The only way is up: ‘Get big or die’

§ The only way is up: ‘Get big or die’

Jared Zak, principal solicitor and founder of conveyancing firm Dott & Crossitt, sees “dark days” ahead for the solo conveyancer.

“The opportunity I see is that it’s either get big or die,” said Zak, whose company is No.1 in NSW for transaction volume.

“When you can get bigger, you can develop some of those economies of scale, compliance costs can be spread across your business. And you just can’t do that when you’re a single operator.”

Zak said the “death knell” is ringing for the small conveyancer with the layered burdens of compliance costs, the AML/CTF, insurances and trust accounting, along with the inability to effectively pass on increasing costs to clients.

“You hear all those tech guys now on their podcasts saying that single operators will be able to use AI and make millions of dollars,” he said.

“Maybe in some businesses but not ours. And that’s probably to do with compliance, which is basically negating all the benefits of AI.

“So, yeah, I do think it is dark days for the single operator, which is a shame because the single operators generally offer the best service because they are completely dedicated to the client.

“And they’re normally, by virtue of being single operators, 24/7, whereas as you get bigger, your staff have to move more to a 9-5 model, which doesn’t really fit with conveyancing.”

Zak said he has noticed an uptick over the past two years in the amount of “well qualified” conveyancers looking to sell their businesses to him.

“Last year, we had two acquisitions where they essentially folded their business into ours,” Zak said.

“Then this year, the seasonality was almost exactly the same, because of the new insurances coming in around June 30 and then the AML/CTF, so again we had more inquiries.

“The calibre of conveyancers who were waving the white flag was extremely high, which is a sad thing.”