A chat with Paul Lawrence,

Paul was a student at St Bede’s from 2002-2006. While here, he became good friends with Brad Fraser, they were both in Mannix and went right through school together. As often happens with school friendships though, when the bell rings for the last time in Year 13, life moves in different directions and friends that you have seen nearly every day for the last 5 years, that you believed you would always be friends with, that you would always have a close connection with start to drift away, not because you want them to, but because life choices make them.

If you have sat through classes with a best mate for 5 years though, there is a bond that no matter how stretched might be waiting for that circumstance in life that will snap it back and for Paul and Brad, this happened in 2016, 10 years after school had finished for them.

After Paul left St Bede’s, his studies in Sports Science took him down to Dunedin. After finishing his degree, Paul went into hospitality and then into Radio, in promotional work, as a fill in announcer and finally sports journalist, writing stories, doing sports commentary for games and selling radio advertising. While in this role, he met the owner of a boutique real estate company who said “When you’ve had enough of radio, give me a call,” five years later, Paul called him. Gaining his real estate license and experience in Dunedin, Paul then moved back to Christchurch and set up with his Mum, who was also in Real Estate.

Paul’s Mum had a number of clients who were older and who needed more help when they moved. It was at this time, that Brad, whose journey had taken him from studies in Micro Biology, to Defence Force medic and then to Germany playing American football and working with seniors helping them remain safe in their homes or moving into care. When he returned to NZ, his family needed help moving his grandparents. Paul and Brad then realized that there was a gap in the market. New Zealand has an ageing population looking to downsize to Retirement Villages, but helping them get there isn’t easy, they need movers they can trust, not only trust financially, but also trust emotionally during the move.

In 2016, these two best mates, who had sat through school together decided that maybe it was time to sit together again, after all, if you have shared desks in a classroom, you can share desks in an office and so Senior Move Managers was born.

In the five and a half years since it began, the company has doubled in size every year, it now has 49 staff and has been voted as finalists in the 2021 Westpac Business Awards, EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 New Zealand Finalist, and Finalists in the Deloitte Fast 50 Rising Stars Index, awards that bring them up against some of the biggest companies in New Zealand.

Now that Senior Move Managers is so well established in areas that cover across New Zealand, from Auckland, right through the North Island, to Marlborough and Christchurch where it all started, they are now also looking to move to Victoria in Australia in the next 18 months.

Paul and Brad are focused on growth, but not at the detriment of what their values stand for, they employ people who like to engage with others and who are happy to build relationships with others. Like any business that starts up, they were at first the people who covered every role, but as they have expanded, they can now employ people for the different roles, so they can employ the best person for the role. People who want to be part of this company, whose mantra is to do the best for the customer, must be able to treat people with the respect they deserve.

When asked about Career highs and lows, Paul said the low would be moving a hoarder, filling sixteen 9 cubic metre skips with rubbish, but still having to move a huge amount of goods, while the high would be during the 2020 Covid lockdown, when elderly people still had to be moved into care, even though the implications were so drastic. Being an essential service, SMM could still do the move for people, they could take away some of the stress and feeling of being overwhelmed for these elderly people, in a time of such uncertainty.

Helping people move is an area that they have grown and cemented, but what about selling the house as well? Paul and Brad have just launched SMM Real Estate. Once again, this will start in Christchurch, but they are looking to expand throughout New Zealand in the next 12 months, going first to Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington. Expanding into Real Estate will see Paul back out from behind the desk, it will be a Real Estate company ready to help anyone wanting to move. There will also be the addition of free marketing, competitive commission and a complimentary $5,000 moving package. 

SMM are a company who will sort everything, from downsizing to set up (making the beds included), you can walk out of the property you have sold, hand them the keys to the new property, enjoy a day out and walk into your new property ready to sit down and as Paul said, “pour a wine and watch The Chase!” Every item will have been placed as per the plan you arranged with them before the move, the stress of moving day will be taken off your shoulders.

SMM employ on empathy, transparency, integrity and respect. These are the values the company was started with, the values that are still important five and a half years later. SMM may now be experts in downsizing for others, but for themselves, they are rapidly learning about upsizing. A friendship which began in Year 9 at St Bede’s where respect and empathy are taught alongside academics and sport has seen these two men able to build a successful company, a company which still holds true to its values but a company on the move itself, going from strength to strength.