The team at JBH Refurbishments feel enormous pride and utter elation to be shortlisted for the Business Awards Kent in the ‘Family Business of the Year’ category.
From their humble beginnings as a husband-and-wife duo, working from the spare room in their family home, Babs and Jason Hubbard have come a long way in the past 21 years.
Today JBH delivers prestigious commercial interior refurbishments to clients throughout London, Kent and the wider South East. Throughout their growth, Babs and Jason has maintained a sense of family within the business and have gone on to employ family members – brother, Frazer Hubbard and future son-in-law, Dave Newing.
Regardless of personal relationships with some of the team, the Directors welcome every member of staff and subcontractors to their extended family with open arms. These close-knit and personable relationships mean JBH has never experienced a high turnover of staff. The few that have left to explore new ventures have stayed in touch, which is testament to JBH’s family business culture.
“We are incredibly proud to have cultivated the careers of our team, from trainees to experienced individuals, we try to offer opportunities to develop where possible. Consequently, our team have helped us to grow and flourish as a company,” explains Babs Hubbard.
“Because of the team’s hard work and dedication, we have experienced growth in new sectors and widened our service area beyond Kent. The secret to our success is our reputation for delivering quality workmanship, service, communication, and marketing. Again, this takes us back to our amazing team, who uphold our values of quality, collaboration, professionalism, and innovation.”
Sustainability is Part of The JBH Culture
As well as growing their business and building a solid reputation, JBH is passionate about ensuring the planet is protected for future generations.
Although, they are a small family run business, the company is making pace to reduce their own carbon emissions, while providing feedback to the government on the issues surrounding Net Zero emissions within the construction sector.
“We are working with the Finishes and Interiors Sector focus group to establish best practice solutions for reducing the carbon emissions in construction,” explains Jason.
“As a team, we have developed our own sustainable action plan, which outlines how we limit our impact on the environment now and how intend to do so in the future. By having a plan and communicating it with our team and clients, we hope to instil a culture where we all stop and think about how the decisions we make now impact on our future.”
Giving Back to Community Projects and Beyond
Being considerate to the environment is a big part of JBH’s innovative and collaborative culture, which extends to the local community where the company is based.
“JBH is a thriving family business within the village of Staplehurst, and our local community, where we live and work, is incredibly important to us,” explains Babs.
“We frequently donate time and money to local projects to ensure the village environment is somewhere that everyone can enjoy. In addition, we sponsor the primary school panto and the community annual Merit Awards, which celebrates individuals (one child and one adult), who have been recognised as pillars of the community.
During the pandemic, JBH cooked Christmas and Boxing Day dinners for people within the village who were on their own during the festive period.
The company also frequently supports of causes far beyond Staplehurst that are close to their heart. Throughout the year, the Directors donate to the homeless night shelter in Ashford and, have in the past, extensively fundraised for Cancer Research.
Our Future
Looking ahead, JBH plans to retain a family business culture, showing compassion, being considerate to others, and supportive.
“Our priority is and always will be to encourage personal growth among our team and grow the business steadily, so that we continue to deliver the excellent service we currently provide,” concludes Babs.
