Sustainability Statement

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Family Business

Buy it Once

Making quality long lasting products has been at the core of the business since Katherine and Charles founded the company 18 years ago, pictured above with eldest daughter Josie & family dog Margot. As a now 2nd generation family business we disagree with products that have planned-in obsolescence for profit (we have all had a shoe or bag that fell apart in a matter of months and needed to be bought again!) but we love design that aims to be long lasting in a world facing environmental challenges. We aim to design products that minimise their inevitable impact on the world’s environment and resources by being functional for as long as possible. A stainless steel house number or house sign will last you as long as your house is standing! We use the highest quality materials with the aim that our customers can purchase a product that will stand the test of time, a financial and environmental win all round. We have been producing numbers for 18 years now, and the very first numbers to be made are still rust and stain free if they have been polished annually, and will still be looking perfect as long as this is continued! All our products are laser cut from stainless steel and we offer advice on the best grade for your location (including 316 marine grade for seaside homes!) so that they will not rust.

Packaging materials
Packaging

As a product-based business, we are sourcing and purchasing components for our products all the time. We aim to bulk buy components that we do not make ourselves wherever possible, to minimise the impact of the shipping, and all our deliveries come in packaging that we save and reuse, from boxes to bubble wrap.

If you order a house sign from us you may receive it in a branded, reused box from elsewhere – (the look of the parcel may not be elegant, but the contents will be!) – as we believe in keeping packing in circulation for as long as it is functional. If you receive an order wrapped in bubble wrap then the plastic bubble wrap is a reused item from one of our suppliers, and hasn't been bought new. Our stock house numbers are sent in packaging that we have bought in for purpose, but don't worry - every element of our 'new' packaging is plastic free, made from recycled materials and totally recyclable again!

When you receive your order think about how you can do your bit for "reuse and recycle" - maybe you can send a birthday present in the box or use it for storage, save the bubble wrap for a friend’s house move or to pack up your Christmas decorations; always consider finding a use for the materials before they are sent to be recycled! 

 

Workshop tools

Refurbishment

Here at Housenumbers we recognise that the modern-day culture of fast paced buying and throwing away is unsustainable environmentally, which is why we continue our ‘buy it once’ ethos into a refurbishment scheme for our past customers. We hope that this will prevent our products from ever being discarded and keep them in use for as long as possible.

After your stainless steel house name has been on the wall for 10 years or so the surface may be a little dull, there may be dirt gathering inside the cut out centres – all the general wear and tear that impacts an outdoor product exposed to the elements. We offer a complete refurbishment service for our customers to remove their sign from the wall and send it back to us to be made good as new! Rather than using precious resources to make a new sign we will dismantle the parts, re-condition the front surface of the steel to brighten it and remove any small marks, clean up the back and replace LEDs if needed. Our customers will then have a sign that is ‘as good as new’ for the fraction of the cost of a new one, with very minimal environmental impact. We are so passionate about the future being about fixing our possessions rather than throwing them away and replacing them, that we offer this service to our customers at cost price; we make very little profit to keep our products in working order for as long as possible, which helps to keep the price low and incentivises the scheme. This service is even available on our smallest house numbers – if the surface has become dull and tired, contact us to send it back and we will resurface the steel to make it look like new!

Have a look at this blog post case study on a house sign we recently refurbished, with before and after refurbishment pictures. If you are a past customer and would like to know more about this scheme then please contact us.

 whole team

Other ways we try to 'do our bit' for the planet!

As a small UK business we try and support other small businesses when we consider our purchases and suppliers. We never order from Amazon and try our best to keep our suppliers UK based.

As a company, and as individuals in our personal lives, we try to ask the question 'what is the impact of this on the environment' when we make a purchase. We are taking small steps daily to move in the right direction to reduce our footprint, from the small to the big decisions! Swapping our printer paper in the office to recycled sustainably sourced paper, making our packaging plastic free, taking our own bags to the shop, and cooking more meat-free meals are all easy & cheap steps. Then there is opting to travel by train rather than plane to Europe for holidays and swapping our vehicles to electric cars which are much bigger steps that we appreciate not everyone can take, but we can, and we do! Here at Housenumbers we all believe the choices we make matter and that everything adds up to contribute to a better world. Money that we spend as a business on supplies and materials, is always carefully considered in terms of impact and sustainability.