Getting your name out there, Nick Jeffries

This interview was recorded for the Founding Network podcast in June 2020.

Nick Jeffries:

Hi, my name is Nick Jeffries of NU Projects. We are a design and build construction company based in Fulham. So we specialise in increasing square footage. That means under, to the side or above your property. We work in prime areas in London. We have in house architectural designers and in house interior designers. We also have project management, and obviously construction. It’s a whole turnkey solution for our residential clients. So in total, we sort of control everything from start to finish.

James Sutcliffe

Perfect. And how did you get into this business?

Nick Jeffries:

I first got into property 15 years ago. I worked for one of my buddies who had a contracting business. He asked me to come on board sourcing deals. I never knew what I was doing. But I had always been proactive about marketing my old business. It had nothing to do with property. And I created databases from yelp.com. I found a way to strip yelp.com and put it into a spreadsheet. Then I sent out a thousand letters a week. They went to businesses all over the place. And out of those businesses, it would say this. “Look, if you ever got a property you want to sell. Give me a call”. That’s basically what it was. Off the back of those letters, we used to have lots of deal flow. And even today, 15 years later, a little old lady will say this. “Oh, I had your letter through the mailbox 15 years ago. And I want to sell my property now”.

Nick Jeffries:

So it proves a point. You can send some marketing out. It may not happen straight away, but it will happen at some point. And then about 12 years ago, I came to London because I had to. I think it was the global credit crunch. And then I reinvented myself up here as a land agent. I partnered up with a high net worth. He took me under his wing and I did exactly the same. My first deal was in Mayfair. I found the property off market, and he bought it. We got planning to add square footage. He sold it on with the permission six months later. It went for a good deal more than he paid. Then I did a second one with him in SW1. I did exactly the same. Bought it, got the planning, sold it. I had money on the way in and money on the way out. I did that for two years.

Nick Jeffries:

And then one of his friends said this to me. “Nick, if I gave you some money, can you find a deal? And we’ll do a joint venture.” That gave me the stepping stone into property. So I found a deal in Primrose Hill. It was a studio of about 350 square feet. We bought it and spent a modest amount doing it up. We sold it on about a month later for a clear margin. Then we bought an unmodernised house in Fulham. We spent properly on it, and sold it on. That is what brought me over to Fulham. Then the neighbours either side started asking whether we could do theirs. That is when NU started. And that’s when we got into construction in Fulham. And we’ve been here ever since.

James Sutcliffe:

Amazing. So it sounds like you really need that break in this world. Knowing those one or two people initially really got the ball rolling for you. And I guess built up a bit of a portfolio for you. How would you suggest people go about finding those couple of people? They can really help them out in the first place.

Nick Jeffries:

You have got to put yourself out there. Because if no one knows you, how are they going to contact you? So what I do today, I create as much content at scale. So I’ve got two people working for me full time, creating content. I do a lot of videos like this. I also get in front of the camera every day. “Hi, my name is Nick Jeffries of NU Projects. If you need architectural design or an interior designer, give me a call. You can reach me on 020 7731 6841”. That goes on LinkedIn. That goes on Instagram. That goes on Twitter. That goes everywhere. So people are always seeing my face, constantly staying the same things. Repetition all the time. And even over the weekend, I’ve had a guy in Abu Dhabi. He wants to do some joint ventures. He may be fake, he may be real. Who cares. Last Saturday, I had another guy message me through the website. He said, “Nick, I’ve got four properties in Elan. And I would like to joint venture with you. I own them. I give you the properties. You do the build. We have a carve up.” Hallelujah, easy.

Nick Jeffries:

If you’re shy in front of a camera, do some still images. Do some content. I was shy in front of the camera when I first started. When I first done my first YouTube video, I was shocking. And they’re still shocking now, but it doesn’t matter. It’s you being real. People don’t want the polished selfie. They don’t want the staged shot of the house you have just finished. They want to know the person on the end of the phone is real. Good, bad or ugly. So I put all my dirt out there. When we started, ten years ago, I had a business partner. We were going well.

Nick Jeffries:

We were doing ten million pound projects in South Kensington, including a triple basement. We were also doing four new build houses in Fulham, all with basements. Then the partnership ended and the business went with it. We were flying and all of a sudden we crashed. I started again as NU Projects. I kept the office, kept the brand, and went at it again. So it’s all about brand awareness. Now we are more of a media company. That is because you need the media to get traction. If you don’t have traction, you don’t have business. You could be brilliant at building. But if you can’t get the phone ringing, you’re finished. You can’t rely on word of mouth because word of mouth is not enough. You might get one or two jobs. But you need to build your pipeline up.

James Sutcliffe:

Yeah. And it sounds like you’re in the world of pushing content out there. You use paid socials by the sounds of it as well, a little bit. Is that right?

Nick Jeffries:

Everything, every single thing possible.

James Sutcliffe:

But I think one of the things a lot of founders miss is this. They are not making the use of just the free avenues as well. So as you say, just regularly posting and taking advantage of that.

Nick Jeffries:

It does it need to. If we put out on Instagram, I would say 20 posts a day. 20 posts a day across stories and across the main feed. And then that goes onto Facebook. Then it goes to LinkedIn. Then it goes to Twitter. Even TikTok, even all the kids ones. That is because you never know who’s watching those channels. And you have got to be in there at the beginning to build it. I’m 50 years old. So, I watch a lot of people on social media of my age. I like Gary V because Gary V talks about brand awareness and marketing. He talks about creating content and documenting. Or I like Grant Cardone, the American guy in the US. He is 63 and still going hard at it. Yes, I don’t agree with everything he says. But I agree with the content he’s creating. Because you can’t put content out there and everyone’s going to like you. You are going to get the haters. I get them. There’s a button called delete. You just delete them, don’t even think about it.

James Sutcliffe:

And how honest are you with your followers and your audience? Do you, so it sounds like you share a lot. Things might not go to plan with a project or a deal. Do you share that as well?

Nick Jeffries:

If you go back on my YouTube channel. So YouTube, I’ve had that for two years. It’s really hard to get traction on YouTube. That tells the whole story about my past. It covers my bankruptcies, my wins and my losses. It covers my divorces, my deaths in the family, everything. It’s really hard to be successful, really hard. Isn’t it? You’ve got to put so much energy in. You’ve got to have a little bit, a tiny luck. And that luck comes through hard work. Because if you don’t work hard, long hours creating the content, meeting new people. You’ve got to meet new people. If your network is tiny, you’re never going to be successful. It’s impossible. Some people don’t want. I want, I’m 50 years old now. By the time I’m 60, I want to make sure of this. I’m going to work flat out for the next 10 years. I will do whatever it takes to get where I want to be. Build this brand up so that people in West London know who we are. That is the job. It is half construction and half showbiz.

James Sutcliffe:

Did that strategy change at all when lockdown came in? So when everything started to slow down? Did you slow down at all with content and pushing things out? Did that change?

Nick Jeffries:

10 times more we put it out. Because I noticed very quickly our impressions on Instagram doubled. So we did more video, more talking, more. I’ve done quite a few Zoom calls with entrepreneurial people. We smash it up and use this for content on YouTube or other things. So no, the office was closed in Fulham. I came in every so often. The construction projects are live. We have nine on the go at the moment. They are in Fulham, Chelsea and South Kensington. Kitchen extensions, loft conversions, a bit of both, basements. I noticed very quickly we were getting new enquiries.

Nick Jeffries:

At least two new enquiries a day came in throughout lockdown. We signed a deal up in lockdown. We are starting a job today in Fulham. It is a kitchen extension, a loft conversion and a pod room. It is also a basement and a full refurbishment. I was careful to begin with. That was because I did not want to upset the neighbours. Because say I started to do a basement next to your house. All the guys are branded NU. I got a big black cordon up next door. Noise and dust and dirt is going over your properties house. That is when you’re in the garden. You’re not going to be happy.

Nick Jeffries:

So yes, we were worried about upsetting people. The boys were debranded and the logos came off the hoardings. Now the government has said construction can go back. Even though they didn’t say we didn’t have to stop. And we’re back to normal. The guys are dressed up high vis. I said this to the boys today. “Make sure if you’re out and about on the street, social distancing”. Because all it takes is one person taking a picture. A picture of them outside on a break. I said, “Make sure you’ve got some masks around you, on you. Have a box by the front door”. Just something, hopefully all this corona is going to disappear soon.

James Sutcliffe:

Yeah. So tell me a bit about what it’s been like managing your team. That is during corona, during lockdown, while the office has been closed.

Nick Jeffries:

So managing the team, I deal with the project managers. So the project managers, I’m talking to them every day. We have meetings in the office or by Zoom or a conversation. WhatsApp’s going crazy. No problems to report. Everything is going smoothly. The clients are so happy we are working. The jobs have slowed down a little bit. That is because the supply chain was limited, getting materials to site. The value of purchases of materials were going up. But again, no problems to report. Everyone’s happy. I’m happy. The clients are happy. The staff are happy. Everyone’s well, no one’s got corona. And what I see out in the street is a lot of scared people. And I just think it’s the media playing mind games. What the media try to do, they’re doing what I do. They capture people’s attention by creating content. So everyone is putting out as much news, negative news. That is because negative catches people’s attention. Say the government put out a load of positivity today. Hopefully it will start feeding back to the normal person in the street.

James Sutcliffe:

Interesting. And one last question, so with all the change that has come in. Is there anything you have changed because of lockdown? Something you will not go back to?

Nick Jeffries:

Not at all. My office here, I’ve got a 2000 square foot office here. There’s no need for it, really. Everyone could be working from home doing digital marketing or branding. But this office is my showcase. When the good times come back you can come in. You can see I have a physical base. You can sit around a table and have a cup of coffee. That is what closes deals. So for me, hasn’t changed at all. Hasn’t changed at all. I’m more positive now because all my competition are worried. I’m moving forward. I’m pushing forward in all kinds of fronts. I am doing more JVs, more branding, more marketing. And my goal is this. When somebody searches for builders in West London, we come up. Or they pick up their phone.

Nick Jeffries:

And then on Instagram and Facebook my face is there. It is telling them what NU Projects does. It is about making sure they come to us. That is when somebody looks for a person of influence in the construction industry. We are not a national housebuilder. We do not do big multi-unit deals. We do single units, or two or three. These are in prime areas, finished to a high standard. We’re based in Fulham. Half a mile up that road is Chelsea. Then South Kensington, then Holland Park, then Richmond. We’ve got the right areas around us, all within two or three miles.

James Sutcliffe:

And coronavirus isn’t going to change that.

Nick Jeffries:

Nothing. Not at all, not at all.

If you are planning work on a London house, tell us about it. Nick still answers most of these calls himself.