Family-Run Water Softener Business in Dorset
ben • November 5, 2024
As a family-run water softener business we are in it for the long haul. Our purpose is to serve our customers, not seek quick-wins.
This morning I read a quote that really resonated with me. I won't comment on the author's feeling towards last week's budget, but the sentiment of long term service struck very true.
"Family businesses are an antidote to the short-termism that is a blight on the British economy and of which everyone complains.
Family businesses are in the blood: a shared journey between the business and family across generations."
At Southern Softflow, we pride ourselves on honest advice, centred around a solution for the customer, not a sale for us. We are lucky to have many loyal customers and that relationship has always been founded on trust. I'll say, maybe not all family businesses are this way, and there will be many great purpose-led businesses where it is not a family business. But for us, the journey of the business from Keith first walking the streets to hand out water hardness tests (if you ever see him, ask him about an incident in Salisbury!) to where we are today and where we will go will in the future is woven together by family. Our desire to do the best for our customers will remain consistent throughout our journey.
It is also why we won't bend to beat unsustainable online prices. If you are looking for a TwinTec S4 in Dorset, it is now widely available on the internet from dealers at opposite corners of the country, who will happily ship a box to a customer. If that machine ever fails, said machine may need to be returned. This is a quick win for the seller with a "stack 'em high" approach, but is not sustainable. As the quote points out above, short-termism is something we all complain about when we receive poor service or feel over-sold to, but in this day and age a cheaper price on the internet is always never far away!
We price our machines and installations fairly, our prices reflect the quality of product, installation and post-installation care that we are proud of. It means we have an open office for customers to call and visit 6 days a week, a website that hopefully is informative and easy to use, and we can be reactive within reasonable notice of any customer issues. We do try to keep salt costs as low as possible. In 25 years, our customer base has exceeded what Keith could ever reasonably manage on his own, so we are carefully recruiting a team who are also here to be part of the journey. We are building processes and systems to make life easier for our customers wherever we can. But core to our journey, is the purpose to serve for now and the future as we grow as a family / business / family business.
Southern Softflow recently installed a water softener for a hotel in Bournemouth.
Southern Softflow will close for Christmas at lunchtime on Friday 23rd December, we will reopen in the New Year on 3rd January 2023. The office will remain closed throughout this time but Ben & Keith will be on hand if you have an urgent enquiry. Answer phone messages, emails and online orders will be monitored on a daily basis and we will respond if needed. Salt deliveries will also resume on 3rd January. Thank you to all of our customers for your support in 2022, we look forward to seeing you again in 2023. Merry Christmas to all of our customers, Ben & Keith
As a result of increased supplier costs, we have increased our prices for the first time in 2 years.
At the beginning of June we moved into our new premises in Three Legged Cross, about half a mile up the road from our old unit but a world away in terms of the space we now have. Importantly - how to find us ....... Our new address: Unit 7 Oak Field Road, Axis 31 Woolsbridge Industrial Park, Three Legged Cross, Wimborne, BH21 6FE If you are coming from Ringwood: Drive through Ashley Heath, passing Moors Valley Country Park on your right hand side. Soon after you will see a blue sign on the left for Woolsbridge Farm Feeds and then you will see the new industrial estate on the left hand side. You should see our big sign on the left, take the next left into Oak Field Road. Follow the road around into the new estate and you will see us at unit 7 (opposite the big unit for Treekit). If you are coming from Verwood / Wimborne (i.e. via Three Legged Cross): Head towards our old unit, passing the Garden Centre on your right hand side. Instead of turning left into Lower Common Lane, carry straight on towards Ringwood. About half a mile up the road, pass the Three Legged Cross on your right hand side (do not turn into the first entrance to Woolsbridge Industrial Park). Take the first right after the pub into the new industrial estate and follow the road around into the new estate and you will see us at unit 7 (opposite the big unit for Treekit). Our telephone number is still the same, so if you get stuck at all or want to ask for directions before setting off please do give us a call. We're still putting the finishing touches to the office & showroom so watch this space - we look forward to showing you around. We'll see you soon.
So how do I decide which is best for me? Or WHO is best for me? Firstly, it is important to note that a water softener should provide you with soft water for 10 to 15 years before it needs to be replaced (we have customers who have had their machines for 20+ years). In that time, you will need salt and you may occasionally have questions or the machine may require servicing. Using a local reputable company will mean you deal with the same people each time and you can count on experienced professionals and personable service. You also want an independent water softener expert to be able to provide you with recommendations without being tied to one manufacturer. And WHICH water softener should I choose? We are not in the business of simply selling as many water softeners as we can, we want to provide the best solution to our customers’ problems. To us, this means less hassle operating a water softener, a reliable machine that doesn’t require regular servicing, and of course the guarantee of soft water. All water softeners use a cylinder that contains ion-exchange resin to remove minerals that make your water hard. This resin needs to be cleaned in order for the machine to continue to work, and it is how and when this cleaning process happens (“regeneration”) where you find the different types of water softener. In our opinion and 30 years of experience, a non-electric twin-cylinder water softener offers the best solution to our customers. A non-electric block salt water softener uses two cylinders so it doesn’t matter when the machine regenerates, you are always guaranteed soft water. An electric single cylinder machine cannot do this, so has to perform an estimate of when it is best to regenerate (clean itself), to minimise disruption to your soft water supply. Electric machines can use a time-meter (like an alarm clock) to set a time to regenerate each day – meaning they use more salt and water, and are far more prone to breaking down (or at least requiring an annual service). The other type of electric softeners use smarter programming to find the most efficient time to regenerate – this means they are far more efficient, but they require programming (the instruction manuals are long, tedious affairs) and the clever printed circuit boards within the machine can be expensive to repair. A non-electric block salt water softener requires no programming, the regeneration cycle is solely dependent on water pressure and water usage in the house. The ingenuity of these machines lies in the relative simplicity of how they work, and because of this they do not require regular servicing. The leading manufacturers, Harvey Water Softeners and Kinetico, provide market leading 10 year warranties that back this up. Block salt makes life a lot easier as the blocks are easily stored and loaded into your machine. I thought you were independent, but you only recommend one type of water softener? Absolutely! We are independent and we are free to sell which ever softeners we like. We sell softeners that give the best outcomes to our customers, and in our opinion those water softeners are non-electric twin cylinder machines. We could probably sell more water softeners if we offered other types of water softeners, but that would betray our goal to provide the best solution to our customers. Imagine your favourite restaurant serves the best seafood around, they could serve other food but they take advantage of the wonderful seafood available from the local area. You go there because you want delicious, fresh seafood. Well, if you’d like a water softener that offers soft water 24/7, reliability and efficiency, and leave you more time to enjoy the finer things in life (let’s be honest, there are many finer things than dealing with your water softener) than feel free to book a table with us today! If you are after steak, or a water softener that requires programming and regular servicing, I am afraid they are not on our menu.
If you have recently bought or are thinking of buying a new home, there is no better way to protect your home from the damaging effects of hard water than installing a water softener. One of the great feelings about moving into a new build house is how fresh and new everything looks! Ok, somebody might have been a bit clumsy when moving the sofa and there's a mark on the wall that needs to be removed - but this can be done nice and quickly with a lick of paint. Imagine if every day, somebody made a new mark on the wall that needed tidying up, it would be quite infuriating, right? Hard water will also leave it's mark every day. Limescale will begin to build up inside your new water heating system reducing it's efficiency which will mean more energy used to heat your water and therefore higher energy bills. Your smart home appliances will also come under attack from the minerals found within hard water and although they are new now, they will need replacing sooner than if you had a water softener installed. That beautiful bathroom and kitchen will need to be scrubbed to remove limescale and scum marks, and you will need to use more cleaning products - costing you more money, increasing the amount of chemicals you need to use and the plastic waste that your household creates. Again, in a few years you may need to replace your expensive shower earlier than you planned. As well as protection for your new home, a water softener will deliver luxurious soft water that you will instantly notice on your hair and skin. Soft water creates a greater lather with soap than hard water does, this again means you need to use less products, reducing waste and expenditure. So, if you want that feeling of a new home to last longer than when the boxes are all unpacked, think about installing a water softener - you will thank yourselves for years to come. If you have recently bought or are buying a new home in Dorset, Hampshire or Wiltshire - talk to us today about how we can help you keep your lovely new home looking like, well, NEW!!!
As summer emerges and life returns to a sense of normality, we know what you’re thinking. Do I need to service my water softener? Unlike your boiler or your car, we don’t recommend servicing as an annual necessity. We specialise in non-electric, twin cylinder machines because in our 30 years’ experience there is no match for reliability and efficiency. The machines come with a 10-year warranty but we often see them live well beyond this, upwards of 15 years. Keeping your machine regularly topped up with block salt is all you need to do. Some other types of machines with less impressive build quality may require a more regular service and we are happy to help if you have issues or need to keep on top of your machine. As such, we do not pester you for a regular service and we do not sell service contracts – we think you simply do not need it. Sometimes you may want your machine checked for peace of mind and we are happy to perform that service if you would like, or you may have inherited a water softener in a new home. We can certainly give you that assurance by testing the machine and checking component parts. We also perform a call out service (at the same rate) if you ever have a problem with your machine. We will identify the problem by investigating component parts and testing their functionality. We will always test the machine before we leave, but if your water softener needs parts replacing or heavier repair work, we may take your water softener away to our workshop. Subject to availability, we may be able to leave you with a spare machine in this case – ensuring you can keep enjoying soft water in your home until we bring your machine home. If you've ever bought a water softener from us, you did so to make life easier and we're not in the business of changing that. We sell efficient, reliable machines and we are here when you need us. If there’s ever a problem, give us a call – but otherwise we will leave you in peace to enjoy the sunshine.
It is fair to say that the last few months have brought about unprecedented change, and the enforced downtime has given us plenty to reflect on what we have to be grateful for at home as well as what we may have taken for granted before (like a pint or G&T at the pub!). As a business, we have always focused on excellent customer service but sometimes this can be misconstrued as reacting to problems. We are grateful for our customers and want to serve them in all interactions, this means making life as burden-free as possible whenever they contact us. This week we have added an online shop that means you can now order from the comfort of the sofa whilst watching Netflix or if you have a spare minute online between Zoom meetings, making that salt order a little bit easier. Following the recent easing of lockdown restrictions, we have been able to begin servicing machines and carry out surveys and installations for new machines. We are of course taking necessary precautions to ensure your safety and ours. This means that we will not visit your home if you, members of your household or we have shown any symptoms of COVID-19 in the previous 14 days, we wear gloves and masks and we will keep our distance within your home. We will wipe down any surfaces touched following our work. We ask of our customers that any items that may be in the way of our work are moved prior to our attendance (e.g. cleaning products inside a kitchen cupboard by a softener or the stop cock), this reduces the amount of items we have to touch during our visit. If you have a back door or alternative entrance that means we pass through the minimum number of rooms possible to attend our work this is also helpful. Throughout the lockdown period it was great to be able to serve so many of our customers with salt supplies. With everything else going on, we're glad we could keep you topped up and remove the problem of hard water from your home. We look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, please note some important changes to our services: 1) Salt delivery. We can still deliver salt to keep your machine running and your water soft during this extended period at home. We are using gloves to load and deliver salt and we will leave your delivery outside of your house. Unfortunately we can't stop for a chat this time, but we look forward to seeing you again soon. Please contact us to arrange delivery and we will also arrange contact-free payment. 2) Sales and servicing. We would love to be able to tell you about the joys of soft water and the incredible machines that we sell! However, for now this will have to be over the phone. We will not be carrying out any surveys until it is safe for all of us to do so. This is the same for any servicing work, any installations are postponed for now also. If you have any issues with your machine or a general query, you can still call us on 01202 828241 or email info@southernsoftflow.co.uk. If in the unfortunate situation where you have a leak, follow the instructions in the below photo and give us a call, and we'll look to assist as soon as possible. See you all soon, and stay safe.
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Infinity Water Softeners are
designed and built for British homes
We install WRAS Accredited water softeners for your peace of mind
Proud members of Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry
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t: 01202 828241
Unit 7 Oak Field Road
Axis 31 Woolsbridge Industrial Park
Three Legged Cross
Wimborne
BH21 6FE
Office Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday 09:00 - 12:00; 13:00 - 16:00
Saturday 09:00 - 13:00
Providing Water Softening Solutions including Infinity, Harvey TwinTec and Kinetico to Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the surrounding area.