2021 has proven to be one of the most challenging years thus far in the industry with ongoing supply chain issues, labour shortages and material price increases becoming a daily problem to tackle. Amidst a pandemic, Hollins Homes has been able to achieve enviable growth across its business.
This growth has seen us complete on 64 new homes compared to 35 homes the previous year. An increase of 83%.
The team has grown from 12 to 22 full-time employees strengthening across all departments and there are plans to strengthen further in 2022. We have been specific with our recruitment objectives, bringing a blend of new energy and expertise into the business to help drive Hollins Homes forward. We welcome each and every one of our new team members and are thrilled with how well they have settled in and they have all played a key part in contributing to our success this year.
Mark Yates and the Sales team have enjoyed a fantastic year selling up on Aston Meadows (Nantwich) & The Woodlands (Newton With Scales). Our Hartley Grange development in Westhoughton has seen a phenomenal sales rate along with 17 completions and we had a very successful launch at our Churchfield (Tilstock) development with lots of reservations and many of the future plots already early birded. A high bar has been set for 2022 but one which Mark’s team will no doubt endeavour to push further and surpass.
Our Marketing strategy to achieve greater brand recognition across our Social Media platforms has also been an enormous success, surpassing all targets, with viral videos of our interiors and growth of our Instagram page to 38,000 + followers from 1000.
Our Construction team has endured a difficult and testing year through the industry wide challenges, the team have worked well and come through it strongly completing on 64 quality new homes. We have welcomed several new faces into the Site Management team who have all settled in incredibly well and also welcomed Aysa Hardy who joined as Contracts Manager but has since been promoted to Senior Construction Manager working in close partnership with John Tutty our Construction Manager.
Welcoming new faces to his commercial team, Leon Beck has been instrumental in ensuring our developments have continued to progress. This is founded on the relationships he has nurtured with our subcontractor and supplier base which has served the company tremendously through this difficult period.
Our Land team have enjoyed a successful year completing the successful acquisitions of 4 new developments this year with 2 already commenced and 2 to start in 2022. These sites will provide over 200 new homes combined and add further longevity to the business. There are a further 3 developments due to secure their planning and Section 106 in early 2022. Option Agreements have also been secured on 2 potential developments.
A new Development team was created merging our planning team and technical with Sam Amitrano joining as technical manager bringing very experienced engineering expertise into the business.
2021 has been an incredibly busy year for introducing new processes and technology into the business to help streamline performance and make efficiency gains. These include COINS and Clixifix, the latter being a dedicated customer care portal which will allow increased efficiency, live tracking and communication between the homeowner and our team. The rewards of these have started to show and no doubt will be reaped in 2022 as we look to evolve the business more.
As part of our brand we believe it is important to give back and support local initiatives where possible. We are proud that in 2021 we have contributed to several initiatives;
Food parcels for local foodbanks in Preston, Bolton and Loveclough
Excess materials have been donated to local schools and “bug hotels” have been built by our site managers
Sponsoring of a local U11’s football team
We welcome any suggestions from our team for initiatives to be considered for 2022.
A special thanks must go to our Investors who have helped make it possible; Housing Growth Partnership and Glenbrook. Also to our Construction Debtors for their continued support on schemes. Our subcontractors, consultants and suppliers have all played a huge role in what we have achieved and what we are achieving to-date.
All of the incredible hard work being done by the entire team at Hollins Homes was recognised by being listed as a Finalist at the RESI Awards for Small Housebuilder of the Year (under 1000 units). A tremendous achievement to be nominated in such a prestigious national property awards ceremony given our relatively small size and young status.
2022 will see Hollins Homes being operational on at least 8 developments, 5 of which will be brand new developments of varying sizes. With this level of growth will come further expansion internally resulting in us welcoming more people to the team and as we continue to evolve our brand further through the use of interesting schemes, material choices, interior design, carbon emission reductions, house type designs and across social media platforms we are all very much excited about what the future brings for Hollins Homes.