Graham Steele’s Lifecote DPA

Back in October 2011, @dampproofinblog on twitter, which we all now know is the personal megaphone of Mr Steele was spouting it’s bile against anyone and every one and particularly the Property Care Association (PCA). We also now know why he singled them out in particular. The PCA started a court action against him and Lifecote for trying to use the BWPDA name and won. This left Mr Steele a very bitter man and boy has everyone had to suffer.

Having burnt his bridges in that department he would be unlikely to gain membership of the PCA. As the leading organisation in the preservation industry, they do have standards.

What can a man do when he or his organisation are ineligible to join an organisation like the PCA? The only answer is to start your own association and so was born the Institute of Structural and Remedial  Treatments (ISRT).  It was a quaint choice of name. Indeed it was very similar to the the Institute of Remedial Treatment Surveyors (IRTS), a well established organisation. Coincidence?

First Mr Steele tried to use the BWPDA name and then uses a rehash of the letters IRTS. A pattern is beginning to show here.

Eventually after lots of bad press he ‘rebrands’ the ISRT. The ISRT (London) Ltd was actually dissolved before presenting accounts to Companies House. The rebranding as he calls it, is in the form of the Damp Proofing Association (DPA).

So what is the DPA all about?

The function of the DPA is to provide contact details of professional contractors to members of the public or commercial companies that require our member services.

So it seems to be open to all contractors and not just Lifecote franchisees. It even states as much

Small contractors are very welcome to join the Association and with our help and business skills your business will grow.

Membership is open to all, and particularly to the smaller contractor, who needs assistance in developing their business.

In fact the DPA website states that 51 members have joined the DPA this year alone. What this means is that if we actually believe these figures (which I don’t) then there are others apart from franchisees who have joined. This can only be good for them because with the DPA assistance their business will develop and grow.

Unfortunately there is always a catch where Mr Graham Steele is involved.

Not only is the membership fee between £500-800 +VAT it seems they will get diddly squat in terms of leads. In an email Mr Graham Steele wrote the following

Please note the DPA is essentially a Lifecote marketing tool and will not favour other members I can assure you!

Let me repeat that if anyone who has just paid £800 +VAT and was hoping to get some leads is under any illusions.

THE DPA IS ESSENTIALLY A LIFECOTE MARKETING TOOL

and how ill it help you?

IT WILL NOT FAVOUR NON LIFECOTE FRANCHISEES, MR GRAHAM STEELE ASSURES YOU

Mr Bsc

During the dampproofingblog.com and twitter @dampproofinblog campaigns to discredit other reputable companies, Mr Graham Steele has taken delight to inform readers about his BSc although he has always declined to let anybody know what his degree is for. Many have made their own assumptions but then out of the blue in December 2011 Mr Graham Steele on the LifecoteGroup twitter feed revealed

Well I have a Degree in Material Science specialising in Moisture diffusion in building products.

I was impressed, as I  always thought that if he did indeed hold a degree it would be some Marketing discipline or the family tradition of psychology. His LinkedIn homepage reveals not only has he got 1 connection but also that he obtained his degree from  the University of  Hertfordshire.

So impressive is this degree that I though I might enquire with the University of Hertfordshire to see if there were any places left on forthcoming courses. Their reply came back

Hi Richard,

Unfortunately we do not offer that degree course.

Now there’s a thing!

Do We Stay or Do We Go?

I have a story that I hope helps any current franchisee caught up in the Lifecote saga headed by the egotistical Mr Graham Steele.

I know a couple of guys who set up their own joinery firm in the house building industry. All their work was for one of the biggest house builders. In a short space of time these two guys went from the tools to turning over nearly £2million. We were talking in the golf club and I commented on the dangerousness of having all their eggs in one basket i.e. having essentially only one customer. I commented that if they fell out of favour or if a new director came in and didn’t like their faces their revenue could stop virtually overnight. They felt comfortable that this would not happen and continued as they were.

I also have another couple of guys who had a few years earlier set up their own plastering business and had in the region of 40-50 men. They had started in much the same way but their customer base included a few house builders, small builders, private work etc. I used these guys as an example when I was speaking to the joinery lads as they knew them also.

Within 24 months the recession hit and the main house builders more or less closed down and many shut up shop in the North West. The company that used the joinery firm was one of these and the joiners saw their business spiral downwards too much the same place as when they had started albeit they had a few more quid saved and had paid their mortgages off.

The plastering guys laid a few off but escaped relatively unscathed.

The moral is that you never put all your eggs in one basket.

How does this relate to Lifecote? Mr Graham Steele has sold franchises to people who were looking for an investment. Some of these people had no experience prior to the franchise and so relied solely on Lifecote’s leads. Others already had a damp proofing businesses and supplemented their business with Lifecote’s leads.

If you fall foul of Mr Graham Steele he can, and has, stopped the leads overnight and thus unless you have promoted your business to find another income stream you will find that overnight your investment is down the pan.

You may well have bought a franchise for £10k and paid ‘royalties’ of 9% on every sale and built it up to turnover £150k, but it is now worthless.

So whats my advice?

Mr Graham Steele has taken his Lifecote brand into the gutter with his antics on dampproofingblog.com @dampproofinblog on twitter and by the cowardly cyber attacks on people and businesses.

Lifecote Ltd has unpaid court judgements against it and unhappy customers. What is his reply to this

go fot it areashole…………not one penny will you get lol  i could not care less

As each day goes by and more and more people are directed to this blog,  Lifecote will lose customers and revenue because of his antics. Surely no one will sign on the dotted line if they undertake the basic due diligence of Googling ‘Graham Steele Lifecote’.

Franchisees will end up with nothing if they sit back and wait. This is only going one way. Downwards for Lifecote and Mr Graham Steele. I cannot say too much at this time but believe me when I say that bad times are only round the corner.

If you a franchisee and are reading this I would suggest that you immediately start to explore new avenues for self promotion and leads. If you are relying solely on Lifecote leads then you might be in trouble. I have no axe to grind with the people and businesses under the ‘Lifecote umbrella’ and in fact I feel for them. Everyone that I have spoken to seem honest, likeable people. But your leader has started the demise of your business.

If you are turning over £150k you could immediately save 9% of that which equates to £13.5k. This should go towards advertising and promotion.

You will no doubt be able to save probably 30% on your chemical costs buying direct from the supplier.

The loss of initial turnover should be cushioned by the increase in profit due to the savings. In other words you will be doing less work but making more profit. For example if your turnover dropped by 50% to £75k you would make an extra £6750.00 (9%) profit on the remaining £75k. Couple this with your chemical savings and it’s not all bad.

The downside is you will have no more Lifecote leads but these are going to dry up eventually and if you dare upset Mr Graham Steele like others have done your business will go from hero to zero overnight anyway.

The Antics of a Child

This is just a quick post to relay even more evidence of Mr Graham Steele’s childish antics which smack of sheer desperation.

As predicted he has started another website in dedication to me. What does it comprise you ask? Apparently a picture of me and Bryan Hindle. In fact its a picture of some strains of virus? I know, I know..don’t even go there.

What this does show is that he is starting to feel the pressure of being exposed as a liar and cheat.

Dampproofingblog is not much better. It uses the same tactics as before; false reviews and claims of insolvency for Richard G Johnson Ltd, BT Preservation and Olympic Construction. I reckon the three of us could put our hands on more money than Mr Graham Steele has ever had in any bank account and certainly more than Lifecote Ltd or Lifecote Europe Ltd.

Although I have offered to email a copy of  my accounts to anybody who asks, nobody has bothered which says it all.

I have unfortunately had a complaint and it goes like this

Mrs Clifton of Cheshire writes to the blog: (dampproofingblog that is, not mine)

“Having seen your blog on the internet I want to share my experience of Richard Johnson with your readers. We asked Mr Johnson to look at some work our builders had undertaken, he arrived smelling strongly of alcohol”.

“Firstly he demanded £20 to cover his petrol costs “in cash” he said he only works for cash saving VAT and income tax. He then undertook a survey of our loft conversion which took 5 minutes. He then said he wanted another £50 in cash to write the report. We showed him the door”

Mr Clifton of Cheshire? Not one of my clients! They showed me the door? What was wrong with the door then?

Anyway, you can see Mr Graham Steele’s world is getting even more hazy. I’m getting really worried about his mental health now.

The Counter Attacks Start Again

Quite clearly we have hit a raw nerve with this site. The dampproofingblog.wordpress.com website has decided to publish yet more claims which can’t be substantiated.

BT Preservation is first on the list to be targeted. Apparently after 25 years of successful trading with tons of works on the order book, they are ‘projected’ by the blogger to go insolvent! As such the guarantee’s will be worthless it claims. The blog forgets one important fact, the guarantees are insurance backed unlike the schemes run by Lifecote and the ISRT.

Next on the list is Olympic Construction. Apparently he is insolvent full stop. This is despite trading successfully and making a profit with a full order book.

Last of course is Richard G Johnson Ltd. I’m often found ‘halking’ around Cheshire apparently! I ‘claim’ to be a member of the Chartered Institute of Building (a claim I have made since 1995 when I was first admitted, to be honest) and I only work for cash. A dead link supposedly leads to my accounts.

Desperation springs to mind!

I think the blogger needs a lesson in accounting and in particular how to interpret accounts. The profit shown on abbreviated accounts is net profit after trading costs etc., not before. Therefore, if the bottom line is positive then the company is making money. If it is negative it isn’t. Trading insolvent is different altogether.

These types of tactics have been used before and will not work.