Garden Homes
My name is Anne McCusker, and my business is Garden Homes.
Garden Homes is a very small building and development organisation. It specialises in second homes, (also known as Granny flats), together with renovations associated with the building of second homes.
When my husband died suddenly, the development business I had been running for twenty years was immediately cut off from its traditional finance base. The banks saw my husband as the principal of the company, and did not want to continue with me. My daughter and I, both building professionals, looked for a way to continue building with a format that did not require financing.
Using the NSW government policies to tackle the housing affordability crisis in NSW, we set up Garden Homes to market a service of developing and building secondary dwellings in established areas of Sydney.
We had no real business experience- lots of planning, design and construction experience, but the basics of business accounting, finance, marketing and sales were not there.
I sought advice from Pushpa Kishor of Clearly Business, an organisation supported by the NSW government to help small business. First, she advised me on how to get a website up and working, then encouraged me to take the Women in Business series of seminars and training sessions. We were given an excellent mentor, who is able to help at the ‘nodes’ of our progress.
Nine months later, we have a business running. We have proved a market in second homes, and have projects advancing through Council Approval. We hope to commence digging within a month. We have constant enquiry, all of which is good enquiry, as the concepts (and problems) associated with second homes become better known throughout the community.
Also, through the networks of Women in Business, we have a path back to our development work. A finance expert has taken us on, and we are discussing ways to start again as developers, in a small way, but again doing what we do well, which is to provide good housing for this great city where we live.
Anne McCusker
Garden Homes
Phone (02) 9953 2891
Mobile, 0412 360 350