ABOUT
The Full Story
Flat Cap Conversions (un)officially began in 2021 when my girlfriend (now wife) purchased a battered old ex mini-bus Peugeot Boxer from a long haired fella who sold it to pursue his music career. He assured us that we would read his name in a magazine. Unfortunately we're yet to discover his front page feature, however we did eventually transform the van into what be could be loosely described as a campervan.
The back step of my girlfriends (now wife) 1 bedroom cottage was officially my first workshop, we worked in the rain, with cheap, second hand tools, attempting a lot of things for the first time to eventually build something that resembled a campervan. we travelled across Wales, Cornwall and the Jurassic coast with red wine and campfires, making memories that I cherish to this day.
The next step for Flat Cap Conversions came in the form of a communal bin shed which I shared with my neighbors. My first rented home came with a bin shed where each section was divided by 4 ft high concrete partitions, Half a sheet of 18mm ply and a few shelf brackets later, it became a workshop where I would carry out the next conversion, After we bid farewell to the old boxer when it became more rust than van, we embarked on a SWB H1 Vivaro. This eventually took us around Europe for a few weeks in the middle of summer. The learning continued, the skills developed and we leaned the hard way that air conditioning in the is crucial when sleeping in French vineyards in the August.
The work continued on my Mothers drive way where I had access to store more reclaimed, shoddy materials to transform into something usable for further projects, I continued working on our own campervans as well friends vans and friends of friends. This is around the time I realised that I was unhappy in my current full time job and my (now wife) suggested that I could turn this passionate hobby into a full time business endeavor. My full time 12 year stint in a factory gave me a number of transferable skills, namely wiring components for 24v dc industrial floor cleaners. Which basically means I knew how to safely keep my beers cold in the back of a campervan.
And just like that, I handed my notice in, signed a 3 year lease on a commercial industrial unit. Hundreds of pounds a month in overheads, a brand new mortgage and a wedding to pay for. Needless to say it was a stressful start. There was a lot of money lost, materials wasted, late nights, lessons learned and patient customers in the years that followed. Finding my feet and learning what it takes and what it means to run a business. I cant fit it in a few sentences what the past 3 years have taught me, but needless to say, I am confident and excited to take Flat Cap Conversions to the next level as we move into the next chapter into a commercial unit 3 times the size.
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