Nurgaziev Berik, CEO of BAUBERG, official partner of CRE Week 2016

"It's better not to slow down in a crisis"

- What are your expectations for the upcoming commercial real estate week? What questions would you like to discuss with the professional community of the platform?


The main activities of our company include design and working engineering, construction, finishing works, as well as construction project and real estate management. Therefore, for us as a service company, CRE Week is primarily a platform where we expect to meet our existing and potential customers, partners and competitors. I believe that together we will be able to discuss the formation of a common market and the existing problems that are relevant today for all representatives of the industry. In general, the practice of such events has proven itself well in Europe, so holding the Commercial Real Estate Week in Kazakhstan is a very good idea, which I fully support and our company is actively involved in its implementation.


- What can you say about the current situation on the market, based on the requirements from customers?


In a crisis, when there is no clear understanding of what to expect for the business of the industry, the customer greatly reduces the cost of working on facilities. Yes, and our competitors reduce the cost of their services, and as a result, in negotiations, the customer operates with the fact that he has a large selection at low prices, and if we want to work with them, we also need to reduce the cost of our services. A very important point is missed here, that when choosing a price, the customer risks getting inadequate quality and a lot of unnecessary stress, and the market can lose good players and get a large number of short-term players.

Now we are talking about new customers with whom we have not yet cooperated. Meanwhile, our regular customers understand the scope of work that we undertake, and the responsibility, and the level of quality. In other words, they are ready to pay a fair price, and they know that they will be satisfied with the result of our work.

In addition, we observe that customers now, before accepting a particular project, are trying to calculate all possible options for implementing the project in the future. For example, many are asking to design a multifunctional building, which, if something happens, can be used for different purposes. Previously, customers did not think about such things. This is another indicator of how the crisis affects the behavior of the players.


- What other trends could you note, both in your niche and in the commercial real estate market in general?


If we turn to the experience of our foreign partners who have gone through more than one crisis, they unanimously repeat that any crisis situation must be looked at through the prism of opportunities: it is necessary to see the potential in the current market situation and be able to use it. In our country, people tend to panic. Many of them go on "dollar diets" and take a wait-and-see attitude. Whereas in fact, in my opinion, it is much more correct in a crisis not to let the economy slow down. To do this, you need to work harder and buy from domestic producers.

As for our company, we are trying not to cut personnel and operating costs, but we are trying to grow and find new opportunities for the implementation of plans. One of the observations is that now a lot of labor resources have been released on the market, which gives us the opportunity to already now look for talented people among them who can be useful to the team. We believe that the teams and companies that stay afloat during this difficult time for the market will be the main players in the period of its rise. We strive to be among them.


- In your opinion, is the issue of transparency in front of competitors painful for the Kazakhstani commercial real estate market? What does this transparency give to the professional community?


I don't think this is a painful issue, since transparency is always welcome and necessary for correct analysis of the situation on the market. In my opinion, where there is transparency, there is always growth. For example, in Japan, from ordinary workers to company executives, they understand the importance of openness and transparency - there is a common goal, and they go towards it together, this greatly helps business growth.

In our company, we also try to do everything as transparently as possible. We strive to ensure that everyone