West-end boy trades on openness and honesty
Kirsty Mcluckie talks shop with industry veteran Jack Gallagher, managing director of Western Lettings in Glasgow
J“I get the biggest kick from witnessing
the development of individual team members. Everyone is encouraged to do what they find enjoyable or
interesting”
ob title Managing director at Western Lettings. The firm manages 700 residential properties in Glasgow; the majority of which are in the West End. We have ten full-time employees.
How did you get started?
Prior to selling in the early-2000s, I had been a landlord since my early 20s, owning five rental properties. I was familiar with the challenges, and so when I considered starting a business, lettings was an obvious choice.
My first step was to buy a manual on how to set up a letting agency. It had templates for letters, adverts, and websites. I loved the “cookbook” nature of the manual, and putting all the pieces in place kept me busy for months. I followed the advice in the manual to get the first few instructions.
Before setting up the business, I worked as a software developer and IT consultant in the oil and investment banking sectors.
What is the company ethos?
Openness and honesty are our watchwords. We’re constantly looking for new ways to quickly and easily share information with our landlords and tenants, as well as with our team.
We’re committed to lettings. It’s very rare to find an established agent who doesn’t dabble in other property areas, such as sales, factoring, development and sourcing. I’d say our strength comes from that focus. I believe that if you want to be as good as you can at something, it’s best to avoid distractions.
Who are your typical clients?
We call them emotionally-attached landlords.
Sometimes, it’s a couple moving in together and renting one of their homes. More often, the landlord is relocating and has taken the decision to rent their home rather than sell it.
Approximately 90 per cent of our landlords own a single rental property. Less than 3 per cent own more than two.
What is your typical day like? I tend to work at the office in the morning and at home after lunch.
Broadly speaking, the morning is spent working “in the business”, and the afternoon is spent working “on the business”.
The day starts with an all-hands morning meet, which usually lasts five or ten minutes. Each property manager looks after between 100 and 150 properties. They deal with everything in their portfolio, including vetting tenants, co-ordinating maintenance and arranging tenant changeovers.
We’re progressive with technology. For example, we don’t generate any paper for tenant changeovers. We use team collaboration software to make sure everyone knows who is doing what when. Landlords can view and comment on all tasks relating to their property.
I get the biggest kick from witnessing the development of individual team members. As far as possible, everyone is encouraged to do what they find enjoyable or interesting. Learning is encouraged and we
teach each other.
What areas do you
cover?
We have a focus on the West End, it’s more efficient to have properties concentrated in one area close to the office. A higher average rent is also good for business.
We still like our West End focus, but we will consider properties up to 40 minutes from the office.
Where do you live?
I live with my partner Caroline in the Park District, in a triplex flat which we bought in 2015 after it was restored to residential use, having been used as offices since the 1960s.
We don’t feel compelled to be always on the move, although we have just purchased a plot of land in Aberdeenshire with planning permission for a five-bed house.
Does your job affect your social life?
I wouldn’t say my job gets in the way, as I enjoy doing most bits of it. It’s rare that something urgent comes up that I personally have to deal with. If I don’t have anything particular to do on a weekend, I’ll usually spend my time working on a Western Lettings project or reading about business in general.
You could say I’m always on the job, but it’s mainly because I like it and I like learning. Several of my friends are landlords or contractors who I’ve met through the business.
What advice would you give someone wanting to work in the industry?
Try to find a company which is set up to support broad-based learning.
Many companies break up the workload with an assembly-line mentality, which means that your job quickly becomes boring and repetitive. You won’t learn much about the lettings business by spending five years doing viewings.
It’s a good sign if an employer supports professional development and talks about it in the job specification. Try a firm with an Investors in People accreditation.
When we’re recruiting, we ask applicants to complete tests for customer service and attention to detail. Although we set a high bar for short-listing, most candidates rule themselves out by not completing the tests.
When recruiting, we’re looking for things like a clean driving license, some signs of tenaciousness – such as successful completion of some higher education – and a willingness to get ahead.
What do you do in your spare time?
For most of my life I’ve been a keen rock-climber, and spent several years doing it full time. I’m getting a bit old for hard rock-climbing now, but still enjoy adventure travel.
Just prior to the pandemic, I spent a few weeks exploring the Mexican coast with an old climbing friend in his small trimaran.
I sail once or twice a week and have a half share in a keel boat which we keep at Largs and race when we can.
And I’ve recently volunteered as a business mentor for young people with the Prince’s Trust.
How is the market?
It feels normal for the time of year, in terms of demand and rent levels. The average rent across our portfolio has risen by 6.1 per cent in the past 12 months.
Having everyone working from home and dealing with the difficulty of viewings has encouraged innovation. The main change we’ve seen is increased use of virtual viewings, which we now use for all of our listings. Floor plans have also become more of a thing. It may be that conducting viewings later in the tenant journey will become normal.
What are your future ambitions for the business?
We have plans to grow the business to 950 properties in the next 18 months. During that time we’ll be looking for our first merger or acquisition opportunity.
However, we are committed to our mission of making renting better and we will not compromise that by scaling the business prematurely.