One year in property lettings – it’s flown by!
March 19th, 2022 marks the first anniversary of the official launch of Balloon Letting Company, and what a journey it has been.
Founder Ben Giles looks back on the last 12 months and the impact the ethically-driven company has had not only on the Bristol property market as a whole but all the individuals involved.
What motivated you to start the business in the first place?
In the 10 years or so that I’d worked in the property letting business, I never understood why landlords and agents were treated as having more worth than tenants. That didn’t make sense to me.
There are three parties – tenant, landlord and management agent – that are all as equally important. The most successful tenancies are where a tenant really loves a property and feels respected and valued, where the landlord cares about the tenant and cares about their property, and the agent is just there really to act as the go-between and facilitator in that relationship.
I set out to start a company that really respected and cared about people, regardless of whether they were tenants or landlords. That was a core value. There was no point in doing it unless it was something that helped the Bristol property market; we wanted to be a force for good.
A lot of good ideas come from a pub. Was that the case with the Balloon branding?
Yes! As most people know, certainly in the City, Bristol hosts one of the largest balloon fiestas in the world. One lovely evening I was having a drink with a friend on the terrace at the White Lion pub, which overlooks the suspension bridge and Ashton Court. It is a really good place to watch the balloons go over, and that’s where the idea came from,
I love Bristol. I was born in Bristol, it’s a cool place to be and I think that’s why so many people are trying to move here, and the brand had to be something that was relatable to Bristol and would stand out and be different.
I liked the fact there is so much you can do it with it, too, from a brand perspective – we have balloon-shaped boards, for example.
We wanted the brand to reflect the message – which is warm, inviting and friendly – rather than take someone’s surname, as a lot of letting agencies do, which I think sounds very formal. That’s not how we do business in Bristol.
Your first property transaction as a company?
It was a 1-bed flat in Malago Drive, Bedminster. Back then I was working from home in my conservatory. It was also before I had e-sign software, so the contract had to be physically signed. As I didn’t have a proper office to call my own, I arranged to meet the landlord in the park!
How’s business been since then?
We have tripled our targets for Year 1 and we are hitting all these milestones that I didn’t think would be possible in 12 months. A year ago, I hadn’t even launched a website and now there’s a team of four.
From June 2021 to January 2022, we moved across four offices in Westbury-on-Trym and we’re now in the biggest in the building because we grew so quickly. It’s cool to see how people have responded to the message and the fact we’ve done everything we set out to do.
The message is working. It is working with tenants, it is resonating with landlords, and we have grown a profit quicker than we could have imagined. We have a really good team and the atmosphere is really fun in the office and we all enjoy working with each other.
When you reflect on the last year, what are you most proud of?
I think the thing I am most proud of is proof of concept. I wasn’t sure how people would react to the idea of what we are trying to do and the fact we openly discuss the problems in the industry – problems that everyone knows about and jokes about but nobody does anything about.
I needn’t have been nervous as the response has been fantastic. We’ve got over 100 5-star reviews, nothing below a 5-star, no negative comments whatsoever. It is great seeing the brand out there on the streets.
The big thing for us is to see how our relationship with tenants has grown. Whenever someone comes up to us and says my friend says you are a fantastic agency, and that’s come from a tenant, that makes me feel amazing because tenants can have a crap time of it.
For every property we advertise, there is going to be one successful person/couple/group, and there will be 40-50 unsuccessful ones. But we do our best to make sure everyone has a viewing and has a chance, and if we don’t have a property for them, we give them the advice they need so that they are in a better position to get the next one.
You can’t do it right every time, there are so many moving parts and the relationships are so complex contractually. So whilst I can’t promise every single person they’ll get everything they want, I will guarantee them that they will be treated with equal respect, regardless of budget or whether they’re a tenant, landlord or contractor.
