JIM Sanderson invokes all the elements - fire, earth, wind or water - to make his busy life complete.

He is a part-time 28-hour a week fireman at York; helps to save the earth though recycling flooring through his business EcoFlooring and Restoration UK; regularly skydives and is a qualified scuba diving instructor, while also renovating a Victorian steamboat for use on the Ouse.

His firm’s skill at restoring ancient floors with gleaming herringbone parquet by revamping disused wood from floors at dismantled schools and factories impressed property guru Sarah Beeney so much she employed them to recreate parquet flooring in 97 rooms in her own stately home Rise Hall, in Hull, which will appear on primetime television in November.

York-born Jim, 33, left Oaklands School aged 15, walking straight on to a building site as a labourer. After three years he became a scaffolder, then went to work for a flooring firm in York and learned the basics of his trade.

He says: “There were too many cowboys taking over our work, so I launched my own business to specialise in something the cowboys could never match while at the same time being environmentally friendly.

“I calculated that I saved 170 trees last year alone on the basis of how much flooring equated to the cubic measurements of trees.” The business, which employs five people, has also created flooring with a band stage for an Olympic bus which will tour London’s Olympic village; and the Empire Music Studio in East London over the past year.

Which job, other than your own would you like to have and why?

Mine clearance diver - a way of saving lives while carrying out my favourite hobby.

Greatest Achievement?

Running my own successful company and earning my licence as a scuba diving instructor.

Biggest mistake?

Leaving school too early in the belief that as a dyslexic I wouldn't pass exams. I know better now. I've grown up.

What makes you most angry?

People who can’t do the job right. Rioters. People who don’t share my perfectionism.

What do you need to make life complete?

Spending more time with my other half and two young daughters would be nice. That’s what I'm building up to eventually.

Why do you make a difference?

Because I am saving the environment, recycling trees and re-using wood by restoring it to its ancient beauty.

Your epitaph

This was the only way I would ever get to stop working...