Carluke's Complete Weed Control looking to boost ranks and grow sales over £1m

A Carluke-based firm that describes itself as the leading Scottish company for tackling damaging weeds could grow its staff by 50 per cent in the coming year and smash the £1 million turnover barrier on the back of new business.

The company with its fleet of Weed-IT spot-weeding machines. Picture: contributed.

Complete Weed Control, the ground maintenance and weed control specialist business, has highlighted milestones such as its recent investment of £80,000 in four more Weed-IT computer-controlled spot-weeding machines, taking its fleet to seven.

It also said it has won all five of the recent local authority contracts it has tendered for, at the tender price, giving the technology-driven company a long-term work stream worth six figures over the period. Such wins could allow it to convert current seasonal jobs to full-time posts, taking the total workforce from 12 to 18, the firm added. Its turnover was just under £1m in the year to 31 May, and it expects to exceed £1m this year.

Keith Gallacher, who leads the firm in the south east and south west of Scotland. Picture: contributed.

Keith Gallacher, director of Complete Weed Control operations in the south-east and south-west of Scotland, said: “Winning our tenders with local authorities so comprehensively will have a major impact on the business.

“These deals are for up to four years with provision for extensions in several of them. We are also winning increasing amounts of work from highways agencies and private companies.”

Complete Weed Control is now an active partner with South Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Scottish Borders and Falkirk councils and has just won a grass-cutting contract with West Dunbartonshire.

It added that it is the only firm in Scotland to employ Weed-IT technology, which Gallacher said cuts product use by up to 80 per cent compared to traditional spraying methods.

Gallacher took over the Complete Weed Control franchise covering the south-west of Scotland at the age of 19 and added the franchise for south-east Scotland five years later in 2011.

SCOTSMAN.COM

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