Scott Scouller CFO and deputy CEO Summerset
This week we had a ZOOM talk from Scott Scouller. He is a Whitby resident who is CFO and deputy CEO of Summerset, the retirement village operator. His address was detailed, frank, and fascinating.
Scott gave us an insight into how Summerset began, and its extraordinary growth over the last 20 years. It is a $2 billion business owning 30 villages, and opening two new villages every year, at a cost of $150 million each.
Summerset employs 150 staff at head office, about 50 staff in each village, and contracts another 1,000 or so in construction work.
Scott explained at length how the company searches for, and acquires, new sites and the criteria they use. This seems to be its core skill and focus.
The retirement village business has become very competitive, dominated by Summerset, Ryman, and Metlifecare. Each player pitches to the market in different ways.
Summerset offers a homely environment, ‘peace of mind’, and a continuum of service from independent living through to full hospital and dementia care. Scott claims their residents have a greater degree of freedom, e.g. to choose colour schemes and garden design.
Residents are typically in the 70-80 age group, stay for life in nearly all cases, and have an average stay of seven to eight years.
Scott told us that residents pay in three ways: a weekly maintenance fee, payment for care, if needed, and a management fee which is 25% of the in-going capital cost and only recovered on the residents departure.
The retirement villages' sector has tapped into a burgeoning and wealthy market: asset-rich baby boomers looking for a comfortable and worry- free lifestyle in later years. It is a brilliant business model.
But boiled down, it is a property development business which depends for its stellar profitability on building more and more villages. The companies involved won’t run out of developable land, but they may in the end run out of retirees who are sitting on assets generated by house price inflation.
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we are having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
Share your question below now ⬇️
Poll: Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?
An Auckland court has ruled a woman doesn’t have to contribute towards the cost of fixing a driveway she shares with 10 neighbours.
When thinking about fences, driveways or tree felling, for example, do you think all neighbours should have to pay if the improvements directly benefit them?
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82.2% Yes
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15.1% No
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2.7% Other - I'll share below
Calling All Puzzle Masters! Can You Solve This?
When John was six years old he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height.
Ten years later at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher the nail was.
If the tree grew by five centimetres each year, how much higher would the nail be?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
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