Interview: Why I left traditional agency to join the ‘design-led’ sector

Experienced agent and former Hamptons senior Daniel O’Brien (main image, right) has taken over ‘custodianship’ of the design-led estate agency Aucoot from founder John McDavid.

Aucoot is a boutique agency that specialises in designer property. It was set up by John McDavid in 2016 and, unlike rival The Modern House, it doesn’t deal only with modernist homes – its criteria is broader, working with homes from any period as long as their design is exceptional.

Perfect combination

Speaking exclusively to The Neg, O’Brien explained his vision of how he wants to combine the company’s strong design values with his traditional estate agency know-how.

He says the designer sector is too often populated by designers and journalists rather than estate agents. It means the sales side of the business doesn’t always perform as efficiently as it should.

After 17 years in one of the top agents in the country – Hamptons – those are exactly the kinds of skills he is bringing to the company.

And, he says, he is taking a far more collaborative approach to the sales process, helping to stage properties and ensuring that every element is on-brand, from the photography to videos and copy, which is all done by people with design backgrounds.

A perfectly formed bonsai tree of a company.”

To help him achieve his goals, he has brought along a brand new team – Charlie Monaghan was formerly Head of Brand and Editorial at The Modern House, Dario Esposito has sold some of London’s most beautiful homes and Architect Akua Danso is co-founder of the community network Black Females in Architecture.

As O’Brien says, he now has: “A perfectly formed bonsai tree of a company,” and his plan is to grow it.

When he bought Aucoot it was only selling a few houses, but after just a few months, he has already managed to agree 26 sales and is excited about what the future holds for his new venture.