karl Stonehouse and Aaron Wade and mechanical fitter Neil Graham, although he’ s currently looking for another mechanical fitter.
Imperial recently invested heavily in gaining both ISO9001 and EN1090 accreditation. And for potential customers
Vision – Liam his sights on more growth.
wanting an idea of the work it does, the firm’ s website is regularly updated with excellent examples.
A busy time, then, for dad-of-two Liam – and he also has to fit in his marriage to partner Georgina in August!
He smiled:“ With everything going on, I’ ve got my hands full but I’ ve absolutely no regrets.
“ We’ ve just had a record year, but I’ ve reinvested that profit in better equipment so we can do more things in-house and control it a bit more.
“ And we put quality before anything. If a job wasn’ t right, I’ d rather lose the profit than not deliver the job to the standard we pride ourselves on. I can’ t bear the thought of sending something out the door that’ s subpar.
“ We get lots of repeat business because they’ re so happy with what we do.
“ I want my business to be at the forefront of people’ s minds so that when they have a mechanical overhaul or need a largescale fabrication – anything from urgent breakdowns to planned overhauls – they think,‘ We’ ll go to Imperial Engineering first’.”
Visit imperialengineering. uk
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