Focus

In business with Frank Elkins: on guard at Travis Perkins

By 2022-05-20T05:00:00

Frank Elkins Travis Perkins portrait 2

Source: David Harrison

The boss of the UK’s biggest builders merchants tells Dave Rogers what soaring inflation and the squeeze on household budgets mean for his business

Frank Elkins Travis Perkins portrait 2

Source: David Harrison

Frank Elkins

“I never went to school going, ‘You know what? What I really want to do is go into construction.’ In fact, I went to university to go and become a farmer and ended up in construction.”

Frank Elkins is not done yet. “I never thought about it as a career. We’ve got to get to a place where young people look at the construction industry as a really exciting place to come to work and a place where you can build brilliant careers.”

Now 55 and the chief operating officer of the country’s biggest builders merchants, Travis Perkins, Elkins has spent 30 years in it, the past 11 at TP, as he often calls it.

Notwithstanding the impact of inflation, he says there has never been a more exciting time to be in the industry. “I’m seeing a huge amount of change,” he enthuses.

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