From a garden shed to international acclaim — David Britton has achieved a lot since he began his estate agency five years ago.
Mr Britton and his team of around 20 staff are celebrating after picking up two accolades in the prestigious International Property Awards.
David Britton Estates was named best estate agency in Cumbria and it also picked up the marketing award.
The firm, which now has offices in Penrith, Kirkby Stephen, Cockermouth and Kendal, began life in Mr Britton’s garden shed.
After 20 years working for corporate and independent estate agencies, he decided the time had come to branch out on his own.
With his wife Emily working by his side in the garden shed office and £20,000 to get started, the pair worked tirelessly to create a business putting customer service at its heart.
Mr Britton, who moved to Cumbria 20 years ago from the South East, said: “Customer service and reputation are everything. Reputation is only created by doing good things and that’s what we strive to do.
“Big firms start out with good intentions but it is easy for them to slip away and trying to rectify them in a big company is hard. I wanted to do it the way I thought it should be done. It’s only about the customer.”
The father-of-two said David Britton Estates continued to thrive because it offered a good spread of properties.
From a £6 million private sale and a Scottish castle on its books for £2.5 million to a £20,000 terrace in need of renovation, Mr Britton said each property was treated exactly the same. He added: “I always say that it doesn’t matter how much the house is, it is someone’s dream home.
“Some estate agents will only focus on high end properties, others the middle range and never venture out of that. When it goes quiet in one area, we don’t quite feel the pinch in the way other agencies may do. I’m also a development consultant so it’s quite a diverse business.”
Judges praised David Britton Estates for its approach to selling homes — which its owner said could be considered ground-breaking.
He deliberately did not open offices on the high street: “They are just goldfish bowls and everyone can see what you’re doing,” he said — instead focusing on seeing clients on an appointment-only basis.
“We can offer clients complete anonymity if that is what they require, with private meeting rooms and not being on the high street means that we have parking at every office.”
Its marketing strategy is also unique — since lockdown, its advisers offer narrated video tours. Mr Britton said: “We have created more than 1,500 videos and people can buy from their armchair. They have been really popular and had over a million views.
“We had a property put on the market and sold it straight away —they had seen it on a video and then viewed it in person before buying.”
He paid tribute to staff for David Britton Estates achieving the awards and praised their dedication and hard work.
He added: “Cumbria is my home and it is my staff’s home. The county has been recognised by the International Property Awards as being among the best in the world.”
