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13
Apr 2023
Back-bedroom start-up to smash £1 million barrier 12 years after launch
The story is sponsored by Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors.
A firm of chartered surveyors founded in a back bedroom 12 years ago is on track to break through the £1 million turnover barrier this year, its founder has revealed.
Kempston-Parkes has grown its client base and turnover every year for over a decade, and is now the foremost Harrogate firm in its sector, with nine professionally qualified members of staff and six administrators.
The landmark turnover figure comes as a welcome milestone for Andrew Kempston-Parkes, who founded the firm in 2011.
Having started his working life at the Valuation Office Agency – part of the Inland Revenue – he received his professional qualifications from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 1997. He started carrying out residential valuations and survey work in 1999, and worked for over a decade at a national firm of chartered surveyors in Leeds and then Harrogate before branching out on his own. He said:
“Working for such a large company, I’d progressively moved further away from the client; in fact, I was encouraged to have as little communication with the client as possible, which I felt flew in the face of professionalism.
“Setting up on my own was the right decision. There is a healthy market for honest, personal service with clear communication and a human touch.”
Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors focuses on pre-purchase surveys (RICS Level 2 HomeBuyerReport and RICS Level 3 Survey), along with valuations for all purposes: purchase, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and matrimonial assessments, as well as Party Wall Act boundary disputes and Land Registry plans.
Mr Kempston-Parkes said a lot had changed since he first entered the profession, including the approach to customer service:
“There’s a lot more diversity in the workforce now, which is great, and the technology’s developed beyond all recognition – we have iPads, laser measurers, drones, thermal imaging equipment, telescopic poles – lots of technology to help us see things that are out of reach.
“And as an industry, we’re concentrating more and more on what clients need. We’re a lot more responsive. If you have a problem with land or property in the Harrogate area, we’re the people to come to.”
Find out more:
Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors provide surveys and valuations for all purposes, including purchase, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, matrimonial assessments, boundary disputes and Land Registry plans.
For more information, go to www.kempston-parkes.co.uk, or for a confidential conversation about your requirements, call 01423 789111.
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