Hielke Tillema's leading business Kontour Realty

Director of Kontour Vastgoed, Hielke Tillema, tells MASTERS about the various high-end vacation parks, the real estate and the ultimate service the customer receives. Stayingleading in the high-end 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 in my teenage years I did construction jobs every vacation. On my little bike at six in the morning and then helping construction workers on projects. I did the work that those men didn't really like: cleaning up, filling containers with rubble, crawling under floors... Heavy work, but incredibly instructive. I went to study Architecture at TU Delft, and later in my career I ended up at one of the VolkerWessels construction companies. There I came into contact with Hans van der Mijl, the director-owner of Kontour Vastgoed, developer in the market for high-end recreational homes. During a winter sports vacation in Austria, he came across a location with a lot of potential. He wanted to invest time in it and offered me to join him as an entrepreneur to take on the projects in the Netherlands. Since 2008, I can call myself director of the company. Roughly speaking, Hans is in charge of the projects in Austria and I in the Netherlands, but in practice it is not strictly separated. Peace, space, privacy and comfort are the starting point in the development of our homes. We prefer to make fewer of them if it benefits the quality. The vacation homes are characterized by a luxurious finish: thatched roof, high-quality sanitary fittings, 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 in those of the floor tiles. You won't find that high level almost anywhere else in our market, it really is top of the bill."

Customer

"In terms of product alone, we stand out, experts in the market also say. They are vacation homes in the higher price category, between three tons and two million. We develop, sell and provide a good party to rent and manage the properties. We want our vacation homes to hold their value over time and achieve the expected return. This keeps us satisfied customers who also want to invest with us next time. Some have several vacation homes with us: an island villa on Ameland, a water villa on the Frisian Lakes, a vacation villa in Austria... Leaving savings in the bank costs money, so people are looking at an alternative as real estate. Investing in retail properties and offices is currently not attractive and rental properties are very scarce, but vacation homes are very safe: people keep going on vacation. That combined with the high quality we offer is causing a big increase in demand. The experience and knowledge we gain with our rental parties, we are already taking with us. Here in family resort PUUR Exloo, where Landal does the rental, we apply code locks, for example. That is very customer-oriented: the guest can decide 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. In the end, you also save out on a reception, which results in lower charges and higher returns. Of course, an owner can also choose not to rent out his property and enjoy the vacation home."

Signature

"Quality homes are our signature, but of course it starts with a great location. For that 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 interpretation, because many people don't know what there is to do in Drenthe. The resort is on the flank of De Hondsrug nature reserve, which has UNESCO Global Geopark status. The ridges and valleys were formed in the ice ages. Prehistoric man left his treasures, such as dolmens - there is one right by the park, you can walk right to it. And in the museums here you can admire archaeological finds and even a bog corpse. A time travel route has been laid out in the Hunzebos, where you can learn about the genesis of the landscape while walking. Using VR goggles, you can see the ice age all around you. Unique! That route starts at our park. Children can follow the Sabertooth 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 local products: the beekeeper with his honey, the baker with his Drentse stoet and rye dumplings... We have also digitally linked all of this via our park website Receptie-puurexloo.nl, so that you directly connect the guest and entrepreneur in a very easy way: via your own phone. And that is very important in these times where we do everything via smartphone. Together with the endless moors and vast moors, the link to the ice age and the peace and quiet, this forms the unique selling point of PUUR Exloo."

Togetherness

"The park has 180 homes, 70 of which are still under development. Here you go back to the essence: being together and enjoying yourself. We often get 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 as facilities we are still in the process of building and for the time being only have a pumptrack and a grass field with a few goals on it. There will also be a swimming pool, it will only get nicer, but already we have this high rating. PUUR Exloo offers the opportunity to get back to yourself, each other and nature: time and space for each other in a comfortable villa in beautiful surroundings. It is my challenge to constantly live up to the high level at which Kontour Vastgoed sits. And the goal is to remain leading in the top segment. By setting up new fantastic projects in beautiful places, managing the exploitation well and continuing to innovate in the seemingly small details. For example, I learned that you have to create a separate entrance for the PlayStation next to the couch in every home. This also prevents guests from not pulling all the cables out of the television to connect their game console to it, thus disrupting it. Small details, but they make all the difference. "Hielke Tillema

Hielke Tillema

Hielke Tillema