A co-founder of InverTay Homes does not mince his words when asked if politicians could be doing more to help the housebuilding sector.
Eddie Wighton, director of operations at the Dundee company, said: “If I was a politician in the UK right now, I would be extremely ashamed of our housing situation.
“No political party over the last three decades has placed housing need at the forefront of the agenda, and this must change urgently.
“At local and national level, we now have declarations of housing emergency to highlight the struggles taking place – but, sadly, this is only due to being forced into these public announcements.
“The Scottish Government made the national declaration back in mid-May – and to my knowledge there is yet to be any follow-on detail on what this announcement actually meant and what special measures would be put into practice issued to the sector.
“A change of direction should have taken place decades ago, and anyone who claims to have been unaware of the situation until recently should resign.
“Whilst attending a Q&A with our newly-appointed First Minister shortly after his appointment, I was shocked by how little he knew about housing when questioned.
“This was despite his government announcing a national housing emergency in the days leading up to the event.
“It was clear to those in the room that housing was not a priority. Housing is a basic human right and, as a world-leading economy, the UK should be leading the way on housing.
“In 2024, we should not have record numbers of homelessness – with vast numbers of children living in temporary accommodation. Nor should we read headlines of children dying from mould while living in housing stock that is not fit for habitation.”
InverTay was set up in 2013 by Eddie, a joiner by trade who has now been in the construction industry for over 35 years, and his friend Mike Pratt, who was involved in project management.
What was the business opportunity?
Eddie explained: “We recognised that the industry was lacking good-quality private housing that could satisfy the needs and desire of the everyday family.
“Our founding ethos was to design and build a typical family home with more space than the national average.
“We would build smarter to reduce our construction cost, and use sustainable methods of construction to deliver a superior home.
“The internal fit-out had to be of better quality than all other housebuilders, and, we wanted to ensure an exceptional level of energy efficiency so we would become market leaders in this area.
“Ultimately, our aim was to set a new standard of housing.”
Ground was broken on InverTay’s first development in September 2015.
Eddie said the pair had been confident of success for InverTay Homes.
He explained: “Anyone who takes the bold step to create a business in any field, not just housing, has to be extremely confident of success and their abilities to deliver.
“A ‘can do’ attitude is crucial when running a company and making every effort to move forward each day is the foundation of success.
“Yes it is a tough journey. Yes things do go wrong (regularly) and we have to face many challenges as an employer.
“But if I didn’t have the belief in our abilities, and that we would succeed in our ambitions, then I would not have started.”
InverTay homes ‘are designed to meet the needs of everyone’
Eddie said: “They are suitable for first-time buyers and those seeking to step up the housing ladder, but equally, we have retirees and downsizers who have purchased our homes.
“It’s very pleasing to know we have people from all walks of life living in our houses as it reinforces our belief we are building the right kind of property at a genuinely-affordable price.”
InverTay currently has an average of around 25-30 direct employees, with long-term sub-contractors numbering around 30-35.
Eddie says 2024 has been a good year to date for InverTay, with a definite upturn in housing inquiries
“This gave us the confidence to increase output and so far we have been making excellent progress on our current projects.”
What has been the secret of InverTay’s success?
Eddie said: “I have invested many years of hard work, extremely long hours and an unrelenting pursuit of excellence to survive in our industry.
“This has been required year after year and I admit to being an extremely ambitions workaholic.
“I have sacrificed many things throughout my career, especially family time, to achieve my goals.
“I haven’t taken a proper holiday in decades, and when I do have a short break, I still work whilst I am away. In 35 years I think I can count my sick days on less than one hand.
“I would say the main criteria for anyone to be ‘successful’ is an attitude towards achievement and a determination to always go a little further.
“Pushing hard to achieve small wins as often as possible. Never give up, regardless of how difficult the challenge, keep a positive mindset, and never agree where you currently are, is success.
“Growth into other regions of the UK is our future focus and we have been working away in the background to lay the foundations of some exciting projects.
“This takes time with occasional setbacks. Our previous growth plans were shelved due to Covid.”
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