Blog » Laura Hawthorne

Laura Hawthorne

6th October 2014

Role: Hilmark Homes

Company: Sales and Marketing Manager

Track Record:

Track Record

Originally from Richhill, Laura has recently moved to Katesbridge with her partner, Damien and 21-month-old son, Finlay. Laura studied Quantity Surveying at the University of Ulster and graduated with a first class honours in 2008. She has been working for Hilmark Homes as Marketing Manager since 2009. Laura is not only responsible for the traditional and social media marketing of the company but also engaging with all their home buyers to hand over their new house — a part of the job that gives her huge satisfaction. When she is not developing new marketing programmes or managing the marketing agencies for the company, Laura enjoys up-cycling old furniture as well as looking after her young son.

6.30am
Set my alarm for 6.30am and as usual hit the snooze button so I can get an extra 15mins lie in. I try to get showered and dressed before Finlay wakes, but most of the time he is running around with me in tow! Thankfully I’m a morning person and with the help of Damien, my partner, we are all washed, fed, dressed and in the car ready to go for 8am.

8.30am
I leave our son Finlay off with his Granny in Portadown and make the five minute journey to the office. If I’m lucky, I get into work without any phone calls from the foremen working from any of our sites.

9am
I am at my desk ready to plan the day ahead. I try to use the first hour to answer any urgent emails and compile a to-do list. This is an ideal scenario and very rarely actually happens! By the time I have reached my desk, I am inundated with phone calls. There is a lot going on across all our sites. We have a good location spread for our developments — Gosford View Manor, Markethill; Greenhall Park, Coleraine; Hartley Hall, Greenisland; The Forge, Ballygowan; Bowens Meadow, Lurgan; Old Coach Hill, Banbridge; Millmount Villas, Banbridge; Rock Road, Armagh, and Lacehill, Portadown.

10.30am
Time to grab a quick coffee before our weekly internal meeting. The whole team including the MDs will sit down for a quick overview of all current sites with regards to sales and marketing. We discuss the sites that we are due to start developing in the coming months such as Bowens Mews in  Lurgan and, a new site, Castlewellan Road in Banbridge. We will have a conference call with our marketing company to brief them in our requirements for the next few weeks. This includes developing the brand for each of the new sites and agreeing marketing material requirements including compiling new brochures, buying billboards, press ads and social media advertising.

11.30am
I meet with some of our suppliers to confirm the turnkey for the new developments. I really enjoy this part of my job — it’s where I can really help to bring our homes to life. I love seeing the new trends for interiors and especially enjoy seeing the new trends in kitchens and tiles. It’s then time to arrange a meeting with our interior designer to brief her on our show houses for the new developments. It’s great to get the opportunity to showcase our homes utilising all the latest interior design trends which will help give potential new homebuyers some ideas on creating the home they have always wanted.

12.30pm
Back to the office to tackle some emails before lunch. I never really take a proper lunch break. I always end up eating my lunch and viewing marketing materials or checking out new developments online. I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in the property market.

2pm
Conference call with our charity for the year BRAKE, the UK road safetycharity. This is to get an update on up and coming fundraising events we can get involved in. We recently took part in their Giant Walking Bus event with a primary school near our Hartley Hall development in Greenisland. The key message was to get drivers to slow down around schools. Later this year we hope to engage with the contractors at all of our sites to push out road safety messages during Road Safety Week in November. As we have people, especially young families, living on the sites while we are still developing we feel it is vital that we keep road safety at the forefront of everybody’s mind.

3pm
I have a turnkey meeting with a home buyer on site at Lacehill, Portadown. I work with the buyers from the moment they book the site, along with the agent, right through until I handover the keys. I really enjoy this part of my job, I love meeting the people who will be living at our sites. I also enjoy working with them to make their turnkey choices and above all to give them the home they have always wanted.

4pm
Back to the office, answer a few emails. I also catch up with our PR consultant to plan out our activity with BRAKE as well as editorial content around our new developments. I also catch up with our social media activity to ensure it is up-to-date with news on the developments or any corporate activity. This includes details of our new Hilmark Homes logo.

5pm
I try to leave the office around 5pm to collect Finlay from his Granny’s.

6pm
Home and time to cook dinner. I enjoy cooking and like to make an effort at the weekends when I have more time. As I am so busy during the week, I try to plan ahead with meals and have them ready in the freezer. It makes things a lot less stressful.

7pm
I spend an hour or so playing with Finlay in the evenings, usually outside playing in the sand or pushing him round and round the house in his tractor. Then it’s the bath and bed routine.

8pm
Finlay is tucked up in bed. If I’m feeling energetic I love to work on my latest furniture find. I love up cycling old pieces of furniture. If I’m not in the mood I will have a cup of tea and watch Grand Designs or anything property related — there are so many shows these days and I love them all.

10.30pm
Time for bed. I’m definitely not a night owl!

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