Olivia, My Urban Pad
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Olivia Finn established My Urban Pad, which specialises in residential property refurbishments throughout London, in 2008 after working for another London based residential refurbishment company. She had been working in the industry for the previous five years and wanted to try going it alone.
Olivia says “I didn’t want My Urban Pad to be one of the burley, macho building companies that litter the market as I think there is a huge amount of people that find these intimidating.
I had noticed when speaking to potential female, gay and elderly clients that they were dubious about letting builders into their homes due to the macho nature that usually surrounds the industry. I had even been told by one previous client that although she was the bread winner and the decision maker in the family the builders originally quoting for her simply ignored her in meetings and spoke to her husband.
Our basic aim is to make the refurbishment process as pain free to the client as possible.
I also want our clients to feel that they and their homes are being treated with the upmost respect.”
Olivia offers some advice to business start ups, “When you are a small company working on a small budget you rally in as many people as you can to help!” and tells us that she was able to draw on the support from her artistic family who helped design logos, brochures and flyers and of course the much needed on-going mental support of family and friends, but that otherwise the business success us due to putting in the hard work required when going it alone.
She says “Every day is a challenge as you have to be on the ball all the time and on the hunt for new work especially in the economic climate we are currently in. I started the business just before the recession and I won’t lie that it hasn't been hard, it has!”
Also, "You also have to deal with everyone thinking they are a DIY and building expert, telling the team what to do and how to do it even though they don’t have a clue. You can give advice until you are blue in the face but if a client wants to do it their way you just let them…..and then they ask you to come back and do it your way!! Also finding the perfect team is so tough. Thankfully I have a wonderful site manager that I can fully rely on."
Olivia describes the job satisfaction she gets working for herself, that makes the hard work worth while “I love seeing the client at the end of a successful project. It sounds corny but when you have someone tell you that you have just built their dream bathroom and they just want to shower all day it’s great! All the team get together and have a group photo especially after a big project. They are tiring and sometimes stressful but everybody on site loves it when you know the place looks great. Each project that runs well and finishes with all parties being happy is a success.”
Looking forward, Olivia’s plans for My Urban Pad are clear, "The long term goal is to be solely working on our own portfolio but until that day we are going to keep doing what we do and get more teams out in London."
