At the age of 20, James Hopkins had few qualifications, and his father, a doctor, had begun to despair of him.
In his words he 'didn't too terribly well at school' but, like fellow entrepreneurs Sir Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson, used his wits to launch his first business venture.
Fast-forward 37 years and the father-of-five is the majority shareholder of East Anglia's biggest independent housebuilder, and is planning his expansion further into Essex and Cambridgeshire.
This journey to executive chairman of a £115m-turnover company saw the father-of-five sell fish for a living, give it up and sail the Mediterranean for two years, before putting his last £4,000 towards a rundown cottage.
Now Mr Hopkins, who grew up in Southwold, lives in a large 18th century home near Newmarket.
But for Mr Hopkins, who built 500 homes across the region last year mainly in Norfolk and Suffolk, struggling at school was the root of his success.
'If you don't succeed when you are young it makes you succeed later on in life because you don't have a choice,' he said.
'I was only 20 and had had a sheltered life. But I bought my own vans and started from nothing.'
Today Hopkins Homes employs 125 permanent staff, and could have between 1.500 and 2,000 sub-contracters working on sites – currently including Wells and Swanton Morley – at any one time.
Mr Hopkins, 56, said: 'It's grown every year apart from 2008/09 as the market slowed down.
'If you are an entrepreneur there are good times and slightly less good times, but we have always been successful.
'We have never had a year when we haven't made a profit. We have grown the business every year. We have employed more people every year. We are now a major part of the local economy.'
Pre-tax profits rose 120% to more than £22.3m for the year ending April 2015, and it is this that has enabled Mr Hopkins to meet the growing demand for housing, with new land purchases funding by working capital and bank debt, he said.
'We reinvest most of the profit back into the business,' he added. 'That's how we have expanded.'
Hopkins Homes' strength lies in its independence, without hundreds of shareholders to satisfy with growing dividends.
But it has not always been plain sailing.
A skills and materials shortage since the market picked up in 2012 has put pressure on costs, with workers demanding higher wages and a brick shortage pushing up prices.
Attitudes among communities where new homes are built has also presented challenges, but Mr Hopkins said the company's focus on design and quality allowed him to build 'communities we can be proud of'.
'I do sympathise with certain communities where they have had developments which aren't very attractive,' he added.
'We do try and build homes that blend in with existing houses. We are really particular about design. We don't want to build blights on the landscape. We are local people and we're here for the long term.'
Route to success
After spending three years selling fish to pubs and restaurants in London, at the age of 23, James Hopkins sold up and bought a yacht to sail the Mediterranean.
Returning home two years later, he used £4,000 left to him by his grandfather to buy a derelict cottage in Halesworth in partnership with his surveyor friend David Moore, together with a small bank loan.
Completing all the work themselves, and making a small profit, the duo capitalised on 'boom time' in the late 1980s, and scored a 'lucky break' in 1987 with the sale of land adjoining a vicarage for £200,000 – providing them with capital to buy a building plot.
'That was when we really started taking off,' said Mr Hopkins.
The entrepreneur bought his business partner out, and launched a separate housebuilding business in 1992 with Trevor Harris, which is when Hopkins Homes was born. Two years ago, Mr Hopkins also bought out Mr Harris, becoming majority shareholder.
'That's the way of expanding,' he said. 'You either buy out your partners or you buy shareholders out.'
And the business looks set to stay in the family, with 27-year-old son Joshua joining in September, after completing a masters in real estate.
Younger son George, 20, is following in his brother's shoes and studying real estate at Oxford Brookes University.
Are you expanding your business? Call Sabah Meddings on 01603 772879 or email sabah.meddings@archant.co.uk
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