Long before The Makeover Guys became one of Malaysia’s most recognisable names in home makeovers, it began with two teenage boys, Gavin Liew and Vince Koh. They weren’t best friends, just familiar faces in the same high school hangout group. They weren’t even classmates, they clarified. But somewhere in that youthful mix of shared spaces, overlapping friends, and unspoken camaraderie, a bond quietly formed.
Years later, that bond would become the foundation of a business. Not because they planned it, but because they both happened to pick up the same book. That book was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, widely known for inspiring readers to rethink money, investment, and entrepreneurship. Fueled by inspiration and hard-earned lessons from failed ventures, they finally launched The Makeover Guys in 2015.
Built on mutual respect and a shared direction, the duo continues to reshape Malaysia’s home makeover scene. While the old adage says you shouldn’t do business with friends, Gavin and Vince prove that, with the right partnership, friendship can become the cornerstone of a successful venture.
The grit before the breakthrough
Before founding The Makeover Guys, Gavin and Vince had already been through many failed ventures together. The Makeover Guys wasn’t their first company. It wasn’t even their fifth. It was their tenth. Their first venture, an events company, and the subsequent eight failed attempts taught them logistics, client management, budgeting, and everything they would need to make this tenth one succeed.
Looking back, they laugh at how “gullible, eager, naive” they were in those early days. Yet those experiences forged the discipline and resilience they would need later. Across the years, they tried almost everything, chasing ideas with youthful enthusiasm and stubborn optimism. In many ways, they were sold the dream before they had any real direction. “That’s why we lost passion very fast,” they admit. “We were operating without a purpose.”
The turning point came when they bought their own property and noticed a pattern: homeowners needed simple, affordable, and beautiful transformations. Suddenly, things clicked. Their tenth business together became the one that changed their lives.
Navigating roles and conflicts
People often say you shouldn’t work with friends. Gavin and Vince disagree – not because it’s easy, but because with the right mindset, friendship can be a key ingredient in a successful business. To them, the secret lies in two things: shared direction and mutual respect.
Their dynamic blends contrast and chemistry. Gavin jokes about being “the fire starter”, while Vince is the calm one, who would remind him to “hold your horses”. They grew into their roles naturally – Gavin at the frontline, Vince behind the scenes – without trying to mirror each other. “If both of us always decide on the same thing,” Gavin points out, “then one of us is redundant.” They don’t expect harmony; they expect contribution.
A philosophy that they both encourage within the company is when one leads, the others should support fully. As Vince says, “We don’t say things like ‘I told you so.’” They don’t indulge in ego or hindsight, or weaponise past decisions. Instead, they honour the intent behind each choice.
“A lot of decisions we make is just the best idea we had at that time,” Gavin says. “It’s very easy in retrospect to say we should have done this, we should have done that. But in retrospect, I would have bought Bitcoin. Twenty years ago.” They burst into laughter – but the point is clear: perfect foresight doesn’t exist; trust does.
Their trust isn’t just built on business; it’s forged through years of partnership and friendship, often with a laugh. “I see him more than I see my own family,” Vince says. These small, casual moments show what no business book can: a partnership becomes unbreakable when it’s anchored in respect, clarity, and the kind of camaraderie that makes even the hard days feel lighter.
Reinventing home living: Vision, growth, and what’s next
Today, The Makeover Guys has grown into a company of over 200 employees with a nationwide presence, evolving from tenant-focused makeovers into personalised home transformations for families with diverse needs. And through every stage of growth, they’ve kept their core vision intact: to enable people to enjoy their homes.
Growth, however, hasn’t only been strategic – it’s also been creative. This year, they stepped into unexpected territory by producing a 15-minute short film inspired by one of their interior projects. Shot inside the actual home they designed, the film is now being submitted to international film festivals. “We can’t reveal it yet,” they tease, “but hopefully it wins something.”
They also collaborated with local fashion designer Casey Gan, crafting an interior based on her signature prints and hosting a full modelling shoot inside the transformed space. These projects reflect their desire to continually “reimagine spaces” and push the boundaries of what interior design can be. And with more collaborations on the way, The Makeover Guys is steadily becoming more than a makeover company, it’s a creative collective rooted in purpose.
At its heart, though, their journey is not just a business story but a brotherhood story: two men, different in temperament yet united in purpose, growing side by side through failure, risk, humour, and everything in between. When asked for one piece of advice for friends starting a business together, they keep it simple: “Have fun together. The journey is tough and draining. So have fun together.”
Because that’s what carried them from nine failed ventures to a nationwide brand. Not perfection. Not predictability. Just two men growing in the same direction – and having a good time getting there.
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Photography by Imran Sulaiman.