St Albans and Harpenden estate agency chain celebrates six months since re-brand

Andrew Bradford and Liam Howley have been toasting a successful first six months as St Albans and Harpenden’s newest estate agency chain.

While Bradford & Howley was first established as a business in 2009, the two agents operated under the Putterills umbrella until last year, finally putting their own names above the door on 27 September.

Both agents are “really pleased” they took the plunge, Andrew Bradford confirms, adding that they’ve “never looked at it as anything other than a re-brand – all we did was change the name above the door”.

As well as offices in central St Albans and Harpenden, there’s also a Bradford & Howley branch in Marshalswick.

Andrew adds: “The locations and the people have stayed the same, and we’ve kept our clients; people have really responded well to it, which is fantastic.

“We want to be the best in Harpenden, Marshalswick and St Albans. That is our goal. Looking after our customers is absolutely key. We’re trying to support more local schools with sponsorship and we’re also sponsoring the St Albans Charity Cycle Ride on 13 May.”

Andrew adds: “It’s been a good six months. We’ve started to grow our market share and we’re getting 98 per cent of our asking prices which is great.

“The average sale time on Rightmove, from the time a property goes on the market to the sale being agreed, is 12 weeks – we’re doing it in nine.

“But what’s really nice is that people have really congratulated us on the new look and on doing it with our names above the door rather than somebody else’s.”