- Tell us a little about your business
We are an independent estate agency who specialise in the higher end of the Darlington housing market, with a particular focus on period properties. We have now been in business for 4 years and have won several awards during this period including the silver award for North East Sales in the 2018 Best Estate Agent Guide which ranked us in the top 1% of estate agents in the UK. We are committed to delivering outstanding levels of customer service and pride ourselves on professionalism.
- What have been the biggest challenges your business has faced during the pandemic?
As a relatively small business we were so used to being in the office together and being able to talk to one another all the time. Generally we’re all constantly aware of what’s going on with viewings, valuations, sales progression etc because we’re all working in such close proximity. We didn’t have this when working from home so we really had to focus on communicating well as a team whilst we were all working from different locations.
- How have you overcome the challenges?
We have an office group chat where we communicate constantly whether it just be letting each other know when we’re arriving at/leaving appointments or have offers coming in etc. It means that everyone is constantly in the loop with what’s going on within the business. Whilst working from home we also had our morning meeting via Zoom every day. This was not only great from an organisational point of view but also helped us to maintain a good level of team morale in what was a very isolating time for a lot of people.
- How have you adapted your working practices?
In line with guidance from the National Association of Estate Agents all of our sales negotiators are wearing face coverings and disposable gloves during their viewings. We are also asking for buyers to wear masks and to only attend viewings in groups of 2 people from the same household so that we are able to maintain social distancing. We are also asking buyers to not touch anything during the viewing and to sanitize their hands before and after entering the property so that we keep everybody as safe as possible. All of our staff are now back in the office after working from home for almost 3 months at the start of this year! We are taking temperature checks weekly and cleaning surfaces/sanitizing regularly to reduce the risk of spreading bacteria.
- What are you most looking forward to post-covid?
As a team we’re all looking forward to being able to go to the pub again! Pre-Covid we tried to do a team pub outing once a week as a chance for people to unwind and develop their friendships with other team members. Personally, I just can’t wait to finally get my hair cut!