Why 'relationships are everything' in complex client broking

Mortgage Introducer caught up with Max Harris (pictured top), founder of Bright Box Financial Services, who built his brokerage from the ground up after recognising that complex, high-net-worth clients were being underserved by the high street. Harris, who has spent 14 years in financial services and launched Bright Box in 2018, has grown the firm from a single North London office to a two-location operation spanning Hertfordshire, with a client base that includes professional footballers and other high-earning individuals whose income structures demand specialist expertise.

In the interview below, he discusses the relationships and lender access that make complex cases possible, how his firm has adapted to economic uncertainty, and the advice he would give to brokers just starting out.

Full name: Max Harris
Job title: Founder
Company: Bright Box Financial Services
Number of years in the industry: 14 years
Location: North London and Hertfordshire

How and when did you become a mortgage broker?

I came into financial services in 2011 at Lloyds, in general banking, and that was where I first started looking into mortgage advice and realised it was the direction I wanted to go in. I moved across to a London brokerage in 2012 and qualified with my CeMAP in 2014. What appealed to me about broking was being far more involved with clients, guiding someone through the whole journey rather than handling one small part of it, and being able to find the right answer for them across the market.

By 2018, I knew exactly how I wanted to run things and the standard of service I felt clients deserved, so I set up Bright Box Financial Services. We started in North London and have since opened a second office in Hertfordshire. Going from an employed adviser to running and growing a business was a steep learning curve, and I underestimated how much there was to learn, but it has been a challenging and exciting one ever since.

From the beginning, the plan was to grow through relationships rather than paid leads. Most of our work comes through a network we have built up over the years with IFAs, accountants, and estate agents. That network is the reason a good chunk of what we do now is advising professional sportspeople, footballers in particular. When you work with high-net-worth clients, the introduction almost always comes through someone they already trust. They are not filling in a form on a comparison site. They want someone discreet who has been recommended, and they tend to come with complex income structures that the high street is not built for, so the relationship and the specialism feed each other.

In your opinion, what has been the most positive development in broking?

The biggest shift for me is how much the specialist end of the market has opened up. Ten years ago, a client with irregular or complex income — a footballer on a short contract, a business owner, someone with earnings spread across salary and bonuses — would often hit a wall on the high street. Now there is a proper range of specialist and private lenders who will actually look at the whole picture and underwrite the person rather than tick a box.

What makes the real difference is the relationships you build with those lenders and their BDMs. With a complex client, I can talk a case through with a BDM before anything goes in, so I know whether it will work rather than risking a flat decline that leaves a mark on the client's file. A good BDM will take an unusual income picture to an underwriter and get a person to look at it properly, push for a bit of discretion on a borderline case, and turn it around quickly when timing is tight. Lender appetite shifts constantly, so knowing who genuinely wants this kind of business right now gets the client a better result. It means you can solve problems for people who used to be told no, and that is the part of the job I enjoy most.

What challenges do you see currently facing the industry, and what solutions would you propose?

For me, it is the economic uncertainty. The home mover and house-buying market has been squeezed quite drastically. People are nervous about rates, prices, and job security, and when buyers are not confident they sit on their hands rather than move, so transaction numbers fall and that works its way through to everyone in the chain.

No single broker can fix that, but you can adapt to it. We have leaned into the parts of the market that keep moving — remortgages, product transfers, protection, and specialist work — and focused on giving clients enough clarity that they feel able to make a decision rather than freeze. A lot of the job in an uncertain market is simply helping people understand their options so that uncertainty does not stop them altogether.

Can you share a memorable or challenging experience from your career as a broker and the lessons you gained from it?

One that stands out was a footballer buying a high-value home as his main residence, with a tight deadline to exchange before Christmas. His situation was complicated — several companies, a number of properties already, and a playing contract coming towards its end — so it was never going to be a straightforward case. By knowing the market and working with the right lender, one who would take that kind of income seriously, we got it agreed within two weeks and completed in mid-January.

The lesson for me was that in complex, time-pressured cases, relationships are everything. Having someone at the lender who could look at the full picture and move quickly was the difference between the deal happening and falling through. The client was delighted, and we have gone on to do more business with him since, which for me is the real measure of whether you have done the job properly.

Could you share any valuable advice for individuals aspiring to become brokers or those new to broking?

Build your network before you need it, and that means both sides of the deal — the people who recommend you, your introducers, and the people who help you get cases over the line, your lenders and their BDMs. The advice you can learn, but those relationships take years, so start early and look after them.

The other thing is the team around you. A business only grows as far as its people, and honestly Bright Box is what it is because of the team we have built. They look after clients the way I would myself, they take real pride in getting things right, and a lot of our reputation is down to them rather than me. So hire people who genuinely care, train them properly, give them the room to do the job well, and never forget they are the ones holding it together day to day.

Find your patch and own it too. We are a North London and Hertfordshire-based firm, we know our area, and a lot of our growth has come from being the people who pick up the phone, know who to call at the lender, and get it done. You do not need to be the biggest, just the one people think of first and are happy to put their name to.

Broker in Focus is a weekly Mortgage Introducer feature, spotlighting mortgage brokers from diverse backgrounds and locations across the UK. Among those recently featured are Matthew Jackson of Mint FS, Helen May Allman of Home Me Mortgages, Kane Powell of Heron Financial, Marcus Robinson of Mortgage Style, Natalie Hines of Premier One Mortgages, Joe Stallard of House and Holiday Home Mortgages, Sam Ewen of Rosehill Financial Services, Stuart Mosley of SJ Financial Solutions, Andrew Watson of Echo Finance, and Tracie Selley of Approved Mortgage Solutions.