Thriving property entrepreneur takes innovative ideas global
A SOUTH Yorkshire entrepreneur behind a thriving US property development group is on target to see a huge increase in turnover as his firm takes the market by storm.
Robert Gavin, originally from Barnsley, launched North Dakota Developments in 2012. The firm quickly established itself as a market leader in the race to accommodate the tens of thousands of migrant energy workers drawn to the Bakken Formation in North Dakota.
The company creates modular accommodation constructing housing off-site and then having the buildings delivered when complete to save time and cost. Gavin has now begun work on its Great American Lodge Montana site near Culbertson, USA. The development follows the huge success of the Great American Lodge in North Dakota, which opened for business at the end of 2013, following sell-out investment.
North Dakota Developments saw turnover in December reach £6.5m but Gavin says it is on target by the end of the year to reach £120m to £130m, as he looks to take his model across the globe.
“The objective of the next 12 months are to be the number one of housing of this type in North Dakota and Montana, then I want to take the model to other places,” Gavin says.
Gavin said he has been approached by a number of governments across the globe, including China and New Zealand. He said his property group is currently looking to replicate the model in Texas.
He said: “The business is all about being in the right place at the right time. I am fortunate that shale and fracking is very topical right now. There’s quite a lot of shale in a lot of countries, so we can replicate the model in other places.”
Gavin, who started with five staff and is set to have a team of 350 by the end of the year, launched his business after realising there was a desperate accommodation shortage. Many workers were forced to live in their cars in sub-zero temperatures.
The Yorkshire entrepreneur bought first house aged 18 as an investment property and when he sold it for a substantial profit, it set him on the path of his future career. His career has seen him work in residential and commercial real estate for over a decade, including in the UK, Asia and the US.
The aim is to deliver 3,000 beds by the end of 2014, which would make North Dakota Developments the largest provider of accommodation in the area.
