Is your block or estate in need of a change?
Our Story
In April 2015, the co-founders and managing partners of JFM, James Farrar & Joe Mallon, did something extraordinary.
They started a new managing agency from scratch and began building it into one of the success stories of the block & estate management sector. This was done by creating a service designed for consumers. Our aim was to increase the control and improve the experience of homeowners who paid service charges. This meant being more open, giving more choice and being more transparent.
This focus on consumer-empowerment encouraged JFM to develop an intelligent approach to property management. We knew no two blocks or estates were the same. That’s why we set out to develop a working relationship tailored to each set of people we worked with.
The result of this approach? Read on and see for yourself.
In just two years, JFM went from a two-man start-up to an established company, with 10 staff and 50 developments under management.
Fast forward to today (October 2023) and JFM are a multi-award-winning firm with a fantastic team of 42 office staff, 31 site staff, and approx. 6,923 homes under management across 85 blocks and estates.
We’re seen as one of the success stories in the industry of recent times and recognised by many as the industry-leader in consumer-focused block & estate management.
The future looks more exciting still. Be sure to come and check this page out again in the near future as our exciting story evolves.
The below illustrations show the rate of growth over the last (nearly) 8 years since JFM began trading. You’ll note that while we managed almost the same number of blocks/estates two years ago as we do now (February 2023), our total number of units has increased. This is because we’ve been strategically working towards managing fewer, but larger, schemes. To enable us to do this it’s meant us resigning around 45 clients periodically over the last years.
One thing we have always been very conscious of is growing too fast. This is why for the majority of our existence we have had our marketing paused. We also started being more selective with the clients we accepted. Consequently, despite what unquestionably has been a very successful number of years, JFM has grown at a rate that we’ve been comfortable with. We have never targeted growth at the expense of quality of service, and we think this is evident to anyone who looks at our record in the industry’s high-profile awards ceremonies, not to mention our excellent online review scores.
JFM started off life only serving Resident Management Companies. We relaxed our stance on this when people who were unable to exercise their Right-to-Manage (RTM) or buy the freehold of their block of flats, for whatever reason, started pointing out that we were perhaps side-lining those who maybe needed our consumer-focused style of management more than anyone else. This has not stopped us being highly Resident Management Company (RMC) centric, however, with 89% of our clients (as of February 2022) being RMCs (incorporating RMC / RTM / FHMC / Head Lessors) where the homeowners of the block/estate are our direct client.
The chart below shows the split of our Client Types in more detail.
Key:
RMC – Resident Management Company (those written into the lease from inception)
RTM – Right-to-Manage Company (those who have exercised their legal right to take control of their block)
FHMC / Head Lessors – Freehold Management Company / Head Leaseholders (those who have collectively purchased the head lease or freehold of their block/estate)
Freeholder – Where the freeholder is owned by an entity other than the homeowners of that block/estate
Note: In terms of day-to-day management, RMCs, RTMs, and FHMCs are all very similar; all being types of homeowner-control
The below graphic shows the breakdown of our client sizes in unit numbers.
Indicative Quote & Free Inspection
It will take just 5-10 minutes on the phone for us to run through key details about your building so we can produce an indicative quote for you. You can use this as a rough guide to see if we are a good match for your building. If we are competitive, you’ll be entitled to a free site inspection.
As part of an inspection we will undertake a detailed review of your block/estate which we use to produce a full fee proposal. Simply enter your details below for more information.