Urban Perch Boutique Homes
It’s a hyper-competitive world out there for entrepreneurs and small business owners. They can have a great idea and love what they do but will always need to have focus and a competitive advantage to establish themselves in the marketplace and make their companies the successes they desire. Bianca and Eric Rey, the wife/husband team and co-founders and owners of residential home builder Urban Perch Boutique Homes, had launched their business and enjoyed some success, but soon found themselves at a fork in the road that brought questions about the next best steps to take in their entrepreneurial journey. Fortunately, they discovered the Advisory Board Council (ABC) program offered by the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) and it has made all the difference.
Headquartered in Winter Park, FL, Urban Perch Boutique Homes is a design-build firm that specializes in helping clients to find land, design their dream home, and turn its customers’ wishes into reality through new construction. With the help of its Advisory Board Council, Urban Perch has recently repositioned itself and carved out a special niche in a crowded and demanding industry. “What makes us unique,” shares Eric, “is that we are a design-focused wellness builder focusing on clean air, clean water, and a healthy home for your family.”
Having such a clear direction and unique focus was not always the case. As Bianca recalls, “when we started our journey with our Advisory Board Council we were at a crossroads with our business, feeling a little bit lost, not sure how to grow, not sure if we even wanted to grow and continue with this industry. The board we worked with completely changed our business. Working with the Advisory Board Council has been incredible for us. We rant and rave to everyone we can about how impactful the Board has been to us.”
The FSBDC at UCF’s Advisory Board Council program is an award-winning economic development driver for small businesses. Directed by program manager Jill Kaufman, each advisory board is a customized, no-cost panel of experts providing advice and counsel to help businesses grow over a set, 18-month term. The FSBDC acts as a matchmaker between established local small businesses like Urban Perch and area professionals who volunteer their expertise as members of the advisory board, with each advisor purposefully selected to address the specific needs of the FSBDC client.
“Every meeting they provided us with very insightful viewpoints and were a great sounding board to help us get to where we are today,” remarked Eric. “When we started with the Advisory Board Council, we were not clear as to what our unique value proposition was. They convinced us we needed to identify what that was and helped us develop what ended up becoming our wellness brand focus which is very unique in our industry.”
That new wellness positioning has worked admirably for Urban Perch. “We’ve seen some great business results since working with the Advisory Board,” declares Bianca, “because we’ve been able to stay focused on what we truly do well and what we know. We have been able to elevate our product and what we offer and been able to price our homes a little higher.”
Growth has also included new team members to expand Urban Perch’s marketing and social media presence while also attracting two seasoned project managers who have helped keep projects on time and moving along. “On the revenue growth side,” Eric noted happily, “from right before we began with our Advisory Board to the time we finished, we will be about five time (5X) larger revenue wise than when we started.”
For information about Urban Perch – A Boutique Home Builder, please visit https://urbanperchhomes.com/.
