About Us
John Crawford & Co (Mechanical)
The History of John Crawford & Co
The company was founded in 1894 in Jamaica Street, Greenock, by John Crawford and his two brothers Malcolm and Angus. All were time-served plumbers who had decided that they could make a success of their combined skills and their good reputation in the Greenock area.
They soon built up a thriving business, carrying out plumbing work in the large housing schemes being developed at the time, as well as carrying out plumbing installations on many of the ships being built in Greenock.
The business flourished through the years and soon expanded into Glasgow, where they continued carrying out all types of commercial installation as well as running a large jobbing division.
In 1929, John Crawford’s nephew, Charles Kerr, joined the company as bookkeeper and accountant, and following John’s death in 1938, Charles ran the company with John’s brother Angus.
War intervened and after five years in the Navy, Charles returned home in 1945 and purchased the business from his uncle, assuming overall control five years later. The war had taken its toll, and everything had to be rebuilt in more ways than one. The Greenock office was shut and from small rented premises, firstly in Lawmoor Street in Glasgow’s Gorbals, and then nearby Abbotsford Place, Charles ran the company, carrying out jobbing repairs and small contracts.
John Crawford
Moving to Queens Park
In 1967, Charles’ son, Donald Kerr, joined the company after a successful engineering design apprenticeship with Hadens. All jobbing ceased and the company concentrated fully on new commercial and industrial plumbing contracts. With Donald at the helm, they landed a large contract at Longannet Power Station in Fife, which in turn allowed the company to purchase new offices, workshops and stores at Torrisdale Street in Queens Park, Glasgow. This became the company headquarters in 1968 from where John Crawford & Co. soon built up a good reputation for high quality workmanship, technical ‘know-how’ and for completing its works on or ahead of schedule.
Fast forward 27 years and the fourth generation of the family joined the business. After studying in Edinburgh and then working in Australasia, Donald’s son, Dougie Kerr, returned to Scotland in 1995 and began working for John Crawford & Co. Having spent many school holidays working on Crawford building sites, he quickly settled into the team and began learning all aspects of the business from surveying, estimating and procurement to project management. Four years later, his cousin, Colin Peacock, Donald’s nephew, returned from working in construction in the Middle East. A Chartered Surveyor, Colin’s surveying and project management experience for large scale developments was a great asset for the Crawford’s team and he soon became accustomed to the intricacies of specialist plumbing installations.
The Gorbals
Relocating to Hillington
In 2002, the company relocated to its current headquarters at Hillington Park in Glasgow, at which time Donald took early retirement and Dougie, Colin and their fellow directors continued to further grow the company, building on the company’s reputation for first class commercial plumbing installations.
Crawfords was founded as a family business in 1894 and remains very much so to this day. As the business has grown, so too has the number of employees but over the years, the company has successfully retained its strong family values and is proud to have employed several generations of the same families, joining as plumbing apprentices and working through the ranks to charge hands.
Dougie and Colin are Joint Managing Directors of the business, and they were both delighted to welcome the fifth generation of the founding family into the business in 2023 when Colin’s son Alasdair joined as a Graduate Apprentice. Alasdair is currently studying for a BSc in Quantity Surveying at Glasgow Caledonian University while undertaking the practical part of his apprenticeship with John Crawford & Co.
Hillington
