Sarah Beeny Autumn 2017 - 32

I was four years old. We were so
proud of it hen it as ﬁnished
HOW DID THIS LEAD TO

'Well, I was a property developer
for 20 years with Diccon and my
husband Graham - we all saved for a
deposit and set up a business. But as
far as getting on TV is concerned, I
was just in the right place at the right
time. I met an agent at a party and the
rest is history. It genuinely fell into
my lap. I just enjoy meeting people
and talking about houses. I found it
interestin
hich ade it easier
WHEN DID YOU REALISE

' a a ous
not fa ous
Elvis Presley is famous! I always
thin that s such a i
ord for
so eone li e e
ust a usiness
woman. Some people describe me as
an entrepreneur, and I say Richard
Branson is an entrepreneur, not me!
'Occasionally, my kids (Billy, 12,
Charlie, 11, Rafferty, eight, and Laurie,
se en say
fa ous

solutions - there has to be one for
every problem - and the faster you
ﬁnd it the etter
quite i patient
so another thing I love about
uildin s is that you can ﬁx thin s
strai ht a ay usually
WHAT FRUSTRATES YOU
ABOUT DEVELOPING?
'Planning laws. Without a doubt.
And petty regulations that are
completely pointless - paperwork for
paper or s sa e
erythin in life
should e a yes unless there s a
ery ood reason for a no t s
a cultural thing because in other
countries, people just get on with it.
Obviously safety is paramount, but if
rules are too co plex there s a
dan er that they ll e i nored
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST
MISTAKE PEOPLE MAKE
WHEN IT COMES TO INVESTING IN

'People think that if they spend
money on something, the price
of that gets added to the value of the
property t doesn t or li e that and
that assumption can actually end up

BUT YOU SEEM TO BE ON
'Ah yes, but I never watch my
sho s so don t see yself
like that.
'People do recognise me, often
in the playground, which is weird
because we have a very simple life -
it s ery fa ily orientated don t o
to red-carpet events. I just do the job
in hand and then o ho e t s li e
anyone else s o
ut don t et e
ron it is ood fun
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT
a lo ical person so hen
look at a building, I instinctively
see if things are in the correct place.
I struggled sometimes at school,
ecause
not ery ood at learnin
- I need to understand absolutely
e erythin and if it s a su ect
not interested in, I get bored.
'The fascinating thing about
uildin s is that they re all different
the sub soil, the foundations, the
access areas, the neighbouring
uildin s t s inﬁnite ho
uch you
can learn and lo e that
en in the
ost co plex desi ns there s al ays
a reason why something happens.
s one of life s natural pro le
solvers, I thrive on discovering

032 | OCTOBER 2017

'EVERYTHING IN LIFE SHOULD BE
A "YES" UNLESS THERE'S A VERY
GOOD REASON FOR A "NO". IT'S
A CULTURAL THING BECAUSE
IN OTHER COUNTRIES, PEOPLE
JUST GET ON WITH IT'
costin you ore on t concern
yourself by second guessing how
uch it ll e orth in
years ti e
f it ﬁts you perfectly you ll et your
oney s orth y ein a le to li e
in it and en oy it
WHY ARE WE SO OBSESSED
'This has a lot to do with the
voting system in our country. In
the th century if you didn t o n a
property you couldn t ote roperty
is also a status thing here, whereas in
urope they don t ha e that indset
IS IT STILL POSSIBLE TO
BECOME A MILLIONAIRE
'There will always be developers.
If you go to the right area, then
yes it is still possi le ut don t thin
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