Since having both knee caps replaced in the last 12 months Dennis has found it difficult to climb up and down the scaffolding on his current building project.
He has had to settle, whilst recovering, for an executive role from checking in the deliveries to the site to ensuring that the Portaloo is stocked and functioning for his workforce. This has been very frustrating for him because he is a house builder at heart and not a pen pusher although inevitably in todays financial and economic climate there is little or no scope for separation of these disciplines.
At the current age of 80 years Dennis is an inspiring character. He is at work on the construction site or in his well tended garden every day, knees permitting, but above all he is making or growing something which he enjoys and excels at. These two pursuits, as a livelihood and a pleasure have played a major part in his life. After leaving school at age 15 years he had offers to go to either Horticultural College or Building College. Equally he could have gone into Professional football as a goalkeeper having shown great athleticism and prowess at a very competitive amateur level which had attracted the attention of the scouts of a number of the large regional league teams. As far away as could be from today, football was then a poor option for income and prospects and Dennis enrolled at the Hull Building School. The course which covered construction materials, methods and practices was ideally suited to him and he graduated with highest honours and commendations.
The next stage was apprenticeship in the industry. There was no shortage of work to rebuild Hull after the devastation of the war years and to replace the old insanitary housing that had avoided the Luftwaffe and this was a good further grounding for Dennis and to reaffirm that he had chosen the right career path.
He is not short on confidence and although I have only known Dennis for less than a quarter of his life I have come to recognise that his is not a false, vacuous or blustering confidence which is often found as a facade in some, but one based on ability and business acumen. He has a good manner with those he deals with and his sense of fairness and straight talking is very refreshing although some may perceive it as abruptness. He is after all just a typical Yorkshireman.
It was a natural progresion for Dennis to set up his own company and so began his contribution to raising the calibre of housing, living and lifestyle standards through a succession of residential developments through the villages and towns of East Yorkshire and the suburban areas of Hull.
Long before I was privileged to meet Dennis I was aware of his reputation for quality building and in the course of my professional work I could always count on a Survey of one of his properties, even one of a mature age from the 1960's , being straightforward and not presenting too many problems.
He did tell me recently that over the 50 or so years of building under his own name he has had only one call back from a purchaser and for a minor snagging issue at that. I find that a remarkable endorsement of his skill contrasting dramatically with the high volume house builders currently who seem to each have fleets of white vans bearing the 'After Sales Service' mantra which, to my mind means that they got things horribly wrong at the first attempt.
He has produced some good traditional houses, flat fronted and chalet style semi-detached, detached and terraced but not to a staid or dated and predictable style. I have only, in some cases found out that Dennis was the builder by quizzing a longstanding and very happy owner occupier on the history of what I had found to be a well built and rock solid property.
Even Dennis is not entirely sure of where he built but when you get past your two thousandth or so house construction I think you can be excused on such a matter of detail.
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