02/10/2026
Well, it's time to close that chapter of our lives of running our own business.
I won't lie to you, it's been really hard putting this post together, because I've been mulling it over in my head for quite a while, trying to figure out exactly how to write it...
But basically, Lewis and I have decided to end Tooligans.
This may come as quite a shock, as it did to our amazing, supportive family and friends who we told first.
The truth is, running a business like this takes a lot. We've been through so much together — some really difficult times, but also some absolutely amazing ones. We've come out the other side of so many challenges, reaped the rewards, and built something that we can both genuinely say we're incredibly proud of.
We started Tooligans as two cousins basically doing handyman work. That's all it was ever really supposed to be.
We started with practically nothing. We didn't even really have any tools. ( we had half a tool box and a borrowed rake from my Dad 😂)
And somehow, in around a year and five months, we went from that to building an amazing reputation across Swindon and Wiltshire, and eventually becoming known for something we never even planned on doing when we started — building bespoke catios.
Looking back at everything now, it's actually quite hard to believe just how much happened in such a short space of time.
We bought our van and thought we were properly getting somewhere... only for the bloody thing to spend the next year trying its absolute hardest to bankrupt us. 😂
We cleared some absolutely ridiculous gardens, built pergolas, took on jobs we'd never attempted before, slowly invested in better tools and worked alongside some absolute legends when jobs became too big for just the two of us.
And then there were the catios.
Our very first one was up a high-rise building where the lift didn't work — because apparently doing our first ever catio normally would've been too easy. 😂
Then we built another. And another. And another.
We experimented with different designs, roofs, bases, shelving and interiors, and we got better with every single one. Eventually, catios went from being another service we offered to becoming pretty much the identity of Tooligans.
We changed our branding around them, got our shirts made and started building catios that we'd finish, stand back, look at each other and think, "Did we actually just build that?"
Some of the things in these photos probably won't mean much to anybody else, but to us they represent different points in the business where we realised that we were actually getting somewhere.
Unfortunately, though, there's another side to running a business that you don't see in all the nice finished photos.
In the end, it became too much for us to handle mentally. We kept going for a long time through a lot of difficult moments, but eventually we both realised that we needed to pack the tools away, find something else and actually give ourselves a break.
And although it's sad, I don't look at Tooligans ending as us failing.
If anything, when I look back at what two cousins managed to build from basically nothing, I'm bloody proud of us.
Our final job was strangely fitting as well. It was a small garden clearance — pretty much exactly the sort of work we were doing when Tooligans first began.
After everything that happened in between, somehow we ended almost exactly where we started.
And there's something quite nice about that.
There are so many people we need to thank.
Our families and friends who supported us through everything. The people who came out and worked alongside us. Everyone who recommended us, shared one of our posts, followed the page, left us a review or simply mentioned Tooligans to somebody who needed some work done.
But most importantly, our customers.
I think one of the things I'm most proud of with Tooligans was the relationship we built with the people we worked for.
From the beginning, we never really wanted somebody to feel like they were just another customer or another job in the diary. We always tried to treat the people we worked for almost like we would a friend.
And because of that, we ended up building a level of trust with our customers that I honestly never thought we'd get to when we first started.
People trusted us, recommended us to their friends and family, came back to us time and time again, and quite often we'd turn up to do another job and it didn't really feel like we were going back to see a customer — it felt like we were going back to see a friend.
That's something we always pushed with Tooligans, and it's probably one of the things I'll miss the most.
We met some genuinely amazing people through this business, had countless laughs, conversations and cups of tea along the way, and built relationships that went far beyond simply turning up, doing a job and leaving.
So to every one of our customers who welcomed us in, had a laugh with us, supported us, recommended us and became part of the Tooligans journey — thank you.
The jobs and the catios are obviously what you can see in these photos, but the people we met along the way are just as much a part of the story. ❤️
We couldn't possibly fit every job, every person or every memory into this post, but we've tried to put together some of the moments that meant the most to us along the way.
It's definitely sad closing this chapter, but neither of us regrets opening it in the first place.
We learned an unbelievable amount. We made mistakes. We had some absolute disasters. We had days where everything went wrong, and other days where we'd finish something, stand back and just think, "We actually did that."
And through all of it, we did it together.
I don't know what happens with Tooligans in the future. Maybe this really is the end, or maybe in a couple of years we'll look at each other and decide we're stupid enough to give it another go. 😂
But for now, it's time for us to follow different paths and see what comes next.
Thank you for sticking by us and supporting our little business.
From two cousins who started with barely any tools and absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into, to building a name and reputation that spread across Wiltshire...
It's been one hell of a journey, and we're incredibly proud of what we built together.
So, for now, we say goodbye. ❤️
Thank you to every single one of you who was a part of it.
Jack & Lewis
Tooligans
"This time next year, we'll be millionaires."
— Del Boy
Goodbye, for now. 👋❤️
