Quality, commitment and efficiency have always been an integral part of Claimar Care's success story during the last decade.

And the high standard of personal care we offer continues to reflect the company's unique ability to understand the individual needs of clients and their families.

It is, without doubt, this simple but effective ethos that has taken the company from strength to strength since its foundation by Jim and Birdie Ceaser in 1994.

Having enjoyed successful careers within the care industry, the couple identified a growing demand for a service that would enable the elderly to retain their independence in a home environment.

Based on a business plan that secured a Birmingham Chamber of Commerce grant, the company was set up and run from the attic of Jim and Birdie's home, initially with just two elderly clients.

"I actually drew up the business plan about 15 years before we started the company," said Jim”.

"I'd worked for Birmingham Social Services as a manager of residential units for adolescents and the elderly and then as a care inspector”.

"But when I was made redundant, I knew I wanted a job that offered the same challenges and satisfaction using my experience as a care manager”.

"Ironically, by the time I'd completed my business plan, I was offered my old job back and went on to work as a contracts and services manager for the department”.

"And because I loved what I did for social services, my business plan was effectively moth-balled."

Within a year of returning to Birmingham Social Services, Jim underwent heart by-pass surgery and was forced take sick leave.

When Birdie was made redundant from her job in medical hospital supplies, both she and Jim decided to revise the business plan to see if Birdie could work independently from home.

"I had managed a warden controlled housing complex for the elderly in Moseley, Birmingham so knew just how rewarding it was to be able to offer that kind of independent care to the elderly," she said.

"I was very keen to do something along the same lines but didn't know exactly what until I bumped into a doctor friend of mine who suggested I should think about offering a domiciliary care service of my own”.

"It made sense to start up in Moseley because I knew the patch so well and Jim's business plan was perfect from an administrative point of view.

"I started off caring for two elderly clients who needed help getting up, washing and dressing in the morning and then helping to bed last thing at night”.

"At the same time, I was working five nights a week for a care agency because Jim was on sick leave after his heart operation and it was down to me to make sure our mortgage was paid”.

"As the number of clients began to grow so too did the files and paperwork that went with the administration.

"And with our carers traipsing up and down three flights of stairs to the attic and all of us bumping into each other, we decided to turn our dining room a makeshift mission control.

"I don't think anyone really minded because we didn't have time to entertain and even spent our Summer and Christmas holidays manning the care rotas”.

"The biggest risk we had to take at the time was borrowing £1,000 from the bank to buy the business's one and only computer. A pretty momentous decision considering how hard we were having to work to keep our heads above water."

When their daughter Claire Hales gave up her sales job to join the business a year later, the pace was so frenetic that she had to help Jim and Birdie manage the out-of- hours "on call" rota, working on an almost daily basis from 7am until 11pm.

Every weekend was spent marketing the business together by hand-delivering flyers or going out to meet prospective clients.

"The ethos then, as is it now, was that whatever it took, we would never knowingly miss a call," said Claire.

"For example, on one occasion, we received a call at 2am from an 82-year-old lady who we used to visit at 10pm every night to secure her windows.

"She'd moved into a high rise block of flats after her home had been burgled four times in one year and our nightly routine of opening her windows and then locking them again gave her peace of mind”.

"Her call to us in the early hours was to say that no-one had been to close her windows and she couldn't sleep until she knew she was safe.

"It was a simple task but one that allowed her to remain independent in her home so even though it was the middle of the night, Mark, my husband, went out and obliged with the routine of unlocking the windows and locking them again."

In those early days, it was undoubtedly the hands-on family team spirit that made caring round the clock possible.

"From day one, we set ourselves the highest standards," said Claire. "Our clients knew then, as they do now, that it was first and foremost a family business and that we worked as a team to ensure we always did our best for them”.

"And I think because we have always shared the responsibility, we were able to set a valuable example to our staff. They knew that we would never expect them to do anything that we wouldn't do ourselves or if problems arose, then we would step in and help sort them out."

"It was hard work," said Birdie. "But the rewards of knowing how much of a difference we made to clients lives was part of the enjoyment”.

"And there was also the excitement of being able to build the business from scratch. I think even in those early days when it was a case of all hands to the pump, we knew the service we were offering was unique and that we were creating something very special.

"But never in my wildest dreams could I ever have imagined that the business would grow in the way that it has from such humble beginnings.

"The ethos of caring for clients while enabling them to maintain their dignity and independence is one that Claimar staff at every level have always followed.

"And the collective sense of achievement comes from knowing that we can take the kind of hands on role needed at a time when an elderly person feels their only alternative is perhaps a nursing home or residential care”.

"I've always been a people person and feel it's an instinctive quality that brings its own rewards when you appreciate the difference it makes to our clients lives.

"When I interview carers now, I always advise them to treat the clients in the same way they would treat their own mum or dad”.

"It's a simple premise but one that I believe is at the heart of Claimar's continuing success."

"Using Claire's natural organising skills made a huge difference to the daily running of the business," said Jim, who joined in 1995 after taking early retirement.

"With Birdie doing the majority of home visits with a team of recruited carers and me running the business side of things, it was down to Claire to implement the rotas and develop our care procedures, policies and administrative system”.

"We had to move the business into an office in Moseley within a year of starting and within 18 months into bigger offices nearby”.

"The growth was largely due to clients and their families recommending us to friends and although it was hard work, each of us complimented the other."

Four years into running the business, Jim recognised an increasing need to grow the company and take advantage of the trend by local authorities to outsource its services to established larger domiciliary home care providers.

Son-in-law Mark Hales, Claire's husband, was the perfect candidate to lead them through the consolidation process.

"When Mark came on board as Chief Executive in 1999, we had reached the stage where we were all so wrapped in running the business, that we just didn't have the time or objective commercial experience to grow," said Jim.

"We knew that we'd got it right because we were being approached by more and more clients for the service but it was really a case of "what next?"

Within just six years of joining Claimar, Mark had completed and successfully integrated nine acquisitions of smaller established businesses.