What we do

Betternest.  Helping you make a better home.

When it comes to home renovation, Betternest are the experts on your side.  We provide a full end-to-end renovation solution for homeowners that empowers them, removes fear and uncertainty from the process and delivers on time and on budget.

We do this through an integrated 3-step service of Design, Management and Delivery, provided through a single touchpoint.  At the Design stage, Betternest explodes the traditional architectural services model through three fixed-price, step-by-step reports which ensure a homeowner’s vision is brought to life with rich detail, architectural insight and optimisation of space, value and eco-efficiency – and which, through expertise in Permitted Development Rights, often does not require planning permission.  Once a project moves into the build phase, Betternest will Manage this through its Renovation Concierge, orchestrating all parties and processes together to deliver on time and on budget.  To Deliver the construction, Betternest offers customers access to its network of trusted builders and suppliers – professional and personable tradesmen that we know can be relied upon for best-in-class construction services.  And throughout their journey, Betternest’s customer dashboards provide an ever-present tool for customers to track, review and update their project.

We are fully independent and we have no agenda.  We are your advocates.  We are here to help you paint a vision of what your ideal home could be – and then help you go and build it.

 

Why we exist

Betternest was founded in 2007 by Simon Smith, a builder’s son and graduate of the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London.

This was based on two key insights.

The first was a life-long observation, drawing as much on Simon’s youth growing up around the building trade as his professional experience: namely, that the home building and renovation industry is costly, complex, fragmented and wrought with fear, mistrust and uncertainty.  A homeowner will typically spend £60,000 on a renovation project, and it is one of the biggest commitments they will make in their life.  But the domestic renovation market is poorly serviced like few other sectors.  Getting answers to fundamental questions like ‘What can I do?’, ‘How long will it take?’, ‘How much will it cost?’, ‘What will it be worth?’ and ‘Who will build it?’ are extremely difficult.  Knowing what to do, where to start, and – especially – who to trust is a nightmare.  Most people who undertake renovation will have had a bad experience, or will be expecting to have one.  Current provision is piecemeal, uncertain, complex, emotional and, ultimately, inadequate

The second was a recognition of the inadequacy of the planning permission regime and the way its barriers, limits and subjective whims actively disempowered homeowners.  This, coupled with his discovery of Permitted Development Rights – objective rights which homeowners own as part of their property and allow them to add space without the need for planning permission and often in ways superior to it – gave him the impetus to explore more seriously how the domestic renovation market could be fundamentally redefined.

 

Betternest vision

 
This country is blighted by some of the worst housing stock in Europe.  We are plagued by poorly-lit, badly-laid out houses that leak energy and carbon.  We are also burdened with a mind-numbingly bureaucratic and inefficient planning regime.  Set against our national tendency to object to anything remotely ‘new’ and you have all the conditions necessary for inaction.  Even the bravest and most tenacious homeowners struggle to overcome the existing barriers – of fear, cost and hassle – to successful and stress-free home-renovation.  
 
This is not helped by the architectural profession.  It’s unfortunate that so many of our great British architects are lured by the international airport and corporate icon.  Domestic environments surely offer the greatest potential for public engagement and social transformation, yet they receive so little attention from the architectural elite.  
 
We have always believed that architecture is the highest form of art: democratic, accessible by its very nature, and affecting everyone.  We can’t all travel to an art gallery to enjoy the virtues of fine art or sculpture, but we are all subject to the influence of architectural space because we have no choice: we all live, eat and sleep within its framework.  
 
Space and light have the potential to transform the way we behave and think.  Most importantly they can change the way we feel.  Sunday roasts; early nights; BBQ’s in the drizzle … Our homes are special places, where our memories are formed and our dreams imagined.  
 
However, it is not enough to rely on the transformative power of architecture – we need to connect, enable and empower people with the best that architecture can offer, affordably.  
 
Our Vision is to democratise architecture so that we can all believe in its significance.  And not because we are told to, but because we have experienced its value in our own home, in our own lives.  
 
The homeowner must be put in the centre, allowing them to become the architect of their own dream home.  Because ultimately their vision is all that matters.  

 

Who we are

 

 Christopher Hood MA (Hons) | Chairman (Non-Executive)

Chris is a successful entrepreneur and manager and has a proven record of profit growth in challenging markets.  He left St. Johns College, Cambridge, with a First Class degree in Mechanical Science and Business Studies and, after a few years selling computer systems, joined his fledging family business (Shear Group).  Over the next ten years this business grew rapidly and profitably and was then sold successfully to Johnson Matthey PLC in 1990.  Chris then went on over the next ten years to restructure and run a major division of Johnson Matthey, employing 2,000 people and achieving international sales of £250m and operating profits of over £30m, and for over six years was a member of the Executive Committee of the company.  Chris is the major initial funder for Betternest, which he joined in 2007.

 

Simon Smith BA (Hons) AADipl | Founder & Chief Executive

Simon founded Betternest in 2007 and now serves as Chief Executive.  Growing up as the son of a builder, he went onto read Architecture at Liverpool John Moores University and graduated with First Class Honours.  During further study at the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London he worked with Dr. Davis Lane, Head of Operational Management Methodologies at the London School of Economics, generating a system that explored the link between real-time control systems (Max Msp) and Soft System Methodology (SSM – CATWOE) in order to challenge conventional notions of architectural form and function.  The project sought to establish a link between spatial quality and financial return in real-time.  In 2003 he co-founded an architectural practice in Fulham, west London, and was responsible for designing and managing over one hundred projects which included domestic renovation and new-builds for homeowners across the South of England.  Simon has also worked as a carpenter’s apprentice and project manager for domestic construction firms which has enabled him to gain valuable insight into the domestic renovation process.

 

James Hood BSc (Hons) | Operations Director

James completed his Honours degree in Architecture and Environmental Design at Sheffield Hallam University in 2005, gaining Part 1 recognition from the Royal Institute of British Architects. From an early age James was interested in Architecture.  His experience began with the design and project management of an eco-barn conversion in Suffolk for private clients. Whilst working at an Architectural Practice in London for two years he gained considerable experience designing domestic conversion projects in West London; his duties included planning applications, design statements, building control and project management.   James joined Betternest in 2007 as Operations Director.

 

 

Robert Copping BSc (Hons) | Non-Executive Director

After graduating in Physics, Robert began his career with British Aerospace as a Technical Engineer and progressed to the project management of multinational defence contracts.  In 1990, Robert became Commercial Manager of a subsidiary of the Rank Organisation and when the company was bought by Schroeder Venture Capitalists in 1996 he became Global Projects Director.  In 1999, Robert established Paradigm Management Consultants, with clients including the Ministry of Defence, but whose focus was helping SME’s to grow.  Robert launched Sightpath Limited in 2006, which uses its unique software system to deliver a highly effective Business Development Service.  He and his Business Catalysts have now modelled many different businesses to create Business Development Plans, which have successfully helped clients to obtain finance or simply to grow with reduced risk. Robert has now encapsulated much of what has been learned in an acclaimed new book, The Heart of Business Success – How to Overcome the Catch-22s of Growing Your Business and is regularly invited to speak to business groups on the subject.