Before Vively, Churley spent 20 years in the corporate world, working in software. But as a young man, he worked in a naval architecture practice, where he designed yachts and submarines.
“My parents built their own house,” he adds. “My father was always sketching out the next project when I was growing up, and that approach to life must have stayed with me.” Churley also holds an MBA, which has been invaluable in his current venture.
Pearce’s interest in property was sparked by her parents, who owned a buy-to-let. “As a kid, I learned what it meant to be a landlady,” she says.
While Churley takes point on finance, Pearce, who spent 20 years in content marketing, manages their online presence, communications, and marketing. Both collaborate on the design, build and furnishing of their properties.
“If you’re going to go down the property route, it’s helpful to have transferable skills from your previous career, so that you can do more yourself,” says Pearce. The pair also have another business, Vively Design, which undertakes large-scale renovations of family homes across West London.
BRRRR has come under fire in recent years for driving up rental prices, taking valuable housing stock off the market, and exploiting tenants. Comparisons have been drawn between today’s buy-to-let landlords, trying to generate as much income as possible from their property portfolios, and notorious Notting Hill slum landlord Peter Rachman, who was active in the 1940s and 1950s.
However, Pearce says that the Vively Co-Living proposition couldn’t be more different. They spend more than £100,000 on the refurbishment of each property, installing high-speed internet throughout and building separate laundry facilities.
“We aren’t flipping these properties,” says Pearce. “We refurbish for the long-term and are helping to drive up the quality of existing housing stock.”
“This isn’t a get rich quick scheme, whatever you read online,” she says. “A lot of people start down this road and perhaps invest in a single property hoping to make an instant profit but soon realise it’s really hard to make money and it takes time to build a portfolio.”