Our History Since 1978
In 1961 Jim Lakey began his building career as an apprentice bricklayer. He then developed a team around him of reliable craftsmen, who offered a complete service for all building needs. Over the years, the volume of work increased and on 13th June 1978 Jim Lakey, with his father in law and brother in law, established RD Styler (Builders) Ltd. It is this early opportunity, as an Apprentice, that laid the foundations for Lakers continuing commitment to Apprenticeships, Training and Local Recruitment.
The company continued to grow, providing a reliable and high quality service to the public sector and secured contracts with companies such as Lloyds Bank, Massey Ferguson and the National Coal board.
Then on 21st January 1987, to reflect the family ownership and control, the company became known as LAK-LER Builders Ltd. Over the years Lak-Ler expanded into providing its services to housing associations and developed a dedicated maintenance department and void department to service the needs of housing associations and local authorities.
Throughout this time the company continued to develop its reputation of delivering high quality responsive and void repairs for housing associations. In 1999, Lak-Ler became Corgi and NICEIC accredited so could now satisfy all gas and electrical related needs in-house, from gas servicing through to complete central heating installations and full electrical rewires.
In August 2000 James Lakey joined Lak-Ler as Financial Administrator after spending two years at Rolls Royce Plc in their Corporate Finance Department. Previous to this, James studied Accounting and Financial Management at Loughborough University. James quickly integrated in to the company and became Managing Director in December 2003 following the retirement of Jim Lakey, and it is at this point that the Company became known as Laker BMS Ltd. Subsequently, James has successfully set up several new business divisions including Environmental and Energy Services, as well as a subsidiary company of Laker, allowing Laker to offer a full in-house comprehensive building service.
Since 2003 Laker has developed into a significant building management specialist across Central England and Wales. Following the successful acquisition of Proteam Asset Management in January 2014, Laker is now also offering these services across London and the South East. With 50 years’ experience, Laker continues to be able to offer an unrivalled level of service to the commercial, private and public sectors – including social housing, insurance, health care, local authority, education, blue light and property services.