As the head of the Almancil based Gibson Group, Erich has consistently identified gaps and needs in the market and has used his business acumen to create a company that offers extraordinary dedication for a sublime lifestyle in the Algarve.

Originally from Germany, Erich knew from the age of six that he wanted to be involved in music. Coming from a musical family where both his parents were music teachers who successfully ran one of the largest private music schools in Germany at the time, Erich pursued a musical education, eventually joining a band which then led him deep into the music world.

“I was able to meet the biggest names in the industry at the time, from producers, to musicians and agents while playing in the band but while I was studying I was also teaching music and soon I realised that I didn’t want to earn my money on a loop of one, two, three, four beats as a music teacher,” says Erich.

Soon Erich moved into the world of music production, working with names including Matt Bianco, Boney M and No Angels, which earned him the “ECHO” music award. It was his connection to Udo Jürgens, the Austrian composer and singer whose career spanned over fifty years and included winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria while also composing almost 1,000 songs, and selling over 100 million records, that initially brought him to the Algarve.

“Udo had a property in the Algarve and I was interested in finding a place where I could produce music in a Mediterranean climate. At the time all the Germans were heading to Majorca I was looking for something different”, said Erich who first moved to the region in 1996.

It was when Erich was looking to furnish his home with contemporary furniture that he first identified the need to be able to source this in the country which led him to opening a furniture store in 1998. “At this time I found that the service level in the Algarve was not compatible with the German expectation of service. Opening the furniture store taught me how to adapt, or rather how to adapt the Portuguese way of working to allow me to reach my goals for clients.”

Gibson moved into real estate during 2008/2009 which he changed to his own brand in 2017 under the company name of Algarve Property Agency and during his time in the Algarve he has also branched into construction and remodelling of properties, projects that are undertaken completely in-house to provide clients with a bespoke service that always follows his ethos of never missing a deadline.

“People buy a house and often they want remodelling works, as a group the Gibson Group is able to offer everything, as we have our own professionals dedicated to working exclusively for our projects,” explains Erich. “Over the past four years we have completed a total of 32 remodelling projects and every one of them has been completed on time, never once going even a day over the deadline.”

A meticulous eye for detail and a true dedication to meeting all deadlines has helped Gibson to build his reputation over the decades however, it is also vitally important for him to ensure that his company keeps focused on being a “small but very fine” company.

“We are not jut selling houses, we are keeping promises”, says Erich, “We keep the number of properties on our books limited so that we can ensure that our sales team are fully dedicated to the single task of selling the property”.

Many of the clients that come to the Gibson Group come through word of mouth however Erich has always been drawn to innovative marketing, being one of the first companies in the area to make use of drone videos and using his website to entice potential buyers into wanting to find out more. “We would have never gone to the moon if we weren’t curious,” says Erich, “we explore marketing that isn’t the norm and that provokes interest”.

The strong focus on providing a truly bespoke service for clients helps to foster the important level of trust needed for projects to succeed and ultimately for clients to be entirely satisfied with every element. “I am passionate about business and I am proud to have created a company that has communication at its centre. In the Gibson Group, clients are able to find everything that they need in real estate, all under one roof,” said Erich.

With so many projects and constant deadlines how is it possible to keep all of the balls in the air: “I know what I want but always listen to ideas and accept constructive criticism”, says Erich, “and if you can succeed in the music industry then everything else is easier!”