From a young age, Adam Fadlé knew he wanted to become a successful entrepreneur, but it was only while studying at university that he discovered his true passion. The 35-year-old studied an Architecture degree at Northumbria University and it was during his course that he fell in love with interior design.
After graduating Adam from Altrincham converted his parent's spare bedroom into an office where he put all of his time and efforts into starting his own business. Just 23 years old and with little money behind him, Adam poured his heart and soul into building his new venture..
In November 2010, Panoramic Properties was born and from then on the company has grown from strength to strength. Now a multi-million pound interior design practice, Adam's business has won internationally renowned awards and his client base now includes some of the world's biggest footballers past and present.
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“I always wanted to own my own company but I didn’t know what that would be. I thought I’d maybe go into property development as I’ve always had a keen interest in property but after my degree I fell into the luxury high-end interior sector as I really enjoyed it," Adam, 35, told the Manchester Evening News .
“I started the company on my own at the age of 23. I didn’t have any money behind me. I converted the spare bedroom in my family home where I grew up and made into a little office, and that’s where I spent my first year growing the business.
"After that I got a small office in Wilmslow, then I moved to Alderley Edge and now I’ve recently bought a big detached office in the heart of Knutsford which has been a really big boost for us as a company as it allowed me to hire new staff and for us all to have more space."
The practice specialises in luxury high-end residential interior design and over the years it has acquired a realm of celebrities, footballers and billionaire clients who trust Adam and his team with designing their homes.
" I deal with a lot of the footballers up and down the country but mainly in Manchester because of the clubs we have here," the founder and managing director explained.
“One of my first clients was a big Manchester City signing at the time Emmanuel Adebayor and I was very close with him. I did his property and then subsequently did two or three homes for him down in London and also over in Africa.
"Adebayor then introduced us to another couple of players and we did quite a lot for work for Paul Pogba when he was still at United as well as Yaya Touré when he was at City."
Adam added: "We also have other clients who rent out properties, one of them is renting out his house to Cristiano Ronaldo. Obviously Ronaldo’s huge and he’s got the most followers on Instagram in the world so you can’t really get much bigger than him.
"We now deal with Ronaldo directly and make sure that he’s looked after and everything is catered for him in his Manchester property.
" We also work with a lot of captains of industries which extends to a couple of billionaires. We’ve got some fantastic clients and we get to do some amazing, exciting projects all over the world where we can push the boat out in terms of our bespoke designs.
“We specialise in making sure our service is the highest it possibly can be for our clients."
Adam recruited his team of seven staff with the help of a business coach to ensure he had the best workforce possible.
"It’s taken many years to be able to develop my team and I’m super proud to have such a fantastic team because they make what we do possible," he said.
"I had a business coach who helped to grow the business and they introduced me to a new hiring scheme. We only hire candidates with a first class degree in a relevant field such as interior design or architecture.
"We’ve got a process in place where they’ve got to jump through several hoops to get the job and that means that the candidates who are left are really passionate and really want to be there.
"One stage is a group interview and all the candidates love it, even the unsuccessful ones always email and say they enjoyed that opportunity. Doing it this way gives me a good idea of how they interact with people as well.
"It’s a big decision to bring a new member into the team and so my team are part of those group interviews. I feel as though that process helped me to get what I believe are the best staff possible."
Adam and his team have a range of skills from interior design and architect to project management.
“We do everything from the CAD drawings to all the project management. We’re a bit of a hybrid between traditional interior designers and architecture where we’re involved in the whole process," he explained.
“How each project works very much varies on the client and the project. Sometimes we’ll source a property or the land for a client and we’ll pull a team together such as the contractor and the architect and then we’ll all help build the property all the way up to accessories and decor so that they can just move in and catered for them.
"Quite often though clients will already have a house that they’re either renovating or are midway through and we’ll just come in and help them with the interior design side of things. It’s as much or as little as the client needs from us.”
Adam added: “Some interior designers have a very specific style and clients go to them for that one style whereas we deal with every style whether it’s a Victorian house that the client wants doing up more traditionally or a much more modern house with many contemporary elements.
“I love it when we can push the boundaries and I love seeing the joy that what we do brings to our clients. We’re very fortunate that our job is to help make client’s lives and homes better and that’s very rewarding.”
Adam and his team are now recognised globally as a leading interior designer practice. They have recently won an award for the 'world’s most luxurious home cinema' at The International Property Awards 2022, and are soon to be featured in The World's Leading Design Names 2023
"Those awards are like the Oscars of our industry. There was a massive international presence there so to even be shortlisted we were very proud but to win the award we were over the moon," Adam said.
"I'm really proud of what we've achieved. I have always been driven so I would have always hoped to have been successful but to have actually achieved it is on another level. There's been a lot of challenges to overcome year on year but it's such a privilege for me to see something I've grown from the beginning succeed.
"When my parents see the work that we’re doing, I can just see how proud they are. To be able to come from such humble beginnings to being recognised as one of the leading international interior designers is so rewarding. It just means a little bit more when you know you’ve done it all yourself.”
Speaking about his business plans for the future Adam said: "We're looking at setting up an office in Dubai so within five years I hope we’d have the Dubai office established and also hopefully open an office down in London.
"Life is such a journey and I’m still quite young so I hope there’s still a lot more to come, I hope I'm only half way through the journey.”
Giving advice to budding entrepreneurs, the founder advised: “It’s important to have a very strong work ethic. You’ve got to work hard and that’s where the difference can come.
"Having a good focus on your goals whether that’s your monthly goals, yearly goals or long term goals will help you achieve what you want to.
"And I think always doing right by your client, they can see when you’re putting in as much as you can and that you have their best interests at heart and I think if you can do that and hold your head up high, they’re the key elements I’d say to help you grow and succeed."
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