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Also regarding whether it would be a worth giving up what I’ve got to start a new life in China. I didn’t meet my wife in the UK, it was never set in stone that we’d live in the UK forever. She wants to live close to her family after living away for so long. I knew when I married her that we would eventually, someday live in China.
I’m 31, I’ve been working on the business since leaving school at 16. I’d enjoy a change and a new challenge. I feel like I’ve taken the business as far as it can go in London and am not enthused about the idea of banging my head against the ceiling for the rest of my working life. There’s a possibility that no such ceiling exists in China.
I don’t think I’d be able/want to do anything other than this in China. It’s all I know and I live it.
If I can’t make it work in China then the worst case scenario is we lose a bit of money but spend a couple of years in Chengdu. I can always come back to London and get a good job working for another firm.
If I can’t make it work as a renovation company for clients. The alternative I would like to look into/seek others opinion is to become a boutique property developer in China. Buy the best apartment, in the best area and renovate it to an out of this world standard then hope to sell it to a rich person that buys it with their heart and not their head. What do you guys think?
Many thanks for all the replies, has given me food for thought for sure.
Also thanks for the ‘chabuduo’ article link, made for very interesting reading.
Regarding the in law’s house in the country. I was unsure of the legal implications but we were just going to follow what one or two of the neighbours in the area have already done. The structure as it stands is a very basic structure which is in a bad state of repair. It’s not worth trying to save as it would be easier to rebuild. My mother in law still lives there part time as she has many friends and family in the area. I’d build a new house similar to what is there, within the existing footprint of the building but built well, with contemporary detailing. It would be a good way of assembling a small team of tradesman. Dealing with the issues mentioned above initially would be better on my own project rather than other people’s homes. I would also be running at a serious brownie point surplus with the in laws which could prove useful in the the years to come.
When I asked the neighbours about the legal implications, the general consensus is ‘those rules don’t apply around here, you can do what you want’. I’m sure this isn’t the case. It wouldn’t cost a great deal to build but I’d need to look into it further to ascertain whether it is worth the risk of the house being demolished one day.
Building materials shouldn’t cause too much of an issue. I could build a passivhaus with sand, cement, gravel, brick, sheet/flexible plastic, glass, rubber, sheet/round timber, foam, sheet metal and aluminium extrusions.
It seems the biggest hurdle I’d face is getting local tradesman to increase their working standards/competency. This isn’t something that is unique to China, admittedly it may be more pronounced in China. I’ve had issues like this in Malta, Spain and even the UK too. Not to mention high end work requires standards that are much higher than the norm even in countries in which construction standards are already high. It will of course be even harder to overcome these issues in China however I feel I can do it.
The first thing I would do is buy/lease an industrial unit and equip it with tools and machinery so that we can make interesting things in house. Also if it’s worth the cost I could import quality non perishable building materials and store them there.
I would then need to assemble a directly employed team. It’s crucial to get the right people, willingness/openness to learn and do things differently would be the number one requisite. They would need to be financially and otherwise rewarded for working for me in comparison to working for anyone else. They also need to buy into the ideals and feel that they’re a part of it. I would initially need to be onsite at all times, behind every single detail. If they can’t do it, then I will show them. They need to be old enough to have been trained with a couple years experience but young enough to not be set in their ways and hostile to being told what to do. Early/mid twenties is perfect. After working this way for sometime I would then take on a site manager and train him in the same way. Then repeat the process if the market allows it. Each project needs at least a working foreman, possibly a manager.
I feel by building the business this way it will be entirely possible to carry out very high standard work, even in China. The next issue, and where I’m not sure and hence asking for advice on this site is: can I make it pay.
Carrying out projects in the way mentioned above is obviously going to cost more than employing your average local contractor. Therefore I cannot compete with them on price for standard specification refurbishments. My market would need to be wealthy people who indulge in life’s luxuries, like to flaunt their wealth and are prepared to pay for it. Are there people like this in Chengdu? There seems to be a lot of flash cars and gucci stores around the city so I have a hunch there is.
I can provide a service which possibly the vast majority, perhaps all, local contractors just aren’t able to. You can only learn this stuff by doing it, which I very stress-fully figured out early on in my career. It maybe the case that there are other very good renovation companies in Chengdu. There are lots of other very good renovation companies in London but the demand for such services has always been greater than the amount of companies able to do it, even during recessions.
I’m prepared and able to trade at a loss for the first year or so if required.
What really propelled my business in London was getting my work into design magazines. I would seek to do the same in China. I would also consult a local branding agency to ensure I’m emitting the luxury/exclusive image in ways that suit Chinese tastes. I’ve got a solid London portfolio to sell myself on too.
Another way I’ve managed to differentiate myself is to utilize an open book accounting method on projects. All my costs/profit are transparent to the client, I earn between 10-30% profit margin depending on project size/scope. If the project cost comes under the initial price given the savings are shared 50/50 between me and the client, but I still stand by my price if it goes over unless design changes has been made by the client during construction. This has been a good selling point for myself as I’m confident in my abilities to deliver the project to budget. It’s also good for the client as we are then both on the same team, instead of the usual adversarial relationship. They have a construction/design professional they can trust will design and deliver a quality project without cutting corners. It also lets them go wild with their specification if they so choose.
I’ve really gone on a bit here. Thanks if you’ve read this far.
