Staff Spotlight: Andreya Sparrow

What is your story behind joining Ideal?

I joined ideal after moving to England from Brazil in 2015. Ideal offered me the perfect mix between challenges and life balance.

Coming from a big competitive industry in Brazil, I needed to achieve work-life balance without the risk of being bored – I need challenges and to be moving all the time!

At ideal I can both apply all the knowledge and experience acquired previously but also have space to develop my creative side with the Interior Designing at the properties.

What is your position & the duties that you are required to do in this role?

I hold two different hats at ideal: I manage the Financial department and I am the Interior designer. It’s great because I can mix up my days! 🙂

What is the process for the house refurbs?

We do regular inspections on the houses we manage, and on those inspections it might highlight the need of a refurb, then that’s when I am involved. Mostly, bigger refurbs which I am responsible for happen when we take over a new property as it’s empty and a good timing for refurbs normally.

Firstly, I visit the property, get measurements and understand the target market – if Serviced Accommodation, house share or student house share. Then I make my plans based on the budget the landlord has, share the plans and if approved we book the work. We do have our in-house team and we also have a list of contractors we work with. Next phase involves on the project itself, managing and making it happen.

Do the refurbishments drastically change the results?

The refurbs we run aim to uplift the spaces, give better usage of the space for the target market and all within a small budget; the aim is not to design only to look pretty and in trend but most importantly to bring value to landlord assets, without silly expenditure, and also give a more practical and comfortable space for whoever will habit that space.