Hielke Tillema's leading business Kontour Vastgoed

Hielke Tillema, director of Kontour Vastgoed, tells MASTERS about the various high-end holiday parks and the real estate portfolio that define his company's ambition.

Manager of Contour Real Estate, Hielke Tillema, tells MASTERS about the various high-end holiday parks, the real estate and the ultimate service that the customer receives. Leading staying in the top segment is of great importance to the company. How will he achieve this?Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert

Top of the bill

“My father was a contractor at Heijmans, so I worked in construction every holiday during my teenage years. On my bike at six o'clock in the morning and then helping with construction workers on projects. I did the work that those men didn't really like: tidying up, cleaning, filling containers with rubble, crawling under floors... Hard work, but incredibly educational. I went to study Architecture at TU Delft, after which later in my career I ended up at one of VolkerWessels' construction companies. There I came into contact with Hans van der Mijl, the director-owner of Kontour Vastgoed, a developer in the market for recreational homes in the top segment. During a winter sports holiday in Austria he came across a location with a lot of potential. He wanted to invest time in this and offered me to work for him as an entrepreneur to take on projects in the Netherlands. Since 2008 I can call myself director of the company. Roughly speaking, Hans manages the projects in Austria and I manages the projects in the Netherlands, but in practice it is not strictly separated. Peace, space, privacy and comfort are the starting points in the development of our homes. We prefer to make fewer if that improves quality. The holiday homes are characterized by a luxurious finish: thatched roof, high-quality sanitary facilities, stylish kitchen, top-quality furniture, wellness and details such as rectified tiles where, for example, it is important that the lines of the wall tiles continue with those of the floor tiles. You will hardly find that high level anywhere else in our market, it is really top of the bill.”

Customer oriented

“We distinguish ourselves in terms of product alone, say experts in the market. These are holiday homes in the higher price category, between €300,000 and €200,000. We develop, sell and provide a good party that takes care of the rental and management of the homes. We want our holiday homes to retain their value over a longer period of time and to achieve the expected return. This means we keep satisfied customers who want to invest with us next time. Some have multiple holiday homes with us: an island villa on Ameland, a water villa on the Frisian Lakes, a holiday villa in Austria... Leaving savings in the bank costs money, so people are looking for an alternative such as real estate. Investing in retail properties and offices is currently not attractive and rental properties are very scarce, but holiday homes are very safe: people continue to go on holiday. This combined with the high quality that we offer, results in a large increase in demand. We already include the experience and knowledge we gain with our rental parties in the developments. For example, here in the PUUR Exloo family resort, where Landal does the rental, we use code locks. This is very customer-oriented: the guest can decide for himself what time he wants to arrive. We put such operational knowledge into our product, so that we offer more and more added value to the owner. Ultimately, you also save on a reception, which ensures lower costs and a higher return. An owner can of course also choose not to rent out his home and enjoy the holiday home.”

Signature

“Quality homes are our signature, but of course it starts with a beautiful location. For this you need a good network and an eye for the right places. I know where our concept comes into its own. A project on Ameland sells itself: beach, dunes, sea. PUUR Exloo needs more explanation, because many people don't know what there is to do in Drenthe. The resort is located on the flank of the Hondsrug nature reserve, which has the status of UNESCO Global Geopark. The ridges and valleys were formed during the ice ages. Prehistoric man left behind his treasures, such as dolmens – there is one close to the park, you can easily walk to it. And in the museums here you can admire archaeological finds and even a bog body. A time travel route has been created in the Hunzebos, where you can gain knowledge about the history of the landscape while walking. Using VR glasses you can see the ice age around you. Unique! That route starts at our park. Children can follow the Sabre-Tooth Tiger Trail: a route with a cable car, rope bridge and exciting games on the app. What is also special here are the many entrepreneurs with their own regional products: the beekeeper with his honey, the baker with his Drenthe parade and rye bulbs... We have also linked all of this digitally via our park website Receptie-puurexloo.nl, so that you can inform the guest and entrepreneur directly connects with each other in a very easy way: via your own telephone. And that is very important in this day and age where we do everything via smartphone. Together with the endless heathlands and vast peatlands, the link to the Ice Age and the peace and space, this is the unique selling point of PUUR Exloo.”

Being together

“The park has 180 homes, of which 70 are still under development. Here you go back to the essence: being together and enjoying. We often receive feedback along the lines of 'that was a really nice family weekend'. We also have one of the highest ratings of all Landal parks: a 9.0. While our facilities are still under construction and for the time being only have a pump track and a grassland with a few goals on it. There will also be a swimming pool, it will only get better, but we already have this high rating. PUUR Exloo offers the opportunity to return to yourself, each other and nature: time and space for each other in a comfortable villa in beautiful surroundings. It is my challenge to continually live up to the high level at which Kontour Vastgoed has achieved. And the goal is to remain leading in the top segment. By setting up new fantastic projects in beautiful places, arranging their exploitation properly and continuing to innovate in the seemingly small details. For example, I learned that you should create a separate entrance for the PlayStation in every home next to the couch. This also prevents guests from pulling all the cables out of the television to connect their game console to it, thus disrupting the device. Small details, but they make the difference.”Hielke Tillema

Hielke Tillema

Hielke Tillema