Our exclusive interview this week takes us to the Midlands and one of that region’s longest-established privately owned housebuilders, William Davis Homes, where we speak to its sales and marketing director Stephen Rush about what the company is building and the regional property market they are working in.
Hi Stephen, please tell us a little about yourself and William Davis Homes.
William Davis Homes is a five-star housebuilder based in Loughborough, Leicestershire. The company is privately owned and has more than 80 years’ experience as one of the region’s most respected and trusted housebuilders. Our homes vary from two-bedroom apartments to five-bedroom detached properties, and are finished to the very highest specification.
The company has recently undertaken a major rebranding exercise, which I’ve been overseeing, including adding newly designed private sales offices, dedicated options suites, open gardens and courtyard meeting areas to create more holistic environments for our purchasers, where they can take time personalising their new home.
I joined the company as sales and marketing director in 2016, with the aim of working towards doubling the size of the business over the next few years. My background is primarily in property; I’ve always been passionate about architecture, so the industry was a natural choice for me. I began my property career as an estate agent in Oxfordshire, before moving into new homes sales/marketing and working throughout the South, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
I spent 14 years at the Midlands region of CALA Homes, before taking up a special project commission with Walton Homes, a small developer in Lichfield, Staffordshire, while searching for my next challenge. The opportunity with William Davis Homes was just what I was looking for.
What developments are you currently working on?
At the moment, we have seven live developments stretching across Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, with a further two set to launch in Rothley, Leicestershire and Rugby, Warwickshire before the summer. Although Loughborough and surrounding villages is our heartland, we’re pleased to bring our signature brand of homes further afield, and over the coming years will be launching developments in Matlock, Chesterfield, Warwick, Coventry, Shepshed and Market Harborough.
What do you consider to be the property hotspots of your region and what makes them so special?
It’s all about location. With people being more transient, transport and travel links must be accessible, which is why all of our developments are within motorway corridors and benefit from excellent rail services. That being said, most homeowners also want to feel part of a community and enjoy local amenities so all of our developments can be characterised by their edge of village/town location, offering the best of town and country.
In terms of property hotspots, we’re experiencing strong and consistent demand across our whole area of operation, so I’d have to just say Midlands!
What makes the William Davis approach to designing and constructing new homes different from the competition?
The depth and variety of our homes makes us stand out; as a regional developer, people don’t necessarily realise how large we are. For instance, on some of our strategic sites such as Mill Fields in Broughton Astley or Copcut Rise in Droitwich, where we’re building in excess of 200 homes, we have anywhere between 14 and 24 different property designs.
With market demand quite high across all types of purchasers, it’s essential to offer the layouts, space and storage to suit modern living. Part of the ‘William Davis Difference’ is that we adapt to this, and our standard house types are continually assessed and improved, based on purchaser feedback. The external appearance of a house is just as important; chimneys, rendering, tile hanging elevational treatments as well as a plethora of other features enhance kerb appeal and ensure interesting street scenes which complement the local vernacular.
What do you consider to be the most important advantages of new build and do you think more house-hunters are seeing them?
Alongside the well-documented energy efficiencies and NHBC 10-year guarantee, new homes offer house-hunters a fresh start. Layouts and designs are carefully crafted to reflect current living trends, whilst interiors can be personalised with colours, fabrics and top-quality furnishings. House-hunters are always seeking the extra attention to detail, so we make sure to achieve this by incorporating top-brand appliances such as Smeg and Hive as well as smart home technology e.g. USB charging points.
The perception of new homes as ‘boxes’ has long changed, and house-hunters are seeing the benefits of well-designed spaces that suit all lifestyles. New homes are aspirational, and people enjoy joining existing communities or establishing new ones.
Are show homes still a vital part of new homes search and how do you make yours especially appealing?
Yes, absolutely vital. Show homes are one of the few ways we create that all important first impression and set ourselves apart from the competition. We spend a lot of time and effort in creating our show homes; to me it would be counterproductive otherwise. The homes we deliver are exceptional in terms of quality and design, and we wouldn’t want to detract from that with a lower value show home or sales area. A visit to one of our sales complexes should be a memorable experience.
All of our developments have at least two show homes, and these are typically designed to appeal to contrasting tastes, whether that’s elegant and formal or funky and playful. We also try to inject personality with quirky talking points such as wall-mounted push bikes or polar bear murals! Our aim is always to inspire, buying a house is a major purchase and we want to ensure our house hunters take their time viewing our developments and remain enthusiastic about moving.
Are schemes such as Help to Buy and Part Exchange vital to today's buyers?
Incentive schemes have been integral to the resurgence of the new homes market. Help to Buy has been absolutely fundamental for first-time buyers and getting chains moving, and it certainly wouldn’t have been repeatedly extended if it wasn’t so popular.
Part Exchange is equally as important, but is often viewed rather negatively by developers, as a ‘last resort’. That’s not the case for us, and we offer Part Exchange on all our developments – we see it as another way to help people proceed and open up the market to all those who want or need to move.
Is the current market especially strong/weak for certain types of buyer?
The Midlands property market is definitely strong across all the purchaser profiles we attract. Help to Buy is still driving affordability in the first-time buyer market; upgraders and growing family homes remain in high demand and downsizers are realising good values on their current properties. Mortgage rates and unemployment levels are low, meaning confidence remains strong, so it’s a good time to buy.
After a Budget that completely ignored the new homes market, how do you see the rest of 2017 for this sector in your area?
2017 has seen a stabilising of the market; we’ve not seen quite the price level increases of last year but have also not seen a decline. The impact of how Brexit will be managed, especially in light of the forthcoming election, may cause uncertainty but at the moment, we are still selling at the same or greater level as this time last year.
For William Davis Homes, it’s been a phenomenal year. We’ve just recorded more than a 50% growth in the number of house sales, like-for-like against last year, all without compromising on quality or service – a fact endorsed by the HBF five-star status we recently retained for the second consecutive year. For the remainder of the year, we expect to consolidate or grow on this success by continuing to build quality homes in prime locations.