D.J. Alexander - Estate Agents & Property Managers

MY DECADE

28/12/2009

What were you doing ten years ago?

Wondering if I had made the right decision in turning down a multi-million pound buyout offer from a UK national estate agency. Though tempted, I declined because I felt there was room for further expansion under my own volition and I was also concerned about possible implications for my loyal staff.

How did you get to where you are now?

In 2000 we had been established in Edinburgh for 18 years and in Glasgow for three years. We marked the millennium by embarking on a measured policy of expansion, which included doubling our Edinburgh premises and launching an estate agency arm. But there was one huge disappointment along the way (see below).

What was your greatest triumph?

Opening the estate agency in 2005, because I wanted to show that we could be successful at sales as well as lettings. More practically, we were increasingly referring our landlord clients who wanted to sell their investments to other agents, so we thought: ‘Why not do it ourselves?’

What was your biggest low?

Closing our London office in 2008 after just one year of operation. Obviously our timing was wrong but we also underestimated how tough the London property market was to crack.

What is the hardest decision you have had to take since 2000?

Closing the London office.

Who has particularly inspired you over the past ten years?

David Murray, for the way he has built up a multi-faceted business and kept the flag flying for entrepreneurship in Scotland.

What has been the biggest challenge to your particular business sector since 2000 and how have you overcome it?

Over-regulation of the rental market by government and over zealousness by the local authorities tasked with policing it. I have no problem with the principle of landlord registration but unfortunately it has added another cost base to the rental sector without any discernable benefit to the general public.

What has been the greatest invention in the past ten years?

The internet. Yes, I realise it’s more than a decade old but at the start of 2000 I was still a dyed in the wool pen and paper man, totally ignorant of how a business could benefit from e-mail and the web. I wizened up soon after!

And the most irritating?

The expensive and unnecessary accessories added to mobiles. A phone is a phone is a phone.

What’s the funniest/strangest experience you’ve had since 2000?

Dining at El Bulli, one of the world’s most famous restaurants; it receives one million reservation requests a year but only 8,000 are lucky enough to get a table. The experience was well worth the journey involved: flight from Edinburgh to Birmingham then on to Barcelona, immediately followed by a two-hour taxi drive into the mountains above the city.

What’s your greatest personal achievement since 2000?

Showing that an independently-owned agency can still thrive in Edinburgh and Glasgow, during a decade in which there was increasing emphasis on cutting costs, which our national competitors were able to achieve through economies of scale.

Where do you hope to be in 2020?

Being healthy is more important than where I actually will be. Presuming the benefit of continuing good health (which is more important than anything), I hope to have grown the business further by 2020. However, I’m not setting specific targets; much of the next decade – and not just 2010 – is likely to be tough for the property market.

THE SCOTSMAN, 29 December, 2009

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