Case Study
Streamlined, Trustworthy Onboarding
Read on to hear about Hortons' experience with Kotini
About Hortons
Hortons is a modern, nationwide estate agency brokerage built around a self-employed model, giving experienced agents the freedom to run their own businesses with the support of a forward-thinking central team. Founded by Adam Horton and one of the first self-employed brokerages in the UK, the company combines local expertise with smart technology, streamlined processes and a strong focus on client experience. With agents operating across the country and a brand centred on being progressive, efficient and client-first, Hortons is designed to remove admin friction so agents can focus on what matters most: winning instructions, serving sellers and growing their businesses.
What we wanted to achieve
For modern estate agencies – especially self-employed brokerage models – growth often exposes cracks in process.
More agents. More properties. More compliance.
But also more systems, more admin, and more opportunities for things to break.
Adam Horton, founder of Hortons, knows this first-hand. His business operates as a nationwide brokerage of self-employed agents. But as the business scaled, was their tech stack at risk of hold them back?
It was a bit disjointed in terms of our client onboarding. We tried to use different forms of technology to streamline the process, but often meant that we had to get multiple pieces of software to talk to each other…
It was prone to bugs… the automation didn’t trigger the next part of the process. Then the client would be sat there wondering what’s happened and what they need to do next.
Adam Horton, Founder of Hortons
One journey under one roof
Hortons wanted everything under one roof – for head office, agents and clients alike.
Kotini offered exactly that: a single, cohesive onboarding platform with clearer communication and fewer moving parts.
Being able to remove that by just having everything under one roof effectively – that’s just taking that [automation issue] possibility away completely… [Kotini] was exactly what we were looking for to be honest.
One of the main things with our brand, at Hortons is just being modern and forward thinking and progressive… So, when we came across Kotini… that just resonated with us.
One login and one place to do it all… ten times easier for the, for the agents. But most importantly, it’s just easy for the clients.
Adam Horton, Founder of Hortons
Results at Scale
The change hasn’t just felt better – it’s delivered measurable impact. Less admin. More growth. More time spent where it counts. Hortons reached 500 cases in Kotini across the business allowing them to spend so much more time on more meaningful projects – not admin. That’s already thousands of hours saved on admin across the company.
We just hit a big milestone, 500 properties on Kotini… it’s allowed us to focus on the things as a brokerage that we should be focusing on, which is serving our agents and creating a good experience for our clients.
Adam Horton, Founder of Hortons
Cannot recommend Kotini highly enough! Great service with a really easy to use website plus the support team are always on hand to assist! 10/10
Mark Taylor, Estate Agent Partner at Hortons
WE LOVE KOTINI! Best thing we ever introduced at Hortons!
Gianfranco Paparozzi, Estate Agent Partner at Hortons
Network? No Problem
Rolling out new technology across a distributed, self-employed network can often be harder than the tech itself. For Hortons, bringing nearly 40 agents onto Kotini wasn’t about complicated setup or heavy lifting from the provider – it was about clear communication and getting everyone aligned on the why behind the change.
The onboarding process for us as a brand – bringing on, at the time, 37 people – for us, was more of an internal challenge over communication rather than anything that we needed from Kotini because it was really quite straightforward…
[Kotini] offered training, gave us all the documentation we needed. [Kotini] made sure our leadership was fully up to speed with how the process worked…
So then it was really on us to make sure people got behind it and understood why we were making a change and and what the opportunities and benefits were…
And then as soon as it went live, I feel like people took to it really easily. Pretty much straight away.
Adam Horton, Founder of Hortons
For a self-employed model where agents value independence and simplicity, that ease of uptake made all the difference – proving that with the right platform and clear communication, even a nationwide rollout can feel effortless.
Don't Get Left Behind
Adam’s advice is simple…
If your day-to-day is getting caught up in an admin and repetitive tasks… unless you get ahead of the game and utilise tools like this, then you’ll be left behind by agents that that are using it.
Adam Horton, Founder of Hortons
For UK estate agents – particularly brokerages with self-employed models – the lesson is clear: As you scale, complexity compounds. Bringing onboarding, compliance and communication into one platform isn’t just about convenience. It’s about protecting time, improving client experience, and freeing agents to do what they do best: win instructions and sell homes.
Sometimes, simpler really is smarter.
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