In 1989, Alan Dean made the decision to open an executive refurbishment centre at Chester Airport in the UK. In the beginning, he worked alone to find a niche for his embryonic business. These days, he has a trusted stable of suppliers and repeat clients and is looking towards expansion. EBAN spoke to Alan, who started his aviation career in a refurbishment bay at Dan Air, about Dean Aircraft Interior's first ten years in the completions business. \r"When it started, it was just me," he recalled. "I had to spread the net out a bit. It was hard to get going, hard to get contacts: People don't want just anybody working on their aeroplanes, they have to trust you, they want to know you are doing it right, to know the paperwork is right.\r"It was very hard to get materials - a lot of companies don't want to supply you with a few yards, they want to sell four rolls," Dean said. "Persistence is the key. Now, I have found quite a few suppliers: Muirheads in Scotland for the leather, Aerofloor supply carpets and materials."\rDean Aircraft Interiors moved in with Northern Executive Aviation's facilities at Manchester airport and now shares their hangar and JAR 145 certification. Dean employs a fluctuating number of staff, usually four-strong, of specialists, and also sub-contracts workers out. He says he wants to take advantage of remaining space in the hangar to open a dedicated woodworking facility.\rSaid Dean: "I thought there was a market in the north west of England for refurbishing smaller aircraft. I had contact with Northern Executive Aviation, who wanted some work done on their aircraft. Our first contract was to look after NEA's Learjets. They were finding it difficult to get people in the area.\r"All refurbishment work seems to be in the south (of England). I thought, why should customers have to go down south? They can't keep an eye on the aircraft then. We have even had a couple of customers coming to us from the south these days. \r"Now we refurbish bigger aircraft like Falcons; NEA has a Challenger coming this month. We are looking after NEA aircraft, and they do engineering work for us. It's a good partnership," he said. "We are not big enough to do a full refit on a Challenger, at the moment - that is something I am looking to expand in the future."\rSo, what is the business philosophy that has allowed Dean Aircraft Interiors to flourish? "I like to give a friendly approach, let customers know we are not here to rip them off, rather to give them a good service, keep them happy, do a good job. \r"Our reputation is good now, we do a good standard in leather work - well everything, really. We try and get it right. If things are perhaps not quite right for the customer, we go out of our way to make up. If it costs me a bit of money, I'd rather do that. That's something a small business can offer that a large one can't. We don't have 10 jobs on the go at once, we have two or three, or maybe just the one. We take pride in our work," he said. \rDean Aviation Interiors also offers refurbishment on many types of helicopter. The company has recently got Raytheon Corporate Jet's approval to subcontract refurbishment, and has agreements with Birmingham, Leeds and Blackpool Airports to deep clean Gulfstream V and Falcon 900 aircraft.\rCapital Aviation Ltd is based at Filton Airport, Bristol, and operates three Piper Chieftains and two Cessna 421s, and has been a customer of Dean Aviation since start-up in 1990. EBAN asked chief pilot Malcolm Humphries about his experiences with the refurbishment company, and he replied that Alan's work was "professional and accommodating, working around our busy flying schedules. Our 421s were refurbished in leather to a very high standard, as required by the type of missions they complete. The Chieftains have been refitted in airline style with hard wearing interiors that also offer a high degree of comfort.\r"Dean is still small enough to oversee his work personally but is big enough to complete the work quickly," Humphries concluded.\rThe company's new website address will be www.deanrefurb.com.