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Silverstone targets growth in residential market with new business venture

ByEmily

Jul 1, 2017 #Business, #newcastle

Newcastle-based Silverstone Building Consultancy has launched a new business targeting the residential property market.

Silverstone co-founders, Ben Hunter & Richard Farrey have teamed up with former property lawyer, Alex Hunter to establish Silverstone Residential Surveys Ltd specialising in building surveys for homebuyers.

Farrey& Hunter set up the commercial business in 2009, which has since established itself as a leading name in the sector. The entrepreneurial duo see the new business venture as a natural extension of the commercial services they already offer.  

Richard Farrey, director at Silverstone Residential Surveys said: “We identified a gap in the market for a local independent residential surveying business that offers the same high level of expertise, experience and commercial awareness as our commercial building consultancy practice. The new business will be launched with the benefit of a considerable pool of resources and the collective knowledge-base of our established team.

“Over the past eight years we have carried out many residential building surveys at the request of existing clients and contacts, so this is a natural extension of the services we already offer. As we have no ties or associations with any estate agent, bank or any other party, we can give our customers non-conflicting advice written solely for their benefit.”

The new business offers a range of services including home buyer reports, full building surveys and party wall surveys for residential properties. The firm is looking to recruit two new building surveyors to add to its 8-strong team to help deliver the new services.

Alex Hunter, who formerly worked in the commercial property team at Muckle LLP added: “I am very excited to be joining the Silverstone team to launch this new business. Having previously worked as a solicitor my in-depth knowledge of legal issues relating to property will inevitably prove beneficial.”

She continued: “We believe there is a significant market we can tap into and our aim is to become the first firm of Chartered Building Surveyors people think of when they are considering selling or buying a house.  We are keen to establish a reputation for providing easy to understand professional advice in a timely manner, delivered by friendly staff who understand the customer’s perspective in what is normally a stressful time.”  

According to online property database Zoopla the current average house value in North East England in June 2017 is £183,859. This has increased 1.15% from March 2017. Terraced properties sold for a current average value of £133,598 and semi-detached properties valued £167,932. Its figures also show that over 40,000 homes sold in the North East in last 12 months.

By Emily