Forget A Star is Born – this is more a case of a Star Tech is reborn.

The Poole-based independent service centre is marking its 15^th anniversary – and its best-ever year of trading – by investing more than £40,000 in a complete makeover of its two workshops.

It includes the installation of eight brand new Rotary hydraulic lifts – including one for long wheelbases such as funeral limousines – and a new floor covering.

As this timelapse video here shows, the transformation is dramatic.

And Founder and Managing Director Matt Peacock couldn’t be happier.

He said: “I’m over the moon. It just looks so good.

“It’s important for our team, who deserve the best possible working conditions, but also our customers.

“We’ve just had our best-ever year and also received an amazingly high score from our clients for the service we provide.

“I’m very pleased.”

Star Tech, a technical specialist for Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, MINI and Smart cars, began life on April 4, 2006.

Matt, 26 at the time, founded the company at its present premises in Creekmoor, with just one person working for him.

The former Corfe Hills School student had been determined to launch his own business.

Working for a main Mercedes dealer for ten years had proved a valuable training ground.

The first year’s turnover was £200,000.

In 2019 – and with the active encouragement of his business mentor and now Non-Executive Director Philip Warr – it hit £1m.

Last year, and despite the pandemic, Star Tech saw its turnover increase further to £1.2m.

The business plans to take on more staff – including two technicians and a service advisor – this year bringing the total headcount up to 19.

It now has 9,000 clients on its database with about 5,000 deemed to be active.

The new Rotary lifts replaced equipment which was 21 years old having been purchased as second hand when Matt started Star Tech.

Shipping from China was delayed by Matt’s decision to go for an electric blue, to fit in with the company’s corporate colours, and also being lost for several weeks at the arrival port in the UK.

Installation was carried out by Bullworthy, a specialist in garage equipment, workshop planning and installation.

Matt, pictured above, said: “The Bullworthy installation engineers – Tom, Kevin and Mark – were amazing.

“Their help and support throughout the installation process was more than I could have hoped for.

“Especially while constantly tweaking the lifts to make sure we were happy with their final locations.

“It was nice to deal with a company that has good values.”

Seven of the eight Rotary lifts can take up to 4.5 tonnes with the eighth specifically designed for up to 5.5 tonnes and vehicles with a longer wheelbase.

“This is ideal for something like a funeral limousine.

“We think this could open up quite a new market for us,” said Matt who is married to Tina, Star Tech’s Marketing Manager.

The couple have two children.

The re-covering of the concrete floor in the two workshops was the icing on the cake and, said Matt, looked “absolutely amazing.”

The makeover of its workshops happened as the company was celebrating a huge vote of confidence from its clients.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a ranging index from -100 to 100 which measures a customer’s satisfaction with the services provided and their loyalty to, in this case, Star Tech as a company.

A good score is anywhere above 0.

Above 20 is favourable, 50 and above is excellent and above 80 is ‘world class’ according to Bain & Co, the source of the NPS system.

Star Tech scored 87.

Matt said: “The score totally blew us away.

“In fact, at first, I questioned whether it was right.

“To receive such a score is truly amazing.

“We do go the extra mile and look after our customers.

“As an independent we offer a more personal service.

“The other day we did a job for one client who had been quoted £1,300 for the work. We did it for £300.

“We’re never complacent but I feel we’re in a good place,

“People actively want to work for us and the future looks good.”

• star-tech.co.uk