Adam Galbraith, Director

Senior Land Manager Adam Galbraith has worked at Searls Land for a decade.

How did you get involved with Searls Land?

After studying at University in America and being part of the golf team on a scholarship I came home and decided I wanted to see some of the world. Family circumstances brought me home early and this is where Tim and I had an initial discussion about my future. Tim felt my golfing ability would be an asset within the industry as you must be single minded and want to win, which golfers of a certain standard tend to have. After some further meetings around the role and what the industry was like, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

What did your early days at Searls involve?

I was brought in as a land negotiator and my primary role was to find more opportunities. Technology has moved on in the last ten years and the way I used to look for sites was very different to how we do it now. The only way you could look for sites online was a pre-loaded Ordnance Survey mapping system that you had to pay per click, which was laborious and expensive. So, a lot of it would be going through all the local plans, all their allocated sites, or the sites they turned down, planning applications, all the refusals, the approvals. I’d churn up as much stuff as I could and then present it all. We’d go through all the opportunities that I’d come up with that week and then I’d ask questions about the ones we’d rejected because that would give me more insight into what I should be looking for next time. That was the first two years. Then I was let off the leash and given more of an outward-facing role, where I’d be dealing with clients, making site introductions, dealing with the landowners at the front end, trying to win instructions or win the opportunity to try and place their site. And then the role just progressed from there.

How would you describe your style of working?

I’m quite a black-and-white person. I try to recognise what I need to do to get a deal over the line before it happens rather than just rolling with whatever might come my way. I’ll plan how I’m going to do it quite methodically and if I don’t think something’s worth my time, I won’t work on it. Therefore, I probably work on fewer projects than most, but the ones I do work on happen. It’s a forward-planning mindset that I take into a deal. I try to see the problems before they arise and get them dealt with. If a site’s got technical issues on it that the landowner might not be aware of, I can think about who’s good at fixing those problems and what clients have dealt with them before.

You previously had a case where a water tank had exploded underground. Tell us what it was like to turn around a seemingly impossible situation into a really positive result.

Sometimes, the messier the site, the better. An underground water tank from a nearby block of flats had filled with groundwater until it eventually burst, causing the water to run down the hill it was situated on, causing the collapse of two houses on one side of the hill and four houses on the other side, as well as demolishing a road in between. Big technical problems like that can send developers flying, but I know that if you recognise what clients are good at and where their expertise lies exactly, they might really enjoy a challenge like that

Is that the thing you enjoy most about the job?

The thrill of doing a deal is what I enjoy most. If I didn’t get that buzz, I don’t think I’d be doing it. Overcoming problems is what we do. Maybe the problem is the landowner doesn’t know how to get planning and so we figure that process out for them. Or it could be the landowner needs money quickly and we have to work out the best way to go about that without diminishing the value of the asset. Sites can look quite similar on paper but actually every site is completely different because of the landowner’s expectations and the needs and requirements vary so much. I love solving problems for them.

How do you come to terms with having to wait – sometimes years – to harvest the fruits of your labours? 

I’m lucky that I never had a different career so I learned very early on that what you do today might not pay you for a couple of years, maybe five years or maybe even ten years. But time moves on quickly and it’s a case of realising that the more you do, the easier your life becomes in the future. Take care of today so you don’t have to worry about tomorrow. Even estate agency is very different to what we do because the process of selling a house is relatively simple. The complexities involved in land, through the infrastructure, planning and deal structure, cause the delays. I quickly learnt that when they say things are going to happen quickly, they don’t, and if they do it’s a bonus. I’m always trying to work a year ahead of myself, so I know what I do today will pay off in 18 months. We got paid on a land deal this morning, but I did that deal four years ago. If I didn’t do that work four years ago, we’re not getting paid this morning. So, if you’re worried about the time it takes to get paid, you’re in the wrong job. Six months is a quick deal. The average is probably 18 months to a couple of years.

What’s the most memorable deal you’ve done?

We’ve just completed on a scheme in Oxbottom Lane, Newick, and that’s been my favourite in terms of the location, the type of product, the scheme, the buyer, the seller – everything. The site already had a failed application on it from a developer and it was just good timing that I got in front of the six different landowners, and they gave me a chance to find the right client. We did a large deal on Rattle Road, Stone Cross, which was an incredible deal for the sellers. They bought it a year before for £10.75million and we sold it for £25million. It’s very rare for a deal like that to come about. It was great for us and great for them and probably the biggest deal we’ve done in terms of land value and margin, our market knowledge meant we were able to capture the right buyer at the right time. I’ve been at this for a while, and deals can blend into one in my memory, but sometimes you drive past a site and see how it’s been built, and I feel like I’ve been able to make a mark on the industry. Ultimately, for some landowners, it’s just about the price. Some landowners will say price is important, but they want to see a nice product built there because they’re releasing a family asset. When the grandchildren go past, they can say, ‘That’s our grandad’s old house, which they built some really nice houses on.’

What would you change about the industry if you were God for a day?

The obvious answer would be to speed up the planning process. But I’m probably a little bit different from most people in our field because I quite like the fact that planning is difficult because it doesn’t attract chancers as much as it used to. Essentially, before the 2008 credit crunch, anyone could try and do what we do. It was a couple of phone calls; it was very easy to find people that could borrow money and therefore houses were being built by all sorts of different people whereas today I feel most developers are more reputable and focused on build quality and customer care. Now, we get a lot of repeat business with good clients because it’s difficult to get the right outcome for everyone, and therefore, you want to deal with people who know what they’re doing. If the planning system became less tangled, you’d have all sorts of people coming into the industry just trying to chance their arm. Apart from that, it would probably be the transparency of everything. Trust is important in what we do, and I think it would be nicer if there was more trust in the industry.

Why should a landowner come to Searls Land rather than a different company?

We educate landowners about particular problems that may arise in terms of timeframes, price and pitfalls with the site. We give a really honest appraisal of what the likely outcome is and, therefore, provide the least amount of chance for unexpected problems to arise. Our market knowledge is also crucial. We know what’s sold and where. So, if someone’s just been given planning permission down the road from a landowner and they’re also selling at the same time, you don’t want to compete with them. We want to wait till they’ve sold and then we would take it to market, maximising our asset. That industry knowledge across our whole patch is better than other people who may be just relying on the brand that they work for. A larger brand might be good at what they do, but they will not have the in-depth market knowledge that we do.

How important is it to the success of Searls Land that the core team has been together so long?

Continuity is very important. Our client base knows that, in the main, they will be dealing with us all the way through. That might not be the case at a larger brand where it might be Dave they deal with on day one, but then it’s Jessica at the end. As an example, the four-year project I’ve just gone through was me from cradle to grave. So, landowners, developers, consultants and lawyers, all knowing they’ve one point of contact throughout the process, is a big advantage for us. It also feeds through into the way we work. Part of our thinking is, what client might work well with a particular landowner? If it’s a big PLC, are they going to get frustrated that whoever they’re dealing with on day one isn’t going to be who they’re dealing with on day two? If that’s the wrong fit for the landowner we might instead work with a client that’s had the same land director for 15 years because it’s going to be one voice they can build that relationship with and then have all the way through. If we didn’t have a strong enough hold on our patch, we wouldn’t know the right developers and house builders to place with landowners. However, because we’ve all been in the game for a long time, we do, and I don’t see that changing going forward.

What advice would you give to somebody looking to get into your industry?

You have got to be patient. You also have to be quite thick-skinned. You’re probably going to have a lot of people saying no before you get your first yes. And don’t be afraid to talk to as many people as you can. Ultimately, our industry is based on your contacts and the strength of those relationships. If I could go back ten years, I’d tell myself to get out there a bit quicker. You are meeting people in big, big jobs who are paid a lot of money and that can be daunting. But they’ve usually got families with the same hopes and fears as you, and they’re just normal. Most people are more than willing to share a bit of advice and industry knowledge and get to know you, as opposed to just doing business. So that’s another thing I think people would say about us as a business, we’re very easy to get on with. You want to enjoy who you work with as well as just making money. And if the two can go hand in hand, even better.

Where would you like to be in five years’ time?

I’ve never given myself five-year plans but if I did think about where I saw myself in five years it wouldn’t be anything to do with work, it would be more about my life outside work. I’ve never worried about my job title as long as I feel like I’m being respected and I’m getting satisfaction from what I do. In five years if I can still be working hard and trying to move the business forward, then I’ll be happy.

And what’s Tim like to work for?

Well, I’m still here ten years later! As you get to know Tim more, you understand his personality, how it works, when to talk to him, when not to talk to him. I think you have to get to know him as quickly as possible to understand how he is. Everyone who works here, bar a couple, have known him for a long time, and that’s probably why the business works as well as it does.