High profile Leeds businessmen invest in home buying start-up

FOUR high profile businessmen have joined forces with Leeds digital agency pixelbuilders to launch an online home buying start-up.

Former Yorkshire Bank director of small business banking, Gary Lumby, Brilliant Law founder, Matthew Briggs, BiY business network founder, Darren Shaw and Carter Jonas’ head of commercial in the north, David Aspland, have each invested and taken non-executive director roles in the new business.

The New Home Finder site launches in Yorkshire this month, with a national rollout planned over the coming months.

They have worked with the pixelbuilders team to create www.newhomefinder.co.uk, which launches this week. Former Addleshaw Goddard marketing manager, Emma Aspland, also joins the business as commercial director.

Strata, Persimmon, Redrow and Miller Homes are among the house builders featured on the site, with a number of national advertisers.

Martin Oates, one of pixelbuilders’ three directors, said: “The idea for the site developed from a frustration all three of us experienced when looking for new homes to buy,” he says.

“Search engines direct you to individual developers’ websites, which you then have to trawl to find schemes in the area you want to live. What we wanted was a site that pulled all of this information together and presented all of the new build schemes available in a specific area. Talking to other people, we quickly realised that we were not alone in our frustration. That’s why we created New Home Finder.”

Darren Shaw says the goal is to provide a comprehensive resource for new home buyers: “As well as an exhaustive directory of new build schemes the region, New Home Finder also offers lifestyle, legal, financial and help to buy advice for homeowners.

“By providing essential information and guidance from experts in each of these fields, the aim is to give people everything they need to find and buy a new home.”

Andrew Weaver from Strata says that adding New Home Finder into the company’s marketing mix was an easy decision: “As well as generating and delivering cost effective leads, the real time reporting metrics make it very easy to see exactly how much interest each development is generating through New Home Finder. The in-depth buyer information is already proving invaluable, too.