Building on Success

Local entrepreneur, Oliver Corkery, tells Eileen Leahy all about the evolution of CorkerBrothers, the property and development business he co-runs with his brother Harry – and why they’re determined to do things differently

I’ve met Oliver Corkery on a number of occasions and every time I come away from our interviews I‘m always impressed – and inspired – by his drive, determination and infectious passion for what he does.

The Managing Director of Corker, the outdoor living specialists, and Co-Director of CorkerBrothers property developments, Oliver is always looking to improve and innovate – and has an inherent ability to think outside the proverbial business box.

 Just over a decade ago, he and his brother Harry helped transform the direction of their father Mick’s Small Loads company. This collective vision and ambition saw them transform a regular aggregate, pavers and topsoil delivery service, which had been established by Mick and his wife Alice back in 2001, into the now hugely successful Corker brand.

Since it was established in 2014, Oliver has poured all his time and effort into creating what is now an inspiring and award-winning alfresco lifestyle and landscaping destination, located on Whetsted Road near Paddock Wood. It supplies both commercial and private clients with the industry’s finest materials so they can create the outdoor space of their dreams – as the business’s 15 on-site stunning show gardens prove. But more on those later…

Oliver readily admits that the pandemic also played a part in accelerating Corker to where it is now thanks to everyone being ‘stuck at home and looking to improve their garden’.

“That period saw us increase our radius and also double the postcodes we could deliver to, all of which helped us improve the profitability of the business,” says Oliver. “And despite having to navigate some turbulence when the war in Ukraine started, as well as the cost of living crisis, I am pleased to say that Corker continues to grow in profitability year on year.”

In 2017 Corker launched 10 show gardens which really put the business on the map. In 2023 the Corkery family updated the gardens and increased the number to 15 commissioning the likes of Tim Sykes of Gardenproud and Karen McClure, who runs her own eponymous design company to create gardens that wouldn’t look out of place on Chelsea Flower Show’s prestigious Main Avenue. Karen is also responsible for the funky bar area that has been created in the grounds and where many of Corker’s social events take place, as well as specialist talks.

But despite all the success achieved so far I am not actually here to talk to Oliver about Corker. Instead he wants to focus on another business he and Harry launched at the end of 2023: CorkerBrothers.

The epiphany for this came after they both enrolled on a six-day online development and property course.

“We dived into it and came out with tons of knowledge so that was the catalyst for us launching CorkerBrothers. We started looking for land to buy and sent letters everywhere. Eventually we managed to get a site in Matfield courtesy of some Corker customers so that level of trust was already established. At the time we didn’t really know how we were going to fund things but we knew getting the Matfield site through planning would cost around 60 to 70K.”

By this time Harry was working in finance full-time after studying during the pandemic, and so the brothers were able to self-fund the initial planning stage of their first development.

However when various issues arose, including problematic access to the site, Oliver and Harry realised they needed some professional advice and guidance. That came from Michael Canham, a seasoned and well-known local property developer who runs Canham Homes.

“He decided to back us in what we were doing and quickly became a mentor to us. We were originally put in touch with him through a family friend called Richard Bass. But he sadly died during Covid and so he never got to see the relationship truly flourish with Michael. And that’s why we named our first development Bass Orchards.”

Once planning was achieved, it took just 13 months to build and sell. The site consists of one five-bedroom house, two four-bedroom houses and two three-bedroom semis. Since then the Corkery brothers’ relationship with Michael has gone on to thrive.

“He has been enormously helpful to us and is a great visionary. Due to his extensive experience he has come across every type of scenario in property and development so there is nothing he doesn’t know.”

Another hugely influential factor to CorkerBrothers’ early success has been the move Oliver took to replicate the slick social media content and clever advertising that Corker is so well known for.

“When promoting Bass Orchards if people signed up they would receive a YouTube update every couple of weeks on how the site was progressing. We were also able to access target data from Right Move which showed us the areas where all the searches were coming from. So instead of advertising with them we just took those postcodes over onto Facebook and started to run targeted ads in all those places – and we doubled the database in seven days.”

In another industry disrupting move, Oliver didn’t put the properties up for sale with Right Move.

“We didn’t need to as we had so much interest via our own direct marketing route and our socials. We sold the first four plots off-plan and the last one we launched with a brilliant local estate agent called Jack Nutley.”

Oliver explains that he also took a dynamic approach to the design of the Bass Orchards properties whose starting price was £599,999.

“Eventually we want to offer potential clients a totally bespoke and digital approach. That means they can decide on the type of kitchen and layout they want all online. It’s about getting it right and completely bespoke.”

It all sounds pretty revolutionary – as does the new CorkerBrother branding which I get a confidential preview of during out chat.

Oliver tells me that the official ‘big reveal’ is coming in August and that he has put in hours and hours of relentless research.

“I eventually found the most incredible designer who loves all the plans and vision we have. He is not from the property sector so he is able to think outside the box for us. He works with a lot of contemporary, forward-thinking brands and is bringing that aesthetic to CorkerBrothers. I love looking at what’s happening in fashion and interiors as those trends eventually move to the mainstream. The pictures we are using for this feature are part of the brand’s new direction; it’s about showing a more authentic and reflective image of who we are. We want to take people on our journey via social media, employing clever advertising techniques and really getting to know the industry and potential clients.”

It’s clear that Oliver wants to lead where others will follow, and this is already being evidenced by their style of ad campaign for CorkerBrothers.

“A lot of people in the property and development industries are commenting on our approach and saying how much they like it – some have even started doing similar campaigns,” says Oliver with a wry smile.

One thing he can reveal about the new CorkerBrothers branding is that the logo reads as one word and not two.

“Corker and Brothers are joined up to reflect us as brothers and also a solid sense of togetherness and community because we are very much focused on that.

“We feel there is a huge gap in the market for doing things really well – and differently. And it all starts with the basics and firstly that means ingratiating ourselves with the existing community where we plan to develop.

“We will be running surveys to get feedback, looking at access issues to the site so as to cause as little disruption as possible. That also includes streamlining all our operations and being considerate.

“Going into a new development there will always be a level of disruption so it is about making sure you communicate that effectively with those who are already living close by. We want to engage with that community and ask for feedback on how the project is performing. We have a reptation to uphold and so we want to do things the right way.”

Oliver says he has started to build a team around him who will help create what he calls ‘land events’.

“The idea is to invite the local community to these so they can see the plans and talk to the architects. We’d like to change the perception of property developers because a lot of the small-to-medium enterprises, such as ourselves, want to provide a quality and transparent service.”

Oliver adds that most developers will take ‘a scatter gun approach’ to sourcing land, sending out letters here, there, and everywhere with no personalisation.

“We will create a bespoke letter to send to potential sellers as part of our new land packs. 

“Some people are quite rightly nervous about selling off their land but we want to normalise all of this – it’s about breaking the mould and treating people as you would want to be treated. I guess it’s about creating an aspirational yet community-driven brand.”

I ask him what Harry’s contribution to all this is. “He is very much involved but given he has moved to Dubai to work in finance he is doing more behind the scenes stuff such as overseeing contracts. He is like my second brain and very much the analytical force behind our creative ambitions.”

Oliver is doing pretty much all of the boots on the ground work which includes expanding the team. “Our recent hires have been heavily in marketing as we want to build up brand awareness which will be visionary and focus on a founder-led strategy.”

That, as Oliver explains, involves building up his own personal profile. “Every week now on social media we put up a sort of ‘daily blue print’ video which trails me and what I get up to in the job. It could be a site visit followed by a meeting with contractors – or my recent trip to Chelsea Flower Show with a client.”

Oliver has also invested in state-of-the-art equipment including new cameras and software and there are plans afoot for a new podcast series cleverly titled Building Blocks.

“You will see all of this and more start to build ahead of our brand launch in August,” he says.

Oliver confirms that CorkerBrothers has secured its second site locally, which has room for approximately eight to nine houses. And that they will once again call on the expertise of Michael and his team: “They are now the main contractors. Michael has 160 people working for him in-house at Canham Homes and has been in the business for the past 50 years. We have learnt so much over the past 12  months working with him. And he enjoys working with us – he likes the fact we are innovative and bring fresh ideas to the industry.”

The plan now is to focus on growing CorkerBrothers over the next three years while still developing all that Corker has to offer. “Ideally we want to want to expand outside our current radius and we have serious plans to open a second site towards Brighton. We definitely want to further our offering in homes, gardens, hospitality and eventually wellness.”

It’s an ambitious vision but one that I think Oliver is more than capable of achieving given his natural business acumen and pioneering vision.

The first time I met him – in-between the lockdowns of 2020 – he confided that he had been in contact with hospitality entrepreneur extraordinaire Nick Jones of Soho House fame.

At the time our conversation was totally off the record but Oliver says it’s fine for me to share that he did eventually get to present his business plan of creating an aspirational destination, zoned into gardens, hospitality and wellness areas.

“We presented everything to Nick Jones at his HQ in London and he loved it. He told us ‘this can definitely work’ and asked us get in touch once we had found a site so that was pretty exciting!

“I’ve worked hard on all the research I have done for both businesses and know that we can create an incredible eco system around our brands. This may, or may not, eventually come under one umbrella, we are not sure of that yet. It’s about having the opportunity for our clients to experience the quality and ethos of all that we do.”

It’s amazing to think that the last time we met, Oliver had no real property development experience or contacts and yet now he has overseen the development and build of five luxury homes, is able to source land off-market and about to embark on the next site.

“From watching YouTube tutorials and then exchanging on the final Bass Orchard house this week it’s been a total of five years – and we built the houses on the Matfield site in 13 months from start to finish. Michael keeps reminding us how spoilt we have been as the development was fairly stress-free so we still keep our feet on the ground. But we certainly have fire in our belly for any challenges that might come up. We are ready and excited for this new chapter.”

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For more information:

Call: 020 8798 0862

Email: info@corkerbrothers.co.uk

Follow: @corkerbrothers