Teltone is a family business, owned and run by Terry Gates. My father and his father in-law started Teltone in 1970. George Gates was a time served floor layer who started laying floors in 1952 and continued to do so until June 2002 when he retired aged 64, he had laid floors for over 50 years! I joined the company in 1979 aged 17; wooden flooring was not widely used domestically so most of our work was in the public sector (gyms, schools and dance floors). The 80’s were tough times in the construction industry so I trained with other types of floor coverings and we found ourselves doing mostly contract vinyl, linoleum, rubber and occasionally carpet. Hardwood became more popular domestically in the 90’s and as we were more at home with timber started to supply and fit quality solid hardwoods to people’s homes once more. We have a small workforce, which works directly for us, no subcontractors.