An outsourced viewings service started by industry senior and former estate agent Ed Mead (main image) ten years ago has completed its millionth viewing, he has revealed, including 50 conducted on Christmas Day last year.

Mead, who was previously a director of London estate agency Douglas & Gordon, says Viewber was the brainchild of both he and his wife (and property industry PR) Jamie Jago, and the pair during the firm’s early years brought investor Marcus de Ferranti on board.

Viewber now has 60 staff and a 5,000-strong ‘Viewber army’ on its books who carry out viewings on behalf of the firm’s estate agency clients when their staff are on holiday or demand for viewings surges.

‘The objective was never to replace what agents, managers, auctioneers, or any of our clients do; it was to make life more efficient for their staff, do more business and cover more geographies 24/7,” says Mead.

“It was also going to enable local people to earn a little extra money and work when they wanted to.

“It was also going to enable local people to earn a little extra money and work when they wanted to.

“One of our strengths is being nimble and creative and finding solutions to problems our clients faced. Originally the idea was to handle assisted viewings for estate agents; once they saw what we could do (and do efficiently and reliably) they wanted more services.

“This led to other property-related clients and today, estate agency is only 9% of what we do.”

The ‘Viewber army’ includes a range of people from many backgrounds but most are looking to earn extra cash in their spare time or retirement but Meads says his firm’s recruitment selection procedure and vetting process has always been “strict… only 12% of applicants make the grade”.

Mead has also been busy recently delivering supplies to Ukraine.