EDINBURGH entrepreneur Richard O’Donnell has announced a corporate restructure of his business portfolio to facilitate ongoing growth.
Mr O’Donnell runs four specialist companies in the insurance reinstatement and property maintenance fields – Insurepair, ClaimDry, VeriClaim and Emergency Repair.
Under the new set-up, all four businesses will sit within Property Repair Group, alongside Property Repair, which will focus on repairs, maintenance and renovations across the Lothians and central belt.
Last year, Insurepair expanded with a maintenance division but Mr O’Donnell has admitted the move complicated things a little and has restructured his entire operation to make it more streamlined.
“Ironically, the original company back in 2003 was actually called Property Repair before the rebrand to Insurepair in 2017,” he explained. “We gradually expanded into specialist insurance reinstatement, emergency response, restoration and technology-led claims services, which ultimately led to the creation of Insurepair, ClaimDry, Emergency Repair and VeriClaim.
“From flood, fire and storm damage, the insurance side of things has been consistently very busy but it became increasingly obvious that the public weren’t aware that we also did renovations. Over time we realised we’d unintentionally moved too far into the insurance/reinstatement lane publicly, despite the wider business still carrying out significant private renovation, maintenance and property works.
“As the wider business has continued growing, it felt like the right time to bring the structure together more clearly within the group while still retaining the specialist identity of each individual brand. Insurepair, for example, continues to flourish and win major contracts but it will no longer do private work with a focus purely on insurance reinstatement.
“Property Repair Group now oversees all the other companies and every area of the business will now do exactly what the name says. The change removes any ambiguity and puts each division of the group in a strong position to grow.”
Insurepair Spain was recently launched to service UK property owners in the Murcia region and a move into a larger HQ at Roda Business Centre alongside Paradigm Properties has seen a number of contract wins secured. It will continue operating as part of the wider business.
Mr O’Donnell added, “Insurepair is a huge part of the journey and continues to operate as our specialist insurance reinstatement division supporting insurers, loss adjusters, property professionals and homeowners across Scotland and Spain. I’m extremely proud of how far the businesses have come and am excited for the next chapter.”
Christina Purves becomes group operations director based at the firm’s Morningside HQ, stepping up from a similar role with Insurepair.
She said, “I’m excited to take on this new role across the wider group structure and oversee the continued evolution of Property Repair Group and the growth of the specialist brands. We are proud of what has been built so far – and even more focused on what comes next.”
