Smart50 rank: 28
Revenue: $11.54 million
Growth: 46.76%
Founders: Patrick Brady, 53; Greville Pabst, 42
Based: Victoria
Employees: 101
Industry: Property and business services
Website: http://www.wbpproperty.com

The current economic slowdown shouldn't hold too many surprises for property valuation and services company WBP Property. The company was established in 1992, in the midst of Australia's last big recession, during which founders Patrick Brady (pictured at right) and Greville Pabst (below) were retrenched from their jobs.

Starting a business during the recession was a big risk and attracting staff to what the founders admit was a "dodgy-looking" office environment wasn't easy. "We learnt that the phone was not going to ring in the recession. We had to walk the pavement, knock on doors and start cold calling from the Yellow Pages for work," Brady says.

But in many ways the trio's timing was good. The rise of the non-bank lenders helped spur the property market on and create increased demand for valuation services. WBP's valuation system XpressVal, which helps cut the turnaround time of valuations, also helped the company make its mark.

Revenue hit $11.5 million in 2007-08 after growing at an average annual rate of 46.76% in the past two years. It was $8.98 million last year.

The founders want to remake the business over the next five years, moving from being a specialist valuation services provider to offer clients an end-to-end service including property selection, valuation and acquisition. "The days of the one-product shop are over," Brady says.