Interview with Camilla Dell, Managing Partner & Founder of Black Brick Property Solutions

Camilla Dell is Managing Partner and founder of Black Brick Property Solutions LLP and has worked in the London property market since 2002. She is highly experienced in meeting the needs of demanding domestic and international property buyers.

During her career to date, Camilla worked for two of London’s largest and most successful estate agencies, Foxtons and Knight Frank, before setting up Black Brick in January 2007. Since then, Camilla has grown the firm from a two-person start-up to one of London’s largest, full service, independent buying consultancies. The Black Brick team collectively boasts over 100 years’ experience in the London property market and has successfully sourced and acquired more than £1.5 billion of residential property for private clients.

Camilla’s professional, energetic and tenacious approach to property finding, her total dedication to her clients’ needs and her expert negotiation skills have won her huge loyalty and trust amongst her clients who include some of the world’s most successful businessmen and entrepreneurs.

 

I started my career working for Foxtons in 2002. Jon Hunt the founder was a real inspiration to me. He is a self-made entrepreneur and grew the business from a single office start-up in Notting Hill to one of London’s most formidable and groundbreaking estate agencies, finally selling out for £360m. It was incredible to be part of that journey at that time and inspired me to go out and do my own thing. Jon and I are still in touch and friends to this day.

 

I love watching reality TV shows and in the early noughties, I was addicted to The Apprentice. I applied to go on series 2 and almost got chosen but didn’t quite make it. From over 100,000 applicants to be nearly chosen to go on the show really made me think about my future and gave me the confidence to start writing my business plan for Black Brick.

 

It’s too easy to get distracted in today’s modern world. There are so many channels these days all trying to grab your attention from Instagram, X and LinkedIn to the rise of the Whatsapp channels and of course email. At the end of the day what matters most is clients. Ensuring Black Brick has a steady flow of new clients and providing exceptional service to our existing clients is always the priority. I try not to pay too much attention to what others are doing and focus on attracting the best talent and refining our own systems and processes to stay ahead of the game.

 

Setting up a business is risky. Walking away from a salary and the comfort of working for a firm takes guts. Risk-taking is essential if you want to create something. I believe in being realistic and taking calculated risks rather than risk for the sake of it.

 

I have never believed in ruling from an ivory tower. We sit in an open-plan office. My team can approach me at any time for support. I believe in meritocracy. Reward big when it’s deserved. Party hard when things are going well and appreciate your team. My team know that I have their back and as a result, I have benefited from extreme loyalty with several members of my team having worked with me for over a decade.

 

Really taking the time to get to know a client, to listen, and to work out what makes them tick is crucial to being a good buying agent. Patience and perseverance are essential, along with the ability to get on with people from all walks of life. Being a buying agent is hard. You need to be analytical, and tenacious, have a high attention to detail, and be able to advise rather than sell and write reports to clients rather than just push a button and send a property brochure out. Estate agents often think they can be both. Sell and get retained by buyers, but the skills needed to be a great buying agent are hugely different to the skills needed to sell property.

 

When I first set Black Brick up, I found recruiting hard. I recruited people I probably shouldn’t have. It’s a hard lesson, but over time you get to know what works well for your business and what doesn’t. I find recruiting talent much easier today than I did 18 years ago! I can tell within the first 5 minutes of an interview if someone is going to be right for us or not.

 

I have built a really strong support team around me both at work and at home that enables me to work hard but also maintain a good work-life balance. I am also a big believer in looking after yourself mentally and physically. I work out 4 hours a week and I do this during working hours, and I encourage my team to do the same. You can’t operate at the highest level if you aren’t looking after yourself.

 

My biggest piece of advice to anyone looking at becoming a buying agent is to first learn the market. There are no shortcuts. Work for the best estate agency you can and get at least 5 years of solid experience under your belt. Advising buyers is impossible if you don’t first know the market.

 

There have been so many amazing moments from winning industry awards to presenting at prestigious events for the FT (Financial Times) and Bloomberg. I think my proudest moment was when the firm turned 10 years old. That felt like a real milestone. And the next proudest moment will be in 2 years time when we turn 20 years old – now that really will be something extraordinary to celebrate!