ADVERTISING FEATURE
MARCUS ARUNDELL
ROBIN SQUIRE
01225 484811; homeletsbath.co.uk How has the rental market changed in the last year? HomeLets continues to engage with a healthy Bath market over the past 12 months, with ever improving levels of property specification on offer from landlords. On the tenant side, quality professional applicants seeking to live in and around the city are still in good numbers, with student demand being particularly robust. What makes you different from other letting agents? We are wholly independent and a family run business, striving to deliver the very best and most comprehensive service to all our clients. Having been based in Bath since 1992 we are fortunate enough to employ a highly experienced and knowledgeable team, specialising in residential lettings and property management, and always working to industry best practice standards. With all this time under our belts we have managed to forge professional relationships far and wide, from property maintenance contractors to developers, solicitors, estate agents and everyone in between. What one piece of advice would you give to prospective tenants? Understand exactly what sort of home you are looking for before you start your property search, then set a budget and wherever possible try sticking to it.
0117 244 0400; www.acornpropertygroup.org What misconceptions do people have about buying a new-build property? I think the biggest misconception is that new-build properties are often of a lesser quality and soulless boxes; in reality, on the whole, new-build properties are of a very good quality. I’ll admit that to find genuine design quality you need to look a little harder, but there are some fantastic schemes on offer at both ends of the market.
ACORN PROPERTY GROUP
MANAGING DIRECTOR, HOMELETS
What part of the work do you particularly enjoy? The creative part, working with the design team on floorplans and elevations which relate to the specifics of the site – whether that’s large windows to maximise the views, south-facing terraces or split-level units which work with the topography of a site. At Acorn we have no standard houses, so we can design everything to suit the location.
Marcus Arundell
What advice would you give someone looking to buy off-plan? Get as much information as possible and never assume anything. Really understand the location for yourself, and before you commit be clear what’s important to you and what you are willing to compromise on. It’s easy to be seduced by a show home, and you can forget what’s important to you. Robin Squire
IESTYN LEWIS
JOHN LAW
CEO, IESIS GROUP
0117 922 7039; www.iesis.net What area do you specialise in? We specialise in the regeneration of inner city brownfield sites in sensitive locations. The developments we are usually involved with have some technical challenge that needs detailed attention, and this has enabled us to implement the full expertise of the business. It is through our knowledge base we are able to efficiently solve these problems and generate developments that commercially perform. Bath has its own unique set of circumstances, with half the city being built on a hill, and the other half being subject to the spring water restrictions. No building in Bath is particularly straightforward to deliver but that’s part of the unique nature of the city.
DIRECTOR, WOODHOUSE AND LAW 01225 428072; www.woodhouseandlaw.co.uk What makes you different from others in your profession? We take time and effort to really understand our clients’ needs and to ensure that we respond with ideas that are creative, practical and work for our clients’ lifestyle. We also offer a full service for the home and garden from the initial creative concepts to the all-important finishing touches. What key bit of advice would you give to a client? It can be daunting commissioning an interior designer or interior architect to help with a project, but the right choice can help avoid costly mistakes and get better results, with less stress. It’s important to make sure that you are comfortable both with the work a company has produced and be confident you can work closely alongside them. We are proud to have worked on several projects for individual clients who come back to us again because they know we listen and care.
Iestyn Lewis
What are the key values of your business? Our key values of the business are hard work, determination and the will to succeed. The business environment is unrelenting, and to grow any business requires a huge amount of energy, an excellent management team and dedicated staff. It also requires extremely good relationships with your partners and clients, and I have been very fortunate to work with outstanding people in both of these respects. John Law
What turns a house into a home? Each time we take a brief, we do our best to get to know our clients so that we can reflect their taste, style and personality in our work. We’ve been inspired over the years by unusual collections of radios, family heirlooms, holiday finds and art. By including pieces in schemes that our clients have invested in emotionally or that have a story behind them, we can create real homes and not show homes.
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