December Talk with Alice Baker

It's the last week of December and a week of restrictions for the second Christmas in a row. Let's take comfort from the words and experiences of some dynamic business owners and managers across the UK. Today we're talking to Alice Baker who is property services manager at Fraser Allen Estate Management which is a company specialising in residential block management. The team manage the communal areas of blocks of flats across Wiltshire, Cheltenham, Bristol, Bath, London and beyond.

It’s December – is this a busy time for your business? 
Due to winter storms in December, this can cause problems with the properties that we manage. For example, leaking gutters and roof damage.  

During December people tend to be at home more due to Christmas and we find that we get more call outs on lighting and water ingress. We have a team on standby to help with any of these requirements. 

Christmas has come and gone – what does Christmas mean for you? 
This is a special time of the year to celebrate Christmas with my family and a chance to unwind and take a break.

What’s on Santa’s List for your business in 2022? 
The business is growing and we’re really excited to be expanding into new areas.  

I am looking forward to seeing the whole team develop in their roles, in self growth through training and experience and working together as an all female team.

We hope that the business continues to expand and we continue to serve our clients, residents and contractors as effectively as possible.  

And what’s on your list personally? 
To continue to grow as a person and to meet new people as part of my role and beyond.  

What has been your greatest business lesson this year? 
That trust is the most important aspect of business. Without that, you don’t have anything. 

What have been your business highlights in 2021?  
-       Learning more and more about the business each day. My knowledge continues to grow and I love learning all of the different aspects of how block management works. 

-       The company being a finalist in 3 national awards at the News on the Block Awards in London, winning one and our Director being Highly commended for another. 

-       Expanding the business into new areas of the country. 

What will you do differently in 2022? 
I am looking forward to focusing on further developing within the team, but to streamline more aspects of our internal processes to make things even more efficient for our clients.    

Is ‘giving back’ important to you and the business?
I have a passion for working with different charities. We are a dementia friendly business and we’re very proud of how we gave back during the pandemic by offering our services to vulnerable residents who needed shopping, prescriptions, dog walks and much more. 

We also bought laptops for local children so school work could be continued and have recently donated to the same charity so those same children can have WiFi in their homes to help them advance their knowledge.   

Will you have a nominated charity for 2022? 
We are still considering our charity plans for 2022 but we will continue to support dementia charities and the local community.  

What would be your best piece of advice for anyone in business for 2022? 
Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t. Do your research and make sure you don’t make any knee jerk decisions.  

And finally:
We are very grateful to have tripled our business in 2021, despite the pandemic. We would like to thank everyone who supported us during this time. We work very hard and care very deeply about our clients.  

For more information visit www.fraserallenem.co.uk