“If people look back and say we made something daunting feel manageable – that we were on their side – that’s the legacy.”

Alex and Jules don’t describe themselves as obvious business partners. In fact, they’ll both admit that if they hadn’t been thrown together early in their careers, they might never have been friends, but now, Alex jokes that she’s more married to Jules than anyone else.

They met more than 20 years ago while working together, and being forced to live together, in Warrington. Alex was confident, outspoken and already comfortable walking into any room. Jules was quieter, fresh out of university, and far more at home solving problems than selling ideas.  

What connected them was values. Growing up in working-class families where parents ran small businesses, they each had a deep respect for hard work. Over time, they realised their skills and styles barely overlapped, and that was exactly the point. Alex could build on building momentum, belief and relationships, while Jules could quietly build the systems that made things work.

That dynamic still defines Resi, the UK’s leading home extension company.

A problem they felt themselves

Put simply, Resi was born from frustration.

After selling their first business, Alex was renovating her home in London, tackling a side-return extension. At the same time, Jules was buying her first home – a fixer-upper. Both found themselves navigating a process that felt confusing, fragmented and intimidating. For Alex, what stood out was how exposed homeowners were. Renovation is one of the biggest financial commitments people make, yet the responsibility for understanding planning, costs and risk sits squarely with the customer. 

“When things go wrong, they go really wrong. And no one takes ownership.”

So they wanted to build something that genuinely felt on the homeowner’s side. No ‘aha’ moment – just doing it properly Resi didn’t bulldoze its way onto the scene. In the early days, Alex and Jules deliberately kept things small. The first product was a simple concept design report: Could an extension work, how much might it cost, and how long would it take?

They let customers dictate what came next. Planning services, technical drawings, builders, and finance – each layer was added because customers asked for it. Alex describes the growth as deliberate rather than dramatic. “It wasn’t about launching everything at once,” she says. “It was about earning the right to grow.” Then COVID hit. Alex is candid about that period. “It tested everything – the business, the partnership, the team. But it forced us to get sharper, more disciplined, and more resilient.”

Technology, rethought – for real people

Resi’s technology isn’t about scale for scale’s sake – it’s about simplifying what is otherwise a fragmented, stressful process for homeowners. Instead of dealing with surveyors, designers, engineers, planners and builders separately, Resi connects every stage through one intuitive platform.

From surveys and proposed designs through to technical drawings, specialist input and introductions to vetted builders, everything is joined up in a single dashboard. “Most homeowners don’t want to manage ten different people,” Alex says. “They want clarity, confidence and one place to see what’s happening.”

That joined-up approach allows Resi to streamline decisions, reduce delays and achieve consistently high planning approval rates – over 95% nationally. Homeowners can track progress, understand next steps and move forward at their own pace (often checking updates in the evening, rather than hosting meetings around the kitchen table during the working day). Jules is clear on the intent behind it all: 

“Good technology should remove confusion, not add to it. Our job is to join the dots so people feel in control of their own homes.”

A culture built on people

Despite its tech credentials, Resi’s culture is firmly people-first, a testament to its founders. Mistakes are handled without blame. Learning matters more than ego. “There’s no room for brilliant jerks,” Jules says. “We’d rather work with kind, curious people who want to do good work.”

Alex’s favourite stories are about the team. One involves a man she met while getting her scooter serviced in-store. Impressed by his customer service, she encouraged him to apply. He joined in a customer-facing role before Jules spotted his analytical ability and retrained him as a software engineer. Today, he builds Resi’s core modelling tools.

“That’s what gets me out of bed,” Alex says. “Seeing potential in people and backing them.”

Looking ahead

If Resi succeeds in the way they hope, Jules says homeowners will never feel afraid handing over their home. “I want people to feel informed and in control.” Alex agrees. “If people look back and say we made something daunting feel manageable – that we were on their side – that’s the legacy.”

Different energies and shared values have allowed Alex and Jules to genuinely build a new way homeowners navigate renovation, at scale, with clarity and confidence.

Thinking about extending? 

Book a free, no-obligation advice call with a Resi expert. 

Visit www.resi.co.uk