Top 100 CEO Interviews
Issue No. 30 - August/September 2006
Home maker has money in mind
Hickinbotham Homes had its origins in 1954 when present chairman Alan Hickinbotham and his father Alan R Hickinbotham collaborated to build their first project home, in Linden Park.
Since then, more than 20,000 homes have been built under the family brand and the firm has developed more than 50 housing estates, many of them ground-breaking in more ways than one.
But it's less well known that the group, still operated by the Hickinbotham family, has other interests: in grapegrowing and winemaking for 70 years before the first housing venture, and more recently in a water reclamation firm.
Alan Hickinbotham had five children. Elder son David has responsibility for the winemaking interests while Michael, former a partner at Blake Dawson Waldron in Melbourne, is now managing director of the family firm.
Though a long-established family entity, Hickinbotham has seen considerable change during the past five years.
"The major changes have been our entry in a major way into the largescale production and export of wine, which is operated very successfully by my brother, David, and the acquisition of new vineyards and the continued expansion of our Clarendon, Paringa and Langhorne Creek vineyards," says Michael.
"David has opened up new markets in the US, Japan, China and Europe for our wine brands and developed a bulk wine operation.
"On the construction and development side, our sales have tripled over the last five years, and have bee...
