Chris Burton
Director
Born in Northumberland but raised in Oxford, my first estate agency role was also there for four years before taking time out to read Law as a mature undergraduate. I moved to the beautiful Surrey Hills near Guildford some 20 years ago and have been a feature of Claygate village life and the Surrey housing market for 17 years, garnering long-term respect as a dependable, humorous and empathetic dispenser of all property-related advice. Having sold many individual homes in the village several times over, I bring a calm manner and unparalleled experience to all client moves.
Our role is a vital one and when done well, the genuine gratitude of clients is what keeps us engaged on your behalf. It’s a fascinating job and just when you think you’ve seen or experienced everything, each year throws up something new.
When not working hard on your behalf, you’re most likely to find me walking our springer spaniel (Moby) with my wife (Diana) either here or on the North coast of Cornwall or playing tennis, racketball or golf. I also love baking and trying new recipes so our ‘spice drawer’ is usually bursting at the seams.
Roly Matthews
Director
Born and raised in Epsom and educated in Leatherhead, I started my Estate Agency career in my hometown, moving on to cover Worcester Park and then Banstead with a large corporate Estate Agency before landing in Thames Ditton & Hinchley Wood where I’ve spent almost the last twenty years operating, so I guess you could say I’m a Surrey man through and through!
I live on the Epsom/Ashtead borders with my wife, three children and cocker spaniel. Running a business and juggling home life certainly keeps me occupied, but I’m so thankful I get to be surrounded by “leafy Surrey” and can jog (slowly) round Epsom Common in the mornings with my dog or hack round Surbiton Golf Course in the summer evenings before my weekends get filled driving my kids around the county to various sporting engagements.
25 years and growing in the Estate Agency industry I’d hesitate to say “I’ve seen it all”, but I must be close! I can certainly tell a few tales. Getting out the office and meeting new people and pootling around such a beautiful part of the country is what I love about my job, it’s got to beat being sat at a desk and staring at a screen all day.
Business Culture
The essential culture of a business is central to the public perception and long-term success of any business. If set up and implemented correctly, it should guide every day to day decision and action we take in a positive way. We’ve always been guided by the principle of doing and advising what we think is truly in the best interests of our clients, even if that isn’t always obviously aligned with the commercial interests of the business. Doesn’t sound revolutionary, but we’ve always been pleased to hear feedback as to how refreshing it is, and ours is a business with a long term view. We firmly believe a business that seeks to serve its community will in turn be looked after by that community.
Beyond selling homes day to day, we wanted to look at how else our business can be a positive force locally, and indeed in the world at large. We were interested in a business that consciously considered sustainability, our environment and how we can re-invest in that local community that we enjoy working in so much, even as a relatively small, service business in the global scale of things.
Many comparable businesses carry historic baggage of the way they’ve always done things, but starting afresh we could afford to look at what can be done better and what can be done without whilst still providing our clients and our business with the tools for success, but without unnecessary wastage.
As a business we will always consider
What printed marketing content is necessary? Of course a business should promote itself and indeed our clients homes in our case. However, are they made with recycled materials? Can they be recycled again?
Do you needs batches of laminated brochures to sell a house in a digital age?
Do you need to produce a weighty tome of a magazine filled with advertising to reach an audience?
Can for sale signs be recycled and made from recyclable material?
Did we need to take a car to that appointment?
What are the ethical credentials of the organisation we bank with?
Does that email need saving or deleting? (Keeping a single email uses 10g of CO2 a year!)
Are we using a green search engine and website host?
The list goes on of course and whilst we don’t pretend to be experts in the field, we will always strive to follow this path and will always welcome feedback from you if there’s something you feel we can do better.
Lastly, although we are a business striving to make a profit, we believe that can be done ethically, on all fronts, and we aim to be able to use some of that profit to support local, Surrey-based charities when possible. A business that not just serves its local community, but re-invests in it.