Laurence Collins-Willis

OWNER & MANAGING DIRECTOR (now as Head of Future)

Group General Manager
King's Trust Business Mentor
UK.Gov Help-to-Grow Business Mentor
Mankind UK Charity Trustee & Director
Founder and Executive Director – Marlau Homes
'Pappa' to two inspiring adopted children (now teens)

💧I don’t just work with water—I understand it, I improve it, and I help people get the very best from it.

Hi, I'm Laurence,

This may sound strange, but I am oddly excited about the industry of water softeners and drinking water filtration – I really do live and breathe water quality.

Water is such an important part of our lives, and I believe we should get the best from it without all the stuff that makes your skin itchy, clouds up shower screens & sanitary ware or clogs up boilers.

We should have glorious cups of tea that taste wonderful instead of having to make our way through unsightly scum floating on the top. A glass of water should taste pure and clean, without the cloudiness or smell of chlorine or sediment floating around, and this wonderful clear glass should cleanse your palate, leaving you feeling totally refreshed.

🎒 Arriving in the UK – A One-Year Plan That Got Out of Hand

Twenty-five years ago, in 1994, I came travelling to the UK with a backpack with an initial plan to stay for just one year.

I started working at the tantalising Bibury Court Hotel in the Cotswolds, and it struck me as early as that how different the water was in the UK compared to what I was used to in Southern Africa. Everything within the staff quarters was covered in white residue, and the Housekeeping team frequently talked about scale. The hotel had a softener, but in those days, that didn't mean much to me, other than the fact the maintenance man, Dave, was always complaining that it wasn't working correctly.

I had a brief and uncomfortable 4-month stint in Scotland where I had my car stolen, lost my job and became homeless in Aberfeldy, which was cold and wet, and I found myself eating beans out of cans while sitting in the red doorway of a building on the high street. I was the only homeless person in town, and I was certainly shunned.

Luckily, something clicked in my head, and one day, I realised I had to change, or I was going to be like this forever, so I hesitantly rang Andrew, the owner of the Bibury Court, who, after calling me a silly fool, sent up some money to the local post office to cover my bus fare. I jumped straight on to the National Express coach and went back to work at the hotel in the Cotswolds. I was on the streets in total for 2-months, from mid-November 1995 to early January 1996.

Being homeless but having the courage to regain control was my first real lesson in resilience.

📈 Gaining Valuable Business Experience – Learning from the Best

It took me a bit of time to regain my confidence, and about a year later, I went to work at Kall Kwik Printing for a terrific couple called Paul & Sue Willis in Crawley, Sussex. Paul & Sue bought bankrupt businesses, turned them around and sold them on. They had a fantastic work ethic and integrity, and I recall those days with fondness as they instilled much of my business thinking today. At a very young age, I was taught skills that have stood the test of time for me and have affected many positive decisions since. We have remained close friends ever since.

🔧 Gaining Technical Understanding – From Boilers to Water Softening Mastery

I eventually decided to explore the UK a bit more, and in 1998, I moved up to North Wales, where I started to work for British Gas. This was the second time that I started to think about water because this water felt so different from what I had become accustomed to in the Cotswolds and in Sussex.

Over the seven years that I worked for British Gas, I had some wonderful career roles thrown my way, and eventually, I was relocated down to Brighton and, thereafter, on to Kent.

British Gas gave me an excellent understanding of central heating systems, and I recall one of my bosses, a gentleman called Tony Jones, telling me that I had a “scary technical ability for someone of your age”. I just had this ability to fault-find really complicated problems within customer homes (incidentally, Tony is now the General Manager of Harvey Softeners – I'll explain how that came about later on).

I found working for British Gas very stressful, with the constant striving to hit monthly targets. One day, I met a chap called Jeremy Crush at my local Grahams plumbers merchant in Ramsgate, Kent.

Jeremy ran a water-softening business called ER Longley, which his grandmother had started back in 1926. I recall Jeremy being very proud of the heritage of his business. Jeremy suggested that I should leave British Gas and work instead for a water softener manufacturer as it was a great industry, but added that he felt very few young people were getting involved anymore.

I bumped into him a few times after that, and eventually, he convinced me to see the light. After some thought, that’s precisely what I did.

🚰 Diving into the Water Softening Industry – The Turning Point

🌍 Working with EcoWater – Progress with the World’s Largest Water Softener Manufacturer

I joined EcoWater as a Sales Rep managing their Kent, Sussex, Surrey and London trade regions and was later given the opportunity to set up their commercial water softening side, training the larger, more technical merchants, like BSS. I quickly hit our targets, and I was promoted once more, this time to run their dealer network for the UK, which was when I met Jeremy for the second time. This time, he was a client, and we had a good laugh and joke about it.

Some years later, after several promotions, I was made redundant from EcoWater in November 2008, just as the credit crunch hit the UK. I ended up losing everything, including my home in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent. It was a painful time, and the repercussions affected me financially for many years.

💦 Aquafactors & Aqua Nouveau – Stepping into Kinetico’s World of Water Softening

By this time, I had fallen in love with our industry and wanted to stay within it. I was offered the opportunity to run the window cleaning equipment manufacturer Aquafactors in Basingstoke.

Within a few months of my joining the business, the company went into receivership, and I was promoted to Group General Manager to run their sister company Aqua Nouveau, a large Kinetico Water softener dealership, with a view to turning the two businesses around.

I spent two years running the business and had a lot of fun with the owner, Alan. We remain close friends to this day, and Alan has moved on into the flooring industry, which he loves.

🔵 Harvey Water Softeners – Lessons in Leadership & Integrity

I spent two years trying hard to turn around the ailing group, and during this time got to know Casey & Harvey Bowden of Harvey Water Softeners.

Twice, Casey asked me to join them to run their dealer network, but I didn’t feel I could leave a company in such a delicate stage of a turnaround. One day, Casey said that they had to move on with their own business plans, and if I didn’t join them, then I would miss the boat. I reluctantly and apprehensively went to work for Harvey Water Softeners, who, until that time, I didn't hold in high regard.

With the benefit of hindsight, I am surprised that I was invited to join Harvey Softeners as I was very sceptical of their business. All I had to go on was a negative perception of Harvey’s business practices over the years, and I didn’t believe in the Harvey business or their self-claimed “force for good” approach. So many competing dealers of theirs and other manufacturers would talk about this short man who was like a 'Jack-in-the-box', always turning up like a bad penny and making a nuisance of himself.

It took me nearly six months before I really got to know the other side of Harvey Bowden.

Harvey knew I was sceptical of both him and his business, and yet he gave me a break. Still, to make up for it, he played tough on me, challenging and questioning me at every moment when he felt I wasn't looking after the customer right or reacting inappropriately. I gradually came to have a grudging respect for the man, and then, one day, something clicked. I just 'got' him. I realised he never told a lie, not even a tiny white lie, and he was extremely ethical and passionate about UK business. He was extremely knowledgeable and devoted to our industry. He was totally committed to helping small local businesses thrive, and I came to regard Harvey as my ally, mentor and coach. We didn't necessarily always see eye to eye. Still, I think he respected my difference in opinion, especially when it came to managing his dealer business for him – I took my dealers to a whole new level over the years.

Harvey's ethics are so deeply ingrained that they filter through every part of the business.

Harvey’s son, Casey, effectively my boss, was Sales Director when I joined in late 2009 but soon thereafter became Managing Director, and the business thrived even further. It was an exciting time to be part of the business, and their strive for perfection resulted in the employment of a new Technical Director, Martin Hurworth, who became the leader of this great business as Managing Director. Martin was incredible. Initially, we got on when he was Technical Director. Still, when he became managing director and my new boss, he tried to manage me so differently from what I had become accustomed to, and unfortunately, we clashed - how much I have learnt since!

I had for some time been thinking about buying a dealership and had been in negotiations with a few who were looking to retire by this point, and the craziest thing looking back on it now is that I am tremendously close to Martin Hurworth, MD of Harveys. He was my rock, and I thrived by his sense of doing the right thing and tremendous energy. He has had a profound influence on Harveys, and on my own business and team. Even though I am independent and sell the right softener for the customer's home, Martin respected that and helped me with advice and encouragement regardless.

As Dealer Manager for Harvey Water Softeners, I had the enjoyable opportunity to motivate and coach our dealer business owners and their staff to achieve the success they worked hard for and richly deserved. Under my direction, we became Europe's largest and fastest-growing dealer group.

This was achieved by developing, refining and duplicating robust systems and strategies. It was a privilege to be in a role where you knew the support and advice you gave was regarded highly and to see the advice you give create excitement and growth within the industry. We were a team of winners, growing at rates that exceeded industry expectations.

About 4-years before I left Harvey's, I realised I wanted to begin to look for a new challenge but didn't want to leave the company if there was any risk that anyone would turn around and say I hadn't done this or hadn't done that, or had been a poor dealer manager. So I started to look for ways to leave a legacy behind.

I brought in my old boss, Brian Kiell, from British Gas, to help me create a system that would model what Excellence looks like in our industry. Then we set up a 3-year intensive business skills programme to train the dealers on Excellent strategies they could use to grow their businesses. The results were phenomenal! We went from the smallest dealer group in Europe to the biggest, with an excellent mindset to go with it.

Along the way through the Excellence programme we developed, Brian brought in Tony Jones, my old (young) technical boss from British Gas, who had gone on to manage a very large team with colossal energy. Tony started as Head of Sales but quickly went on to become General Manager of Harvey Softeners after Martin left the business, and Tony has been incredible as well. Tony is one of these heroes of business who will break the rule if it means the customer gets a world-class service and has been there for us as a team hugely, whilst also completely respecting that we are an independent business and sell all makes and models, including EcoWater, Hague, and many other brands. This kind of commitment to the customer is a great role model for us.

🏆 Leading ER Longley Hydroworks – Custodian of a Legacy Business

By the end of year 2 of running the Excellence programme at Harveys, I began to look for my next challenge and looked around at various South East based water softener dealerships with a view to buying one of them, and this included a brief conversation with Jeremy Crush about his ER Longley Hydroworks business, and we discussed briefly his plans to retire in 2019.

When Jeremy passed away unexpectedly in July 2016, we decided that it was now or never – The time had come to make the move, and we were offered first refusal – we agreed to purchase the business from his widow, Linda.

The business had been trading for 90 years when he died, making it the longest-established water softener business in the UK marketplace, and so I see my role as the custodian of this Kent and Sussex heritage for future generations.

I am excited to have this unique opportunity to begin to move this highly respected business into the future.

I promise you that as we develop this business and make it great once again, we will give you the very best service, complete honesty, and our very best advice and attention at all times.

🏠 Marlau Homes – A Journey from Struggle to Success

Mark and I started this business in October 2013 after working closely with Robert Kiyosaki's USA 'Rich Dad' team from 2012.

At the time I was £30,000 in debt and had no savings, and no pension. I had lost everything after being made redundant from EcoWater, including my home, and I simply did not know how I was ever going to get out of the mess I was in.

I received a phone call from my sister who told me about Robert, and suggested I look into mentoring with his team. By this point, I was desperate to find a way out of my financial mess, and so I made contact. They quoted me an eye-watering amount of money for a year's worth of coaching, and gave me very strict rules of engagement which, if I didn't adhere to them, would see the mentoring cancelled and my investment lost. I think the integrity of those rules convinced me I had to find a way to do it, and out came multiple credit cards to pay for the coaching.

What I learned from Rich Dad Poor Dad was transformational for me, and through the skills I learned, I cleared my debt within a year. We were encouraged to look at creating a business, and then spent the next year training in a specific sector to give us that sector expertise (out came the trustee credit cards again to pay for the training).

We eventually settled on starting a business in property investing (How we were so brazen, I am not sure, as I didnt have any money to buy any property). However, it worked, and within a year we had purchased several properties. Today, Marlau Homes holds assets in the 7-figures, which we hope offers inspiration to anybody else equally in a bad place in their lives that all they need is to have self-belief and a plan.

Over the years, Marlau Homes grew to become one of the leading Yorkshire Landlords, providing professional Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) and residential buy-to-let properties to tenants. Since Brexit, we have scaled back the business and sold a couple of properties to pay off debt, and the remaining portfolio is now buy-to-let only. All profits go towards servicing our investors, and reinvesting in the properties so that our tenants have excellent-quality homes to live in. We don't draw any of the profits out for our personal use. For us, this has been an exciting journey.

“We are committed to providing quality affordable rental accommodation. We believe that everyone has the right to be housed in great accommodation that provides for their comfort needs and gives them a place they can call home.”

💙 Giving Back – Charity Work & Mentorship

❤️‍🩹 Mankind UK – Supporting Survivors, Leading with Purpose

This is a very personal thing to place on a business website and it's taken me a long time to feel able to do so. I am very proud to be a trustee of the men's sexual abuse charity Mankind which work nationally.

As a child, I experienced a very significant incident over three days perpetrated by five men and one woman, and I was not meant to get away from them, let alone survive.

The way trauma works, as I now understand, is that you can forget about things because your brain tries to protect you and help you survive. Understandably my parents were very pleased that I was able for many years to move on from this.

When we adopted our two children in 2016, it triggered memories I didn't at first understand or could comprehend. Through four + years of very intensive therapy, I have had to relive those experiences in awful detail all over again. This has been a very painful and challenging journey for me, my husband and my two children, plus my parents, as everyone rallied around me to help me through processing these memories. I should also acknowledge the incredible team I have at Hydroworks who have supported me 100% through this journey with compassion and complete understanding.

I was approached by the chairman of Mankind (https://mkcharity.org/) and asked if I would be a Trustee and Director for the charity, and as a survivor, I believe this places me in a very unique place because I can make a difference to other men going through the difficult journey where they too have experienced unwanted sexual encounters.

If you know anyone who needs help because of unwanted sexual encounters, a great place to start is this self-help website the sector has created here which is full of helpful information and resources - https://www.1in6.uk

👑 Bringing Hope to Young People as a Kings Trust Business Mentor

A great mentor doesn’t just give advice - they listen, understand, and help reframe challenges into opportunities. That’s exactly what I’ve had the privilege of doing through The King’s Trust.

One of my mentees has a brilliant business, but progress had been slow for them with cashflow dwindling. Our first meetings weren’t about quick fixes despite how much we needed them - they were about building trust, understanding her goals, and proving that I truly “got” her business.

After navigating the initial months with steady groundwork, something clicked, and I felt we were ready to move to the next level.

We took a step back and reframed her entire approach. We looked at 1-5 years ahead instead of just the short term and then by making a few key shifts, we mapped out a strategy that could grow her business 5X. Seeing the light bulb moment happen in a business owners eyes, especially someone so young, is so very exciting and is the reason I do this!

Sometimes, mentorship isn’t about huge breakthroughs overnight - it’s about the right conversations at the right time that lead to game-changing decisions.

💡 The right business mentor won’t tell you what to do - they’ll help you see what’s possible.

📈 UK Gov Help to Grow Business Mentor

I was delighted to have been invited to become a government-backed business mentor, helping UK businesses to grow. Being in business for yourself is hard, especially if you employ people. You have to be focused on running the best business you can, as your team are counting on you. Helping a business owner to identify if growth is right, and then determining the right kind of growth is just one of the areas I enjoy exploring.