Team spotlight: Nigel Hocking

Married with two grown up children, who are both now in university, Nigel Hocking is the sales and marketing manager for Securahome. Nigel has been with Securahome for 12 years and is never happier than when outdoors, walking with his faithful Welsh Border Collie Harley.

What is your occupation/title?

My job title is sales and marketing manager, but I also deal with many of the technical and design issues, such as building regulations etc.

How long have you worked for Securahome?

I’ve worked at Securahome for 12 years, but I’ve been in this industry for 32 years. I joined it straight out of college and haven’t looked back.

What is the best thing about working for Securahome?

We’re a longstanding company that’s big enough to offer great quality service, but small enough to be customer-led and dynamic. This means we can really listen to our customers and come up with creative design solutions that will suit their circumstances and needs. As a company, we are also constantly lookout for the leading-edge, products to bring to the market, which I find exciting.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I don’t have much spare time, but when I do have it I love walking and getting fresh air, especially at this time of year. I live on the Gower, so it’s perfect for someone like me who loves the outdoors.

Where is your favorite place (worldwide) to be?

I have too many favourites to mention, because there aren’t many places I don’t like. I enjoy travelling, and parts of the US and Croatia would be high up on my list, but you could say I’m still looking for my favourite. The Gower is probably at the top at the moment, we are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

What makes you laugh?

Live comedians who can tell a good story that you can relate to never fail to make me chuckle. I love Rod Gilbert and saw Billy Connelly back in the day, who was the master of that kind of comedy. I also like a bit of slapstick, so watching Lee Evans live had me in stitches.

What Securahome product do you have or want to have in your home?

I’m going to get a LivinRoof added to my conservatory to improve its thermal efficiency and give it a new lease of life! It’s currently got a polycarbonate roof that’s 15 years old, which was great at the time, but things have moved on so much, I know it will make a tremendous difference to how often we use that room.

Can you give us a home improvement tip?

Make sure that you thoroughly research any home improvements that you are going to make and understand all of the legal obligations connected with it. At the end of the day, this is your home and your investment.

I’ve been in the home improvement industry for a long time and know how easy it can be for people to be caught out. There are unscrupulous firms out there that will cut corners, for example not abiding with building regulations or building over a sewer.

Unfortunately, that kind of practice can come back on the homeowner in a big way and end up costing thousands of pounds.