This April we celebrate 10 years as a company.
Here’s a brief look at some of my highlights!
2002
The brand new office in Rickmansworth opened and I moved here from Parkheath in West Hampstead, where I had been for the previous 3 years.
Our very first ad campaign saw our photos transformed into caricatures, here is my photos and how wonderful I looked in cartoon form! NOT!
Jane Gardner and in cartoon form
The Penn Place development in Rickmansworth was brand new and the site was still being finished by Barratt homes, it was so exciting as the ‘buy to let’ market was just about to boom and our brand new office and love of lettings coincided perfectly! We have placed over 200 tenants into this development since then.
Penn Place, Rickmansworth is built
2003
Excited about employing my first new lettings negotiator, Jenny, who remained with the company for 7 years. Not so excited about some of the ‘late nights’ we had to put in to grow the business!
Jane & Jenny burn the midnight oil
2004
Time to study for our ARLA qualifications and head up to London for ‘school style’ exams!
Jane passes her ARLA Legal Comprehension 2 Exam
2005
Things were getting better and better for the company, lots of hard work was being put in by the expanding team and it was great to have some celebratory nights out to say ‘thank you’ to everyone. This was a fabulous evening up at ‘Langans Brasserie’, I think we look quite fresh-faced!
2006
Lettings moves upstairs at 2 Station Road, Rickmansworth
Lettings was growing and had to move ‘upstairs’ for more space, so the office entrance expanded onto the first floor at Station Road and I became ‘Lettings Director’. Meanwhile the sales office expanded into a new office in Chorleywood.
Parkheath Chorleywood Opens
2007
Abbie McEneaney joins Jane in the Lettings Team
Cassio Metro, Watford is built
Everything was going very well for sales and lettings, targets were exceeded, and the entire team of staff along with their partners headed off to New York for a pre-Christmas shopping and sight-seeing long weekend, courtesy of the company! Those memories will never fade.
New York New York
Jane in New York
2008
Lettings were nominated for their 1st Award. A great excuse for a staff outing and everyone travelled in style by limosine to the Hilton in Park Lane on a cold November evening to delight in winning the Negotiator Magazine’s Best UK Lettings Office 2008.
Jane Gardner wins Negotiator Award 2008
2009
Our first full year in the new office position at the ‘other end’ of the High Street gave us the chance to expand our team and build up a new register of clients. Who’d have known that Rickmansworth had ‘two towns in one’ with the boundary forming in the centre of the High Street around Caffe Nero’s..! You hardly ever find the same customer in the High Street branch as in the Station Road branch, it truly is bizarre…
eLettings move to 103a High Street office
It was also our first year as ‘nominees’ for the ESTA Awards and gave us a taste of what it could be like to WIN one of these prestigious awards. It was great to meet Phil Spencer from C4’s Location, Location, Location though!
Susie & Jane meet Phil Spencer at the ESTAs
2010
Our first advert showing in Vue Cinema Watford where we ran between all the screens to see it shown before 8 different films! The lettings ad was based around our staff family album with pictures of the staff as babies (can you guess who we all are….???) and the sales ad had a James Bond theme.
- Lettings Cinema Ad
Sales Cinema Ad
We also held our first Landlord Forum at the office this year and were astounded by the level of support, it was a fantastic fun and informative night.
Busy Sewell & Gardner Landlord Forum
2011
After a few years of deliberation, the decision was made to change our ‘trading name’ from Parkheath to Sewell & Gardner and the transition happened at the start of 2011. It was such a huge surprise to be short-listed for a Sunday Times Award and, not thinking we would stand a chance of winning, Alex and I headed off to Lancaster Gate for the conference and ceremony, only to return with a Gold Award for Best Single Lettings Office.
Sunday Times Lettings Award 2011
This year the lettings team organised a music event for Oxjam called ‘Chorley-Woodstock’ which was fantastic fun, hard work but incredibly rewarding to raise over £2500!
Oxjam Chorley-Woodstock
2012
Well I hope that 2012 is just another successful rung on the ladder of our growth because it has been full of wonderful events so far! In February the Sewell & Gardner team won the Rickmansworth Annual Pancake Race for ‘Watford Mencap’ Charity and helped to raise over £8000.
Sewell & Gardner win Ricky Pancake Race 2012
In April the company won 3 prestigious ESTA Awards and in May the lettings team won a Gold and a Bronze Award at the Lettings Sunday Times Awards. There are 2 more Award Ceremonies yet to go this year, so watch this space……