Established near Axminster in 1961, Westcrete is a traditional family run business that remains proud of its local roots. The Company was founded by Henry Thoennissen and was operated from home for two years, before moving to the present site in 1963. One person was employed in the early years, producing concrete lintels to satisfy demand from local builders. Hand cast paving slabs were introduced and became popular with trade customers & the public.
Henry’s eldest son Michael joined the business in 1968 to assist in the production and delivery of an increasing range of products, which involved a lot of manual handling in the early days.
The Company progressively expanded over the years, with new buildings, forklift trucks, loading shovels along with more staff to cope with increasing sales.
In the late 80’s, the ever growing demand for decorative paving required the installation of a new semi automatic paving production line along with a custom built concrete batching plant to feed it.
The new batching plant also enabled the production of high quality ready mixed concrete, both for collection and delivery, for which demand increased. A mini-mix truck was introduced for deliveries of small loads, which proved very popular.
In 1990 Henry retired and his son Michael took over the running of the family business.
In the late 90’s the decision was taken, to stop production of concrete products, as it was more cost effective to purchase them direct from a number of top manufacturers.
Westcrete is a friendly, family run business that has offered a professional and dedicated service to trade and retail customers for over 50 years. Now operating as a Heavy Builders Merchant specialising in paving, aggregates, walling and ready mixed concrete.
Established in 1961 in East Devon, Westcrete is an independent family owned business, we have supplied landscaping & building materials to thousands of satisfied trade and retail customers.
Pete joined the team in June 2012 as a part-time yard assistant & relief driver. An imperative member of the Westcrete team, Pete’s experience and variety of skills are an asset to the company & more importantly his ability to remember so many jokes has helped morale for all staff!
Pete works closely with all the yard staff, making sure the yard is running like clockwork, picking orders ready for delivery, his previous driving experience and qualifications means he can provide relief for either Flatbed or Mini Mix which has been a great attribute.
Charlie has been with the company since May 2002, employed as a full time driver, he has first hand experience on all the vehicles Westcrete has to offer.
Previous experience of driving has meant that Charlie knows the local area extremely well and with all his years he has been with us Charlie has got our flatbed deliveries down to a fine art with an efficient and helpful approach.
Lee joined us in May 2016 as a Full Time Yard Assistant who can also cover as a relief driver. After passing his LGV test in August 2016, Lee has taken on the role of driving both our Flatbed & Mini Mix Lorry fast & effectively. Lee has been involved in farming throughout his working life and has great experience in manual handling & driving machinery so he has fitted in very quickly to the Westcrete way of life. In January 2017, Lee was promoted to his new role of Yard Supervisor in which he will be working very closely with Joel to help ensure the smooth running of Westcrete.
