Contractor "Hammers" the recession

Yorkshire contractor Derry Construction hammers home a profit after appearing on "Homes under the hammer"

Yorkshire builders Derry Construction Limited are due to be featured on BBC television programme ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ next week. The show will air on Tuesday 29 June on BBC1 at 10 am.

The well established building firm, based in Harrogate, was filmed back in October 2008 when managing director Shane Derry found a good parcel of land with full planning permission for a three bedroom bungalow in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, on sale at auction.

When he won the deal, he was surprised to find that ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ were filming the auction and wanted to film his progress with the new build and follow his trials and tribulations through a recession. Shane says “I was slightly bemused by the offer of being filmed for a programme on the BBC but once the researcher had explained what was involved, I agreed.”

October 2008 was a particularly bleak time for construction. The credit crunch began to bite, house sales slumped and order books dried up. With the economy looking down the long dark hole of a recession, house builders began to mothball sites across the country. Shane Derry, however, could see the opportunity to buy in a falling market and secured the plot for well below the guide price of £60,000.

Good timing in business is critical but more so when facing a recession. The decision to buy in a falling market was good timing but starting a build in the middle of a recession was a high risk strategy.  Shane says “I realised new business would be quiet during 2009 and decided to build our property during this potentially quiet period. This would help in keeping my workforce busy during the downturn and also return the completed house for sale towards the end of the year, hopefully when things would begin returning to normal.”    

So on January 5^th 2009 Derry Construction began constructing the house, but not without its problems, both on the planning and the financing side. Shane had applied to the bank for a loan and the council for planning permission for modifications that he wanted to make.  In the interim the company used their own funds to pay for the works as they proceeded. A decision on the planning application would not be made until the end of February and with the proposed house within a conservation area it was in no way a foregone conclusion that it would be passed.

With this in mind and so as not to hold up progress Shane made the unusual decision to build the foundations wide enough to accommodate two sizes of  house! Luckily for Shane his gamble paid off and they received full planning permission in time to suit his build programme.

Homes under the Hammer returned to complete filming in November 2009 and managed to film every perceivable angle of the property to the delight of the company. Two estate agents attended filming to assess the property and unsurprisingly both were impressed with the standard of finish.

Following the filming for Homes under the Hammer Derry Construction have sold the property, now named Rose Garden Cottage, justifying all the risks taken by the company during the recession.

Shane said: “Taking part in Homes Under the Hammer was a great experience which we all enjoyed.”

Derry Construction are registered house builders with the NHBC and are members of the National Federation of Builders.  They are also approved contractors for Sovereign Chemicals specialist remedial products.

For further details please contact:

Derry Construction Limited
HG3 2QQ
Tel: 01423 780760
Email: [email protected]

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