Scott McLean is the Managing Director at Stirling Alarms /Stirling Electrical Services based in Stirling, Scotland. Company areas of expertise include intruder alarms, CCTV, access control, fire and electrical with accreditations such as NSI Gold, SELECT, Scottish Building Standards Approved Body and Certifier, Which Trusted Trader.
Do you use a distributor or buy direct from manufacturers?
For intruder alarm products we mainly go through the manufacturer RISCO but for other products we use our network of electrical distributors.
Is third party accreditation beneficial to your company?
Most definitely. We have been an accredited member of SELECT (The Electrical Contractors Association of Scotland) since 2005 for our electrical work. When we rebranded our security division in November 2015 as ‘Stirling Alarms’ we had no hesitation in applying for NSI membership. Just three months later we were accredited as Systems Silver and in August 2017 we were delighted to achieve NSI NACOSS Gold level. We pride ourselves in our customer service and being a member of these highly reputable accreditation bodies gives our clients the reassurance of our technical ability and good business practices and standing.
What would be a typical project for you?
Locally we are seen as a go-to company for faults, maintenance and testing so we are involved in a mixture of repairing and servicing older security systems as well as our installation service for homes and businesses where we install a mixture of smartphone controlled and monitored/police systems. Our CCTV installs have also increased recently especially for the domestic market where we install a mixture of HD and IP systems. Our well-established electrical service and customer base also gives us an opportunity to increase our security system business.
What would make your job easier?
Customers giving design specification and type of equipment more weight in their decision making over cost. Each install is different and we prefer to discuss and meet with the customer and give them design options which we believe to be in their best long term interest but other companies will quote with minimal equipment and less specification to win the job. We may lose out on some occasions but we believe our method is the correct way to do business.
Do you think there is a skills shortage in the industry?
In our industries it is important to employ engineers with not only the required technical skills but also excellent customer service awareness and this helps us focus in on individuals when recruiting. Making sure every person works for the whole team and not just solely for their own best interest is crucial and we look to employ for the long term so we can be selective when choosing candidates.
Read the full interview in the October 2017 edition of PSI magazine
