The Most Organised Builder in the Industry.

Have you ever wondered how personal growth and sustainability practices can boost your business? This episode promises insight into these very topics, featuring a fascinating conversation with Jack from Nook Constructions. Jack, a young entrepreneur, shares his journey of personal growth and how it has shaped his entrepreneurial venture. He gives a sneak peek into his unique organizational methods at construction sites, where the use of color-coded and sign-marked areas act as navigational beacons. We also delve into the complex, yet crucial, topic of recycling and waste management, and how we can initiate a positive change in the industry.

As the conversation unfolds, we focus on the innovative application of color-coding in construction and sustainable practices. The color-coded strategy safeguards valuable resources, emphasizes Jack, pointing out to the larger picture of sustainability. We discuss the profound importance of using recycled materials in construction projects, and how such practices can be beneficial in the long run. Jack shares his experience, stressing the significant role of builders in educating their clients about the long-term impact of their choices, the need for durability in construction, and the importance of responsibly sourcing materials.

In the final part of our discussion, we emphasize the importance of fostering a robust builder’s community, as we believe in the power of knowledge exchange and continuous learning. Jack provides insights on team-building strategies, highlighting the positive influence it has on work culture. We continue the conversation around our digital presence, discussing the challenges and victories of maintaining an active social media presence. As we wrap up this enlightening episode, we invite you to join us as we strive for a positive transformation and continuous improvement in the building industry. Don't miss this insightful conversation that merges personal growth, sustainability, and community building, pushing for change in the construction industry.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

How good and how powerful did you feel by having the initiative to go to that? Not for me, the no, the master word.

Speaker 2: 0:07

No or not for us or not. You know we're not quite the right builders for you. It's one of the great things I've learned to do over the past few years.

Speaker 1: 0:22

G'day guys. Welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We, as you'll see, we're not in the shed again. Today We've got another recording. I'm pumped about this one. So this particular guest we have on today, it's going to be an absolute cracker. I was actually going back through my phone searching for all the through all the messages over the last couple of years and it's actually been early 2019 since we connected on social media and there's been a lot of messages backwards and forwards since then. But watching this guy's growth over the last few years has been absolutely awesome. So massive warm welcome to Jack from Nook Constructions. How are you, mate?

Speaker 2: 0:54

Very great. Thank you very much for that wonderful introduction.

Speaker 1: 0:59

No, mate, look, it's like it's been really cool over the past few years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're quite a young business.

Speaker 2: 1:08

Yeah, we are, as far as, like you know, licensed builders.

Speaker 3: 1:13

we're in a bit easy now.

Speaker 2: 1:14

So we literally launched Nook Construction at Builders and Bikes, literally went down and popped onto the television set, shut up shop every time.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Yeah, and now it's, mate, it's been awesome just seeing you reach out over the years and ask questions and even just some of the comments you've had on some of the posts that I've done.

Speaker 1: 1:33

Like it just shows that you're obviously like you're really big on personal growth and things, and I'd love like next time I'm down there, I really would love to come and see one of your sites because, seriously, you have the cleanest and most organized job sites I've ever seen in person and on social media. Like I'd like to drag this out and talk a lot more about this in detail because, like, one of the posts probably going back two years ago from you was I did a post about our site signage and our site rules and I think you sent me a post saying holy shit, that's fantastic. Like do you ever have to backcharge trades? Like do they follow your rules? Yeah, so then you've just taken that next level. Like you see, I see some of the posts you do on social media, mate, and everything is color coded and signed. Like tell us a bit about it.

Speaker 2: 2:19

Yeah, I guess maybe it comes from a bit of a competitive side of things. When I saw your signs I'm like, all right, dwayne's done it, I'm going to take it to the next level. Let's do it Like when you go through any kind of business. Let's say you go to a doctor and it's the whole place is really where we kind of walk in like rules as well. Everyone's really well informed purely through, maybe from HR side of things. But like you know, they seem like very organized operations. So it makes sense in my head that why can't we make our sites? You know that kind of operation it's really not that hard.

Speaker 2: 2:56

You're banging out some signs.

Speaker 2: 2:58

You know I try to make it a little bit more relaxed and personable. You know, not like where I wrote, right, right, you take the shift over here. So but yeah, I guess it kind of just stemmed from that, and then these things kind of pop up on site. You know, if there's, for example, recently we've really ran out of recycling and waste management and it's so hard to come okay with guys that don't really understand it, so let's make them understand. There's some really clear cut signs. There's illustrations, there's color coding bins. It makes it simple for everyone. I think that's what's really important.

Speaker 1: 3:37

So how do you like it? I'm not sure, because I see a lot of guys in Melbourne doing this sort of thing. Like, do you guys? I think you guys must have a lot more options than us up here in Queensland for recycling, because we've tried at many times separating different bins and things and the, the contractors base say, hey, like it's, what are you doing? Like we don't. We don't pick up separate bins for this and that and the other. So like, we've taken it upon our own hands. Like we, we got our own rubbish trials and we separate things as much as possible on site and we take the metal to the scrapies and we take the, the general rubbish, to the recycling dump, we pull the timber out and save that. So, like, what's the story down there with Melbourne? Like is there different companies picking up different bins?

Speaker 2: 4:16

Yeah, we're doing the same thing. We're taking these bins to certain areas around Melbourne. Yeah, soft plastic, literally no one is taking it in Melbourne. We are fine, it's, honestly, it's, it's getting on the right, but then here about some, here about some of these places. So we've been talking a lot with you know, mark and BH and it's from Saint Louis, obviously previously. There's a bit of a crew helping each other in the contacts and finding areas where we can put the places rubbish for recycling.

Speaker 1: 4:52

But it's not easy.

Speaker 2: 4:53

Yeah, you know, I'll be the first one to end up and say it's not 100% working. They're a team in each suit, but we're as builders, we do.

Speaker 1: 5:03

We play a massive role in reducing waste, don't we? Because our industry just has so much waste.

Speaker 2: 5:10

We're one of the biggest. I think recently that we're floating around at 10 mark, which is just a vast pool of stuff, and I think from a grand perspective, like you know, the smaller guys can start setting some standards. Hopefully there's a bit of community change if we're kind of just catching on. But yeah, that's the idea of sharing this stuff, you know.

Speaker 1: 5:30

Yeah, we. It's just about leading by example, isn't it? And the more people doing it, the easier it's going to get for companies to like someone's going to jump on it and start separating more rubbish if they see more builders willing to put the time and effort into doing it. I imagine.

Speaker 2: 5:42

Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:43

What about Robbie Robbie from Revival down there, like man he's like next level. Like the recycling those guys do is insane. I just saw recently he's making bricks out of. Is it sawdust or something?

Speaker 2: 5:54

No, he's one of the big reactions of a lot of our guys. I think he is Certainly around reusing the materials. We've taken the best of this project that we're doing. We're also working on amazing architecture, that are doing a lot of stuff in that ground as well, and giving us the freedom to put our skills into place and be able to re-use some materials on site to fabricate really good stuff, and stuff that is definitely going to last, you know.

Speaker 1: 6:26

Yeah, the I'll just. I'll just I'll apologize for the listens if it's a bit glitchy. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I think it'll. It'll probably record. All right. But just back to the signs, because you you put signs on everything. Like I love your stories when you show different signs, and like you're you're big on your floor protection and your joinery protection, and like I'd like to know how it actually works on site. Like do your trades, are they all over it? Or like do you have to keep on their back about things?

Speaker 2: 6:51

Like look the probably the biggest challenge is when, sometimes, when we've got maybe a language barrier, which happens, you know, obviously we're in a city of multi-podipose cultural folks. That's probably our biggest challenge at the moment. But again, we've got guys we've been working with the 15 plus years we they know how to, and also we also operate that with trade agreements as well, especially with potentially guys that are kind of new to us. It's all pretty clear on our expectations, you know.

Speaker 2: 7:24

Yeah, and people really do get involved and even you know, sometimes they take it in, you know, and they're actually releasing. You know our guys, they're incredible.

Speaker 1: 7:36

Yeah, I made, I love it and I think it's it's. It's fantastic to see, like surely clients that are thinking about using noot constructions would just like be froffing when they see these posts that you're, you're putting all these signage out like you put them on door cupboards and I've seen you put them on all the benches on stairs, like, and then you, you do like a full market, don't you? When you're doing a refurb, and like you identify like things that have to be salvaged and things that have to be looked after, and, like you, you must have this whole process that happens on site before even any demolition work starts by the look of it.

Speaker 2: 8:09

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:09

So, yeah, actually it's part of our three kind of contracts.

Speaker 2: 8:13

You know preliminary stuff that we organised a. It's called a. What are drawing your blank? Existing resource my apology, so we'll go out pre-contract and we'll identify everything we've already reused into the site.

Speaker 2: 8:32

We'll make a giant list of room and then when demolition happens, we give this to either us or the demo contractor and guys will actually pluck out what they're looking for resource plans store it on the site and then we can then promote the demolition. So we've pulled out all that as a resource. We've put it in the later on. Yeah, it's a big, important part of it.

Speaker 1: 8:57

Yeah, that's fantastic. And then obviously there's a lot of those materials have the storage on site, there's moving around the site and all those types of things. So you like, you have your own process, don't you Like, we have our pack process. I know you have your own process in those early stages where you document all this and then obviously, by doing that, it allows you to include costs to manage and do all that work in your contract Exactly right.

Speaker 2: 9:24

So we obviously our demo or our deconstruction process is one of our larger formats because we offer them and that's also a reason it helps us kind of vet clients as well. If people aren't really you know if this is any important to them, that's kind of a we might not be in the right building, sort of. So it's really important to us, part of our process and also part of our you know our direction, where we want to be as people and as a business.

Speaker 1: 9:56

And that's important. That's like to me, that's the number one. Like you, to have a magic business like a successful, profitable, very smooth running business, like a big part of it is like you just said. It's attracting the clients that want to do what you're doing, isn't it? So you're putting yourself out there doing your story, showing all this protection, showing all your pre-construction work that you do during your design, development and all that sort of stuff that is solving so many problems that people, like the clients, are concerned about, and so you're nailing it all on the head before you even go to contract, so like it's a win-win for everybody.

Speaker 2: 10:31

Absolutely, and not just clients. But we've attracted some incredible employees that want to get around that and as soon as you can attract that attitude, you know with the guys that want to be a part of that- you know, we can teach pathometry. My kind of opinion when we get employees 80% of his adage we can teach the like, the pathogen, quite easily. But if you don't have that attitude, you know to take on what we're about, it probably won't shake.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Yeah, and you're right. Like it's a flower, isn't it? So you're not just attracting the right clients, you're attracting the right employees, contractors, suppliers, architects, designers like.

Speaker 2: 11:10

Big part of it, for sure. And I guess as a business we only do work with architects and career designers. Most of the time they're coming to us and bringing clients to us, and then we start the process from there. Hopefully it's like we're kind of designed to develop the stage not too far and alive when you know we're getting finished lines. We've learned from that process early those that we don't get involved in the process.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Yeah. So, mate, tell us a bit of the background and look, so is your background carpentry.

Speaker 2: 11:43

Yeah, carpentry, and we've got a group of five six guys and they're all carpenters, so we've got in-house carpentry.

Speaker 3: 11:50

But where we started was actually doing a lot of own-adult stuff.

Speaker 2: 11:53

Prior to our licensing, we had some really good opportunities to build actually up-text homes and that was a great way to put out a really intense clientele really intense, you know constant meetings, you know invoicing. I mean it's really important stuff to kind of work that out right as we're doing the business. We feel yeah. And yeah, it really sets us when we started building the process and is licensed to build it. It's funny how this is a good option for us.

Speaker 1: 12:27

So how have you gone with the transition from carpentry to builder, to running a business?

Speaker 2: 12:34

Question.

Speaker 3: 12:36

Currently. I love every aspect of it.

Speaker 2: 12:37

I do miss the carpentry side of things. That's certainly where my heart lies. I love the carpentry side of things. I love getting in the strength of my cars, but there is a obvious reason why that can't constantly happen.

Speaker 1: 12:54

So it's the same story, hey, like that's like traders get into the business because they they love whatever particular trade it is they're doing and then the business side of things takes over. So it's and then it's finding that balance of keeping that passion and maybe I think, like what you've done now, like you're now using your passion in the, the salvaging materials, the detailed signage, the, the color-coding. Tell us a little bit about the color-coding. I think it's frigging awesome. I, I we have in my building business. We've got definitely got a long way to go with this. But, like, all of our jobs have a whiteboard and they get set up with a side bench, a plan desk and a set of colored pens. And yeah, it's not too often you see too many colors getting used. It's always the one color, but I get the side, I do my thing and then, yeah, it's, it's hard to keep on the boys backs all the time to make sure they keep writing on the whiteboard up and things and color and things.

Speaker 2: 13:49

Definitely, I think it's definitely on the site manager, whoever that may be, to really take over the back.

Speaker 3: 13:58

Yeah, we've used to run about colors now.

Speaker 2: 14:01

Sorry, it's pretty insane.

Speaker 1: 14:05

So what's? What's the color? So is so this? This sounds like a good thing. So you're using the same color for the same thing on every job.

Speaker 2: 14:12

Yeah, absolutely yeah, it's streamlined throughout all that projects. The new one that we've added is the like the reclaiming of Talvis. That's part of our resource plan. So soon someone sees a yellow tape, yellow spray, everyone can identify that and protect that. And make sure everyone that's actually as valuable as something that you would buy from the hardware store.

Speaker 1: 14:38

Yeah, right. So do you like? Is there like a somewhere on site or on your plans that tells people yeah? Yeah, it tells people the different colors.

Speaker 2: 14:46

We've got, when we, when we identify the resource, we'll obviously carefully either have the same place and we'll protect it or we'll remove it, and we actually build racks on site where it gets salvaged and stored. And then we we've actually got an extra project, we're actually coding the salvage material and where it's going to go on the plan so you can actually see exactly where that bit of material is going on the plan.

Speaker 1: 15:14

Yeah, yeah I think it's fantastic We've got one architect we work for that does that like codes, everything, and it's just so easy. The most time consuming bit is those first few days on site just going around identifying everything, putting whatever some sort of tape on it and writing on it what it is and all those types of things. But to me it's just so worth it, like I'm all for. The more recycled materials we can reuse in our projects, the better. It's just, it's helping the planet, it's reducing waste. So yeah, it's definitely a mindset, I think, when I was first doing it.

Speaker 2: 15:48

I got a lot of feedback from guys on social media just saying this is all well. But the amount of time you need to put into this is You've got to make it. You've got to find the clients that want to make it. You've got to find the design team that want to make it.

Speaker 2: 16:08

It's you know, absolutely it's feasible, but you know you might not have to buy a client for it, and you've got to make sure you're fine. You want to make it feasible. That's as simple as that. You've really got to have a passion for it. If you're just in your box, I don't think you might be going to check out.

Speaker 1: 16:27

But like I think it's like you just said, mate, like I actually think there is a lot of more traders and builders that would love to be doing this that they focus on the dollars, and you're 100 percent correct.

Speaker 1: 16:36

The first thing they say is no one's going to pay for that. Like, that's going to take me a lot of time. It's got to take me more effort. Like I don't make money on my jobs as it is, like I can't charge anymore, but it's. It comes back to what we talked about.

Speaker 1: 16:47

Like you, you have to be attracting clients and staff and whatever that have the same morals, values, opinions, everything is due. And when you do attract those clients, that's where the magic happens, because then you're going to get a client that you can work with, you can educate, you can explain to them that hey, like we've actually got to spend time and money and labor to pull that down and store it on site and to rebuild it for you or to repurpose it into something else. But for me, the most powerful part of being a builder these days is educating. It's not up to me to tell my clients what I see value or what things are going to cost. It's up to me to educate them so they can tell me what they see value in and if they decide, and if they decide that they see value in spending time and money with me and my team to repurpose things, to salvage things.

Speaker 1: 17:38

That is fantastic and it's actually incredible we got. It's funny. We're on a bit of a mission at the moment, like over the next couple of years we're really changing our business to be a lot more about this, and we have hardly even put it out there yet, like just a few stories and a few posts here and there, and they come out of the woodwork. So many people want to go down this path, yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:03

Where was that new? Is this a new passion that you guys have you know drunk in? Or is this someone inspiring you externally? Where has this kind of come from?

Speaker 3: 18:11

Because it's interesting because this is a recent thing for us as well.

Speaker 2: 18:14

I suppose I'm kind of saying either they say the thing within us or is it? Someone that you buy that.

Speaker 1: 18:22

For me. My wife and I. We've had this passion for a very long time. So we've never lived in a brand new house Like over the last 10, 15 years. We've renovated every house we've lived in. We've never lived in a finished home, because we get to a certain point and then someone offers us money and we sell it and we move on to the next project. But, like even on our own projects, we are trying to reuse as many materials as we can that we've saved or had left over from previous projects.

Speaker 1: 18:51

Mate, I don't know, I don't know. My parents always remind me when I was a kid, like driving. My mum and dad's family lived like two hours from where we were, so like we're always driving weekends and things to see them. So we saw a lot of progress with roadworks and new highways and things, and my mum and dad always remind me like how I used to be so disappointed when they were just knocking all these trees down and like all this type of thing, and I think it goes right back to that.

Speaker 1: 19:18

So for as long as I can remember, I've always been passionate about the hardwood, like my great-granddad was a builder and like they used to do with their bare hands. They would lop the tree, they would mill it on site, they would machine it into whatever they needed it for, and so they went from the tree to the finished project. And when I think about the effort that went into the hardwood that's in the buildings that we work on these days, I cannot believe that people don't salvage more of it, because we will never, ever get that hardwood, all the skilled craftsmen that cut that timber and built those buildings, back.

Speaker 1: 19:59

So I think, it's a bit of a. I think builders need to take it more seriously and salvage more of this stuff Like we have a responsibility to, because you think nothing shits me more now. Like you drive past all these people by these blocks of land and sweat them and build one home and stuff, and you see these excavators just smash and houses up and just put them in the back of the truck and like, once it's in a hole in the ground, it ain't coming back.

Speaker 2: 20:22

No, yeah, god knows what they're taking. You know all of that. You'd hope that it's going to be nice right.

Speaker 1: 20:30

Yeah, but, mate, I guess, to answer your question, it's what we just talked about. Like I used to make the excuse as well, that like I would. Well, it wasn't. I would try and introduce it on jobs for the last 10 years, but I just wasn't doing it the right way and I don't know. It got to, I think, as I've got more passionate about it. And then I think COVID actually really helped what we're doing now, because a lot of people started seeing value in recycling and being more healthy and permaculture and all these different things because they wanted to be more healthy. And then obviously there's another like we had Zara on the podcast not that long ago, like the healthy home stuff. So I think there's a lot more people talking about it now.

Speaker 1: 21:15

And, yeah, I do truly believe, as I said before, I used to focus too much on telling the client what something was worth instead of me telling them what it was going to cost and them telling me what they see value in.

Speaker 1: 21:32

And that's changed everything, because now they tell me. So we work through them the PAC process, like we do the similar to you we go to site We've got a few jobs on it at the moment where we're measuring up existing decking timber and all the decking boards and the rafters and working out the walls that are going to be demolished and how many studs and things are going to be in those walls and they're going to get repurposed into timber screening and batting and all this type of stuff. And so we, a lot of the time we'll start off, we'll put those things in as an allowance and then, like I said, it's up to the client, like they say oh yeah, we're fine to do that, and if it's not, then we these days we don't not do it, we just take the timber back to our yard so we'll find another purpose for it. But I don't know, mate, timber, hardwood, we're never gonna get timber like it ever again. So yeah, I think we definitely in Australia.

Speaker 2: 22:26

We certainly better size amazing timber we love. We're gonna find a proud history of logging and beautiful timbers like that. They did timbers and they are shrink at a rapid rate. You know, in Victoria we won't be able to log in, even with special parks and ones that the locations are like, which is coming in January. So the value that we need to start putting on materials and waste cycling needs to be exponentially improved for the better, if you're talking any secrets about it.

Speaker 1: 23:01

But even not the like. Just seeing on your post, mate, the stuff you say say we're the same. Like you, I just think how, like everything these days is so conscious around price and a lot of the time the clients are conscious on price because builders and tradies aren't educating them and, like you see again, like I said, I just see so much value in the old timers and what they did. You turn up to a 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s home and they got like this detailed metal ballast rating or detailed brickwork or whatever it may be, like timber work even. And I just think to myself like there is a lot of time in that, like if that should not go in the ground because that's taken. Like if I was to build that same thing now it would cost a fortune. So what can we do with it?

Speaker 2: 23:48

Yeah, exactly, I've got a story about this recent project with me working through. As part of our resistance resource plan. We wanted to salvage as much as Western Red Cedar as possible. Western Red. Cedar in Australia pretty much all exclusively comes from Canada. And we identified if we were to get more Cedar, it would be instantly. The amount of land that was involved with any form of Cedar in Australia is outrageous.

Speaker 3: 24:18

So let's avoid Cedar, where we can.

Speaker 2: 24:20

We don't want to hurt any Cedar, so we ripped out all the Cedar. We had these beautiful door jams that all made out of Cedar. We had old windows pulled apart and we fashioned them onto our rack and we actually made space floors out of these, out of an old jam. We did some laminating or some 22 mil bit Cedar. We made 44 mil styles for our windows. You know pretty much fabricating brand new items through this area and they haven't done one yet, which is pretty incredible.

Speaker 1: 24:57

Yeah, and again, that's like the thing I find now too, once we educate clients about this, like there's a lot of designers and architects out there like I know the ones we work with, like this stuff excites them, like having me involved in the early stages and working collaboratively to identify what is sustainable and able to be repurposed and all those types of things. But for me it adds character straight away, like for a client. Like you can walk into a finished new home renovation and be like, oh, that was the old windows, that was the old door jams. Like you have this character straight away.

Speaker 2: 25:34

That was one of the best I had at the side meeting. After I pointed at the baseball and said guess what that was? That was your old master bedroom door, jam.

Speaker 1: 25:42

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:43

They were like no way they went up to it and like, touched our minds to the baseball. But there's story involved and we identified we were going to do that for contract and they were jazzed about it. But they were seeing it actually and asked, talking about it and showing that this is what value we're getting for the project and then being jazzed about it. It was just, you know, amazing field role around.

Speaker 1: 26:06

Yeah, and it's the same. I think it's the same through the entire industry, like for so long. And look, there's definitely a lot of it happening down there now. Like it is so driven by the final number and I just like I think so many trades and builders are missing incredible opportunities, like because they get caught in that cycle, like I need this job, I've got to be the lowest price. Like I can't, like I don't have time to salvage that, like that's going to take more time and money. Like I need to be the cheapest, instead of going to a meeting and saying to the clients oh geez, like I'm a big fan of you, you've got to connect with your client and you can tell. Like we attract them now just by everything we put out on socials, as I'm sure you do.

Speaker 1: 26:46

But like connecting with a client and seeing what they see value in. And it could be anything. Like we've connected with clients because of I've seen, I've turned up to site me and they've got a beehive in the backyard my wife's in the bees I can start a conversation. Or the kids playhouse has built out a recycled timbering. Like oh, we'll be able to recycle that and do something with it. Or like we've got a job at the moment where there's an old shed in the backyard and it's going to be knocked down, and so I've said to the clients well, why don't we use all that material to actually build the pool house? And they're like what? You'll do that and I'm like, yeah, like for sure, totally.

Speaker 2: 27:24

And if you're, bringing that motivation or that inspiration. You can totally inspire someone that maybe hasn't quite, that thought process hasn't changed yet, but as soon as you start talking about it, of course we could. Why wouldn't we you? Know, you're a crazy product At the same time as well when you're talking about canting with clients.

Speaker 2: 27:44

you know, just by those things I recently went to a meeting group and that same kind of mentality actually, you know, asking questions that were important to me or to our business actually made that decision to walk away from the project. I think that's really important as well. You can't connect with a client on things that you're passionate about. Again, that might not be the right client to work with.

Speaker 1: 28:11

Mate, that's just next level and I think again, so many builds and trades, they're just chasing the tail of it. But how good and how powerful did you feel by having the initiative to go? Not for me.

Speaker 2: 28:24

The no, the magical word. No or not for us, or we're not quite the right builders for you. It's one of the greatest things I've learned to do over the past few years. It's knowing those questions to us to identify whether we are not going to work together. That's really important and that takes practice, that takes trial and error and that takes a bit of failure as well. So what was it Can?

Speaker 1: 28:51

you pinpoint. What was it at that meeting?

Speaker 2: 28:54

Yeah, yeah, amazing job and a really beautiful suburb in Melbourne. The architect hadn't reached out to us, it was called Direct Client. Heard about us on a great front of the people who were working there. I went out to check Beautiful design, probably floating around a $2 million mark, because you hear those numbers right. Let's start creating about what we're going to do with gas. How do you guys feel about working towards maybe a bit more high performance kind of windows? There are these windows that have been specified they're not going to do very well in the long run.

Speaker 3: 29:39

How do you guys feel about it, are you guys?

Speaker 2: 29:41

motivated by those high performance ideas, and I would just want to. So instantly my passion started to wind up. I went home, had to think about it on the drive home I was like that didn't jazz me up. I've been working with these for 14 to 16 months. Yeah, the money right, but that's personally not my motivation. I want to work with Austin April. Obviously you want to be successful and keep it all sustainable and explaining what you need to do.

Speaker 1: 30:15

Did you see any opportunity there to educate them on maybe, something like Maybe they didn't know more enough about it? No, I tried.

Speaker 2: 30:25

I went to discuss about gases moving away. Obviously, it's one of our biggest possible fuels that we use in our home, and our electricity and solar is accessible now and we spoke about the impact of the cook time.

Speaker 3: 30:42

I've done a lot of research.

Speaker 2: 30:43

I've been speaking to professional industry professionals about it, but some people are just stuck in their way.

Speaker 1: 30:50

Yeah, yeah, I made it to minefield. There is so much out there. I know even myself the solar thing. I've only literally jumped on the solar thing in the last couple of years for a long time there. I just couldn't stand what the solar panels were made of and they were terrible for the environment, they can't be recycled and those types of things. So I've sort of won over with the solar. But I'm definitely not a fan of lithium batteries. I think they're the worst thing in the world for the planet, but it is. It's all about educating yourself so that you can make your own decisions, and everybody's going to have different opinions on different things. But you think of us as builders and the amount of stuff that we have to try and keep up to date with and educate ourselves. I'm like how do you feel for the poor client that is trying to build a one-off home or renovation and they're getting told all these different things from all these different builders? Like it is hard 100%.

Speaker 2: 31:44

I think they also have a bit of responsibility to get involved with their build, but we also have a responsibility as builders to certainly see in the direction of what our building tent is.

Speaker 1: 31:59

As I said, we're not going to build it for everyone.

Speaker 2: 32:02

There is definitely a builder around for you that will provide what you guys need. What number of construction might be DPD?

Speaker 1: 32:11

So you're obviously playing in the high-performance space Again. I love your videos. I see one recently where you're I think you were making some custom flashings or something you were doing some demos pouring some water out of a bottle down the wall and showing people where the water ran. I think it's fantastic. The more education you can do to people, the better.

Speaker 2: 32:31

Yeah, we love our flag being here. We love hitting it up to the border. I guess I certainly would have put my hand up and say that noob instructions, high-performance builder. Yeah, we use the up-to-date building wraps. We try and remove all several brick houses, but I think the high-performance brush is just being used to this day and night. I consider ourselves more architectural builders than what's built a bit beyond the extra standard, which we think is bloody garbage. We're comparison with the rest of the world. But yeah, we pick a few high-performance details.

Speaker 2: 33:19

We pinch a bit from Passed House which we were actually passing out, certified last week. So we might move into that space, but as of yet we're remaining as architectural builders that want to build above the standards and provide an out-of-time with really worn-out type, well-designed, I suppose.

Speaker 1: 33:41

I made them here. I did my Passed House course last year and again it was more. I just like educating myself. I like to be able to educate myself and make my own decisions on things, and for us at DPS Constructions it's similar to you. We just want to build really well-built, above the standard houses, which, at the end of the day, isn't that hard to do. But the way I always look at it is I can drive past houses that were built 100, 150 years ago, so why can't I build homes now that will be around 100, 150 years? And if they're built with good products, they're flashing like water's the biggest problem with most homes, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 34:22

Yeah, 80% of the value of the infrastructure, yeah, and people just don't get it. You've really got to. I think we're probably getting to a point where Australia's going to go through the leaky home syndrome, like Europe has and New Zealand has, and I definitely think it's starting to show here and we're having lots of homes now with mold and timber rot and all those types of things. So again, I'm sure you do. I think it's going to get very seriously. As a builder, like it's my responsibility to make sure I'm not adding to that problem.

Speaker 2: 36:20

Exactly right. We have a responsibility to our clients and you know, certainly personally, we've got a bit of legacy to leave on the earth. I suppose we're going to build these big homes. We don't want them to last a year, we want them to be there 50 to 100. That's, I think longevity is one of the most saddest things you can do, mate. I'm 100% sure.

Speaker 1: 36:42

Mate, I'm 100%. If I could high five you, I would. That's my thing and I hate it. It frustrates me so much. Obviously they're never going to put it out there, but you see a lot of these volume built homes like the standard they're built to. It's only a 25 to 30 year standard. They may get 40, 50 years out of them. But seriously throwing a whole home in the ground every 40, 50 years, that is not sustainable. We need to be building homes that are around for lifetimes.

Speaker 2: 37:16

Yeah, and then the occupants decide to be comfortable, healthy and want to be for a long time. Yeah, the people who move into these volume homes, it's really cold and kids are getting sick. I can't wait to upgrade to the next thing, but it's such a shame that that house didn't went up.

Speaker 1: 37:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:38

Because someone's going to go over that house before it gets full.

Speaker 1: 37:41

It's just such a form of Well, I think it's one of the notes I've got here today to talk about with you. You like having a better understanding of where the materials are coming from and how they're sourced and all those types of things, because to me that's a big part of it. It's not just about a home getting demolished every 25, 30, 40, 50 years. It's all the materials, the labor, the transport, the fuel. Everything that went into building that house has also been a waste. So we have a huge responsibility as builders to really really have a think about how we source our materials, how the companies that we source materials from are making them, all those things. That's obviously something you're passionate about as well.

Speaker 2: 38:27

Yeah. One of the big posts that we recently did was our. We had a bit of a challenge with FSC certification from a supplier.

Speaker 3: 38:39

They would stamp their materials with FSC certification and I dug a little deeper.

Speaker 2: 38:46

Knowing me, I like to investigate things. There's something I didn't quite smell right.

Speaker 2: 38:51

The actual certification was very raw and I had a conversation with the plantation and then the sawmill, they couldn't give me an instance about if they could guarantee a certain product that we were specifying on our project actually had the certification. Pave work said it did, but am I going to get that order and that's definitely going to be FSC certified? I actually don't think that that material was not certified. It's pretty crazy to hear that people are just blatantly stamped. It's very important. You know we're very sensitive and certificate and get away with it without someone.

Speaker 1: 39:36

I think there's going to be a lot of that highlighted in the near future. We've got a couple of projects going on the site the moment which we haven't done any socials or anything. We're experimenting a little bit and we've got some pretty high standards with the materials that we're putting into them, with the grand plan being that everything in them has to be 100% recycled at its end use. Everything's got to be sustainably sourced and green tagged and all these types of things. A similar thing like two of the products that we haven't done them now, but we were very close to purchasing All the data sheets on their website.

Speaker 1: 40:13

Everything was saying environmentally friendly, sustainably sourced, good for the environment. When I kept digging and digging and talking to reps and getting asked for more information, it actually came back that they were terrible, they're full of plastics and it was completely misleading all the other information I'd been given. It's a minefield for us, for clients, for designers and architects. I feel like there's a lot of people out there, a lot of manufacturers in the industry, that are just throwing these claims on things now because they know sustainability sells.

Speaker 2: 40:45

Yeah, definitely. It's good that we have that drive to check these things. There's potentially a lot of people that just want to tick that box and to unmask you, to dive a bit deeper and really be passionate about what's actually going on in the project that you want to move in the direction that's what it's going to take.

Speaker 1: 41:09

Yeah, mate, I love your. You sort of started touching it before, but can you tell us what your campsite rule is?

Speaker 2: 41:17

The campsite rule. It's really simple and, honestly, I think everyone can take it in most of the clients the world would be in that place. It's simple as leaving somewhere better than you, you know, especially I'd rather be outdoors on the big camp. For myself, there's nothing worse than rocking up to a place that has bottles in a fireplace and a mat or a pot right next to a river.

Speaker 2: 41:46

Same kind of scenario I changed with the building site. You get shit everywhere you arrive, you do your work, maybe you clean a bit that up and then you're the way you left it. The idea is the same thing with campsite they were people, you might find something that might be a bit down in the dumps, Maybe throw an arm around them and say are you doing alright? The campsite rule really works in most facets of life.

Speaker 1: 42:15

Mate. I reckon that's a good mission statement for no construction. That's it Done. Right, true, yeah, I might write it the campsite rule, leaving everything better than you found it. I've never thought about it, but you're 100% right. It applies to people as well, do you, that's.

Speaker 2: 42:35

I've stumped you.

Speaker 1: 42:40

So you touched on then checking on people throwing your arm around someone and that like is his culture, and team building and that sort of thing play a big part in nook.

Speaker 2: 42:49

Yeah, definitely We've had. You know, through our employees and probably personally, we've definitely gone through some challenging inside and outside work scenarios, certainly with two employees that stick out.

Speaker 2: 43:05

They went through some really challenges. Yeah, almost a little bit of emotional talking about it, but yeah, it was tough to see these guys really being a bit hard Sometimes. You know it was good that they were coming to work and they felt like this was a place where they could kind of do the act. But it's really important for us to identify those guys that seem to be quiet, seem a bit off. Usually, you know there's days where they can be really brimming and you know they come on a Thursday. They seem a bit down. So it's really important, especially for an employer, to take that lead into the role and say how are you? What's happening? You seem a bit different. Let's chat.

Speaker 3: 43:54

And that's another thing.

Speaker 2: 43:56

After all, I've got a lot of those experiences. We've taken on the responsibility of doing four-day work. With that, we just believe that work-life balance is becoming a really important thing, especially the way in which we really want to put work isn't everything. We've all got life and we need to go out there and really last place.

Speaker 1: 44:20

So what's some things you do with your team to, like, team building, sis or like, do you have regular toolbox talks and that sort of thing?

Speaker 2: 44:27

We're so small we keep it very casual, so every month we'll be on. Thursday, because we usually don't wear Fridays. And we'll pop down and do a social thing together, whether that's just as simple as going to the pub, or we'll be in Dublin earlier and we'll have lunch together. We really do discuss about what's going on in life and I think when we start to talk about it, you know if someone's moving out you can start to dive in a bit. You don't really want to go to a group in my experience.

Speaker 2: 44:58

I haven't jumped from it. You seem upset. We want to hear the narrative behind what's happening in life and then maybe go.

Speaker 3: 45:07

How's that working out for you?

Speaker 2: 45:10

You're finding a new home, moving out, with a new partner moving out, maybe moving away from you, and then that kind of story kind of leaves on a bit. We just seem to be a little bit open up and a bit easier and yeah, you'll be a man of the kind of stories that come from that.

Speaker 1: 45:27

Yeah, it's a hard one, eh? Because I know even just this year we've had a few difficult challenges with a couple of particular employees and it's very hard to know and there's definitely been some things this year that I'll put my hand up and say I overlooked and should have listened to the rest of the team about certain team members and all those types of things. And it is a hard thing as a boss trying to keep so many different personalities and opinions and cultures and values and keep those cogs turning every single day Like it's a hard job to keep keep the peace between a lot of different people.

Speaker 2: 46:08

Yeah, we're amazing how these builders have been kind of roles and models when they need to win. It's hard to pluck out another kind of industry that's so many times down.

Speaker 1: 46:28

Yeah, there's just so many, I don't know. Everyone would have heard me explain it. It's not like you're going and you're sitting in your own cubicle every day, Like you're in a company that's got 10 or 100 employees, Like you're physically working, like side by side help. Like you have to help each other, whether it's lifting something or one person's marking and one's cutting. Like you're always working as a team and it's hard to keep that team on top every single day.

Speaker 2: 46:57

Yeah, and as you said, with the personalities and cultures some people might be, they're not used to working with other people, they might not have done team sports, all those kinds of things come into building that kind of attitude and personality and if that's not going to work in your business, you probably need to identify that pretty quickly, because if you're very quantitative to get someone that's quite independent. As worked previously an independent person, you might probably want to work in that.

Speaker 1: 47:29

Yeah, I think it's funny. It's a reflection of, I guess, ourselves, because my core team seemed to be very quiet. Like most people would notice, like none of our team members tag or share our stuff, like we very rarely have them in our videos because we respect Like they're just they're laid back guys and they don't want to put themselves out there. And then when you do get like which we've had recently like you do get a team member come in that's really like up front and thinks they know everything and tries to sort of take over a bit, that upsets the Apple cart. And it's hard when you've got different, those different types of people trying to blend in with each other. So it's just something you got to as a boss, you got in the industry, you got to be working on every single day, like I'm taking a bit of one on one time with each other and seeing what's going on.

Speaker 2: 48:19

Yeah, and I think that helps being a small crew. But if you are able to jump into the trenches with your team from time to time and really do connect, see how the later the land is working. There's nothing kind of worse than a disconnected kind of business person. You really have to take time to do some hours with you guys and see everything works out, really communicate with them.

Speaker 3: 48:42

And so we're, yeah, we're the best.

Speaker 2: 48:46

But we're also having a responsibility to you guys to feel that you're getting job status.

Speaker 1: 48:53

Yeah, and I think that's something with us getting involved.

Speaker 1: 48:56

Yeah, I think team building is really important. We do a yearly work trip. We've actually recently had ours and we've done them for about 14 or 15 years now and for me the biggest thing is sitting back and like just seeing how the team work with each other and like right at the last couple of months we had a few difficult employees early in the year, but the last couple of months, like the, you can tell when the team's on fire because they get through so much, like we've only got a small team, but when they're on fire and every all the pistons are working they just smash out the work and like taking them away for a few days. It's very like. I love sitting back and just seeing how everyone gels with each other and like not expecting me to do all the cooking and the washing up and everything and who jumps in and helps out and all that type of thing.

Speaker 1: 49:42

And like over the years I remember a few probably a long time ago, four or five years ago now, we had this guy on our crew.

Speaker 1: 49:49

That was the first year he'd been on the trip and he just did nothing Like for the whole five days and like just sat back, like as soon as everything was cooked he'd jump in and then he'd wander off or go to the shower, whatever.

Speaker 1: 50:01

Everyone else cleaned up and it wasn't just me that picked up, like the whole team picked up on it and like he only lasted a few weeks after we got back. But it's like I think as business owners you need to do those sorts of things because when you get people out of the, away from the job site, you actually get to see what they really like and how they interact with each other. And on this recent trip it was really good, because one thing that shits me more than anything is turning up to site and smoke going things and everybody's just on their phone just flicking, Like. And it was really good to see on this trip recently like everyone like they'll bloody hitting golf balls and they were kicking footies and everyone was helping cook and clean up and like it's just for me as a boss I get so much out of that.

Speaker 2: 50:43

Yeah, that's incredible.

Speaker 1: 50:45

Yeah, no, if you haven't done work trips, you need to do them.

Speaker 2: 50:48

Yeah, right, so do you set that up as quite an interactive, you know, or do you? Is it just kind of a laid back situation, like how do you set that up?

Speaker 1: 50:56

Well, we've, like I said, we've done it for a very long time now. I I never had anything like this with it anywhere. I ever worked and we just start. The first time we did it was back when I had a heap of carpenters and obviously I've grown up a lot and changed, had a lot of growth and things, and it's been really funny seeing the growth over the years. So I should be long on that. It's probably 15, it's probably about 18 years since we did our first one and back then I was a lot younger. We had a very young team, a large team like 40 plus carpenters and made it was just a massive piss up. Like I remember one year we took over, like to combine, we had over a full pallet of piss like there was 44 odd cartons or something for a long weekend. And it's funny how it's changed because back then that's all it was. It was a break from work and everyone just took advantage of me as a boss and they just drank as much as they could, ate as much as they could and wrote themselves off for a few days and it's been really good Like I get a lot looking back at that and just seeing how far I've grown as well.

Speaker 1: 51:59

So, like now, our work trip. So we do it every August. So up here in Brisbane we have the, the Royal Echo holiday, so you've only got to have two days off work and we get a five day holiday. So we leave on the Wednesday and so every year it's something different. So we've done charter boats, we've done we've done quite a bit of camping, we've stayed in hotels, we've done all sorts of things. But it's generally based around outdoor activities, because that's what most of my team are into for driving, going to the beach, fishing, those types of things. But for the last, probably good five or six years, they are just a really relaxing, connecting trip. Now, like we uh, I send a message out like months in advance. So we I don't just take my core team, I generally put it out to my contractors as well. So and it rained Some years we have, we might just have our own team, like six to ten or eight to ten guys, and then other years if contractors and that come like we've had as many as I think one year we had 36 guys Because our plumbers sparkies, all these different people come, but it's just so much more chilled. Now, like we've got to, you can see the team and how they interact and like everyone gets in and helps out. But I basically put it out to them and say, hey, what do you want to do? And they give me a few options and it can rain from. We've done. I think we've been to Fraser Island about nine or ten times. Everyone loves Fraser Island, but, mate, it's just a. It's just a good team building exercise.

Speaker 1: 53:28

Like to spend a bit of time away from work, chill out, listen to some tunes, have a few beers, tell some stories, and then people generally split up into their own things, like the one we just went on, like some of the boys mad fishermen, they just went and fished all day and mud craven, and other guys went and had games of golf, like, and. But we all come back, we all over night we sit around the fire, we have a few drinks, we crank the tunes, we have a sing-along and it's good times. But yeah, I'd recommend it to any, any business. I think that it's not for everyone, but you really, like my team gets so much out of it. Like you can see how they connect and how they talk to each other and when you come back after those trips, the morale and the work that gets done is always always high. But I think it's like I've seen it over the years. So I've got a few other builders now that come.

Speaker 1: 54:23

Good mate of mine, justin from Abode, like he's been with us for he's probably come along the last six or so years. But it's funny because when when you do your first one, it's the same as what I was saying back when we did our first ones. Like when you do it the first time, if your team aren't really sure what's going on, they just they just see it as a chance to drink as much as they can, eat as much as they can. So it does take a couple of years to sort of get that I guess, rhythm. That it's not about just having a big piss up, it's about connecting, it's about chilling out, it's about talking about family sports, like a couple of the guys this year, like playing games around the fire, like name and bloody songs and all sorts of things.

Speaker 1: 55:08

Like it's just and for me, it's really good to see people connecting through similar interests, because then when you get back to work, they've got other things to talk about, totally, and work is going to be quite full on, like we are in an industry where it's you know, concentration has to be high the intensity there.

Speaker 2: 55:27

Sometimes you just want to get some food in you and keep working because it kind of feels quick and fast-paced, but it's awesome to be able to actually force the break and be like no, let's chill out, let's really have a discussion with one another, which is part of why you can get away and you know we'll go down in part.

Speaker 3: 55:45

But it sounds like a not-working breach.

Speaker 2: 55:48

almost A great idea. I love it.

Speaker 1: 55:51

Yeah, so it's and like so we cover all the costs, like the boys don't have to put their hand in the pocket, like we cover everything for the weekend. And yeah, like I said, it's really changed. It's gone from, yeah, that free piss sort of weekend to now they just really appreciate it, like and it does, it really helps with the teamwork. But one of the other things I wanted to get on to and talk about today like I was going to ask you and you sort of sent it through as well, but like talking about how is the community of builders broken through, keeping trade secrets and being able to lift one another up, because this is a big one for me.

Speaker 1: 56:23

You've obviously heard me talk about the stories back in the day when I was starting and like trying to ask for help and Bill's just say fuck mate, it's the industry hard enough, like deal with it, whereas I think it's like there's so many of us now putting ourselves out there on social media openly talking about what we do. Obviously, I'm super passionate about creating a new industry by through education, like through builders, personal growth and things, but it's obviously something you're very passionate as well as well. You're not, you're quite happy to put all your trade secrets out there and all your colour coding and your sites. I think it's fantastic Like you're inspiring people.

Speaker 2: 57:03

Yeah, and that only came from the inspired one, like other people inspired me and it's kind of on the fire to inspire others, I think.

Speaker 1: 57:13

And I think if we all continue to do that, it's our clients are going to benefit 100%.

Speaker 2: 57:19

I mean, there really is a lot of premise for rising tide in this all, but it's as simple as that.

Speaker 2: 57:28

I've learned so much from other builders so I consider them friends, best friends. The ability to you know, obviously to a close builder friend just to try and jump on a podcast he was, he wasn't his happiest Shout out to Brad he wasn't his happiest, but like it's important to be able to call the phone and be able to vent about a shit situation that happened, someone that really can't play Like. So good to be to have that pair of ears.

Speaker 2: 58:04

I couldn't imagine being in a industry where you couldn't call what you might have been recommended and discover something you know. A winner or a loss, I've got a friend who's in the EO and school business. You know, pretty competitive and it's just that it does work. There's no love line between another. You know people block each other on social media Tides stories and like that's crazy. Like I could lead like a competitor down the road. It's amazing how it works. I don't know if I'm in a different level here, but the community of all builders is so good to be.

Speaker 2: 58:50

And a big part of it was the Builders Breakfast. U of T up, which was National Line, we wouldn't have had that kind of content with you and all of my friends that I've met through the assistance.

Speaker 1: 59:05

Yeah, the Builders breakfast really took off quickly and then, obviously, covid hit and sort of spent her in the works. But, like, yeah, we've still got our grit going up here in Brisbane. I see, just recently down there, beck Bishops got it going again down in Melbourne. So, and actually I think Hamish and a couple of boys are catching up regularly as well. So it's better for all of us, like, why sit back and, I guess, deal with the struggles and the business pains and the difficult industry when you can share it with all your colleagues and improve together? Like, and that's the whole thing behind Live Like, build, like, live Like Build is just an incredible community of Builders that talk and share information. But like, you see the people on Instagram now, like I'm sure you've fallen, like the Neto Boys and Sean, like the Tuzzy Builders blog, like there's so many guys out there now that are just putting themselves out there and doing a really good job of educating people.

Speaker 2: 1:00:04

Yeah, and educating, and sorry, that's probably one of the big pushes of really sharing all these ideas and mentality and tricks. You inspire other people to push it down, you know. And that's where things work.

Speaker 1: 1:00:20

That's where diamonds and yeah, I like that. And then you, because you're pretty big on getting out of your comfort zone.

Speaker 2: 1:00:27

Yes, very big. Yeah, Probably our taking on full on. You know, almost not intimidating projects you know something that might, you think, might be a bit beyond new. Whether that be, you know I've got a bit of a mentality. You know, we've only kind of been around for three years, and should I be?

Speaker 2: 1:00:47

taking on this and like, yeah, what do you have to fucking to be taking on this? Like let's keep it a crack. Let's try ourselves as a deep end, do as much as we can to set ourselves up for a success and believe in it, you know, and if the failure along the way, that's an awesome way to learn, in my opinion.

Speaker 1: 1:01:06

Well, mate, I I've just talked to Shay about this today Like I believe my success and where I am right now is because I started accepting failure. Like I used my failure to as a superpower. Like every time you have something go wrong or not quite right, like you just got to look at it Like why did that happen, what do I need to do to not make it happen again, and you just use it for growth, like instead of dwelling on it.

Speaker 2: 1:01:32

Yeah, actually at the end of the job, once we're done a handover, we actually what's called we perform an autopsy, but on the project we actually pluck out our successes, we make a list with the losses why we won and why did we lose and then we kind of break down a few prep points on that and then begin implementing things for that next project.

Speaker 1: 1:01:56

So is that something you do or your whole team does, Whole?

Speaker 2: 1:01:58

team.

Speaker 1: 1:02:00

Yeah, yeah, I think that's fantastic, mate. We recently did this on that CRT house. We finished in one of our guys, like he was. We knew he was under a lot of pressure with the whole job and, yeah, by doing that I like the word autopsy, like he just used Like he told us like we put too much pressure on him, like, and so, yeah, we've put things in place to help deal with that on the next job. But I think that's a really, really good sign of your leadership that you're getting your team to do those autopsies at the end of the job, because it makes them feel like they're part of something, doesn't it?

Speaker 2: 1:02:33

Yeah, and they're. You know they're valuable. Their word is about little jobs. You can't be across everything yeah. As much as we try to be, but that might take things that we could adjust in their opinion co-valuable yeah. As subbies as well. Why didn't that go?

Speaker 1: 1:02:49

well, let's have a chat, you know, yeah, so are you big on your offsite systems and processes? Mate, like, how does that all work, that no, yeah, very big on it.

Speaker 2: 1:03:03

There's always room to improve, though, and I wish I had, you know, a month or two to really kind of refine all that stuff. But I think a big part of our offsite processes cost proposal system is one of our most important tools. We've really put a lot of effort into refining that system, that document, and how we work through our primary process. We just build that. That's how to win project.

Speaker 1: 1:03:31

We need to get on Quattis, mate, It'll help you out. Yeah, yeah, it is like I'm the whole reason we did Quattis. I believe that proposal document is the most important. It's more important than the contract.

Speaker 2: 1:03:44

Yeah, I agree, we reference it all the time when, through a build, post-build, all that stuff, it is so valuable more information you can put in that and the more transparent you can be. I feel as though it just makes the whole process so much better. You know our documents. They're not four pages, they're going to last for about 30, eight pages. There's a lot of info but you can sit down and go through with the clients. It makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 2: 1:04:13

They feel a lot more comfortable about jumping into the build, which is awesome. So they're almost how it tastes with the site.

Speaker 1: 1:04:22

Well, it makes the whole job so much easier. Like, it's really easy. Like, this is what you're getting. Here's the scope of works, here's the product. Like, if there is any questions, like you, just well, this is what we had, this is what we got. Like it solves so many issues. But, mate, what's next for Nook? Like, what's the goal of? Like, all the social media you put out there, all these color-coding. Like, what's the ultimate for Nook?

Speaker 2: 1:04:43

Cool, the ultimate. The idea behind Nook is you know where it works, the idea of when you think about it. Nook, it's a small little boutique. That's quite exciting. It's quite eye-catching. We want to remain that small kind of eye-catching business, essentially yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:05:05

So we want to remain around that. You know, three, four, five project maximum. I still want to be on site with my guys, while also working with clients new, old and I feel as though that's where our market is and I think that's where I'm passionate. But as far as, like, moving forward, I think where the industry is moving is where I'm passionate as well. You know we're looking for, you know, sustainable, we're looking at a passage house that's really going to unfold into high-adaptation and that really juts it, and, yeah, that's where I want to go into. Obviously, the clients have a picking up in that kind of realm, so, yeah, it's pretty exciting.

Speaker 1: 1:05:54

I love it, mate, I love it. Just a couple of quick things before we go, mate. What do you do to get out? Like, obviously buildings can be a pretty stressful thing. Like you touched on before, you really love your camping and stuff Like what's your breakaway, my breakaway?

Speaker 2: 1:06:08

I literally got back from a tiny little island in the Pacific, literally like between North America and Australia. Ten days of tropical fly fishing.

Speaker 1: 1:06:20

Oh right.

Speaker 2: 1:06:21

Incredible.

Speaker 1: 1:06:24

What's tropical fly fishing? I assume it's the same, but it's Like is it in streams? Is it on the ocean?

Speaker 2: 1:06:30

No, it's right on the equator, Not a cloud in the sky. We are targeting some pretty amazing species and you know, it's really like one of the most unons of the equator. But the idea was, you know, get away from the phone, no emails, full disconnection, which I actually haven't properly done in the past three years being able to. I've always probably been calling the board to have that connect and the finger on the pulse, but how refreshing to get away and not think about work which hasn't happened in probably that three years right, that's quite embarrassing, so, but I think a lot of people probably have the same boat.

Speaker 1: 1:07:13

That's fantastic. So was that a family thing, or just you and the mates, or?

Speaker 2: 1:07:17

Just you, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:07:20

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:07:20

That was good so.

Speaker 1: 1:07:23

Now it seems to be a common theme for our traders and builders, that's our breakaways either the sand or the bush, or getting out in the beach, or the boat, or the full drive, so good on you.

Speaker 2: 1:07:32

Yeah, I also. You'll find me in some high-end restaurant around Melbourne. So I'm in massive security, wake up. So yeah, a lot of the art guys, a lot of the subbies give me a lot of shit for that. You know, which is nice, like when we do our cookups on site, it's not saucer-draled, it's usually some ridiculously ridiculous art Little piece of chicken or something.

Speaker 1: 1:07:58

So you're a bit of a cook yourself.

Speaker 2: 1:07:59

Yeah, I am. Yeah, I'm sure it's by Bunga, so yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:08:05

That's awesome. So do you Like? This ties back to what we almost started with Like do you bring that to your jobs or do you connect with clients because you're passionate about cooking?

Speaker 2: 1:08:14

Oh, when it comes to, you know, discussions about kitchens, I am. It's ridiculous.

Speaker 3: 1:08:21

Like.

Speaker 2: 1:08:22

I, especially with one of our previous jobs that we finished at the start of the year, I think, when we were going through our conversation with you, my, I had built this range hood and I put so much effort into making this thing silent at the most powerful year that I could. So then I literally cook a steak in the middle of it, you know, firing on all cylinders, cook it fast, but also with salt and no smoke. So that's something that's, you know, quite indulging massively, and I love the idea of being able to cook a steak inside and being able to set that up for a client. This is what we need to do if things happen, and they're just all written on it. They love cooking as well, that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:09:07

And when we handed over.

Speaker 2: 1:09:08

We sent you a video of that steak cooking and it was just clear no noise. It was just the best feeling. It was like every bit of work you put into it was 100%. That that is an awesome story.

Speaker 1: 1:09:21

I think that needs to tie into your mission and vision statement as well.

Speaker 2: 1:09:25

That's a good one actually.

Speaker 1: 1:09:27

But, mate, look, thanks for taking the time out this afternoon. I really appreciate it and keep up the great work I love. So, just before we go, where can everyone find you? Instagram, youtube, social media yeah, we mainly do social media.

Speaker 2: 1:09:40

on Instagram, we mainly do stories. So you're there for hours to contact us.

Speaker 3: 1:09:48

We do a little bit of storyboard stuff.

Speaker 2: 1:09:49

But if you've got any questions, like I've got guys reaching out and having a chance to hear I remember this story that you put up what was the kind of process? More than happy to have a phone call. Yeah, here to help, but yeah, mainly Instagram. We've got our website with all that fish mission projects. We don't really do the flashing stuff on our Instagram. We try to be a bit early in the detail of our experience.

Speaker 1: 1:10:17

No, mate, I love it. Well, like I said, I appreciate you coming on this afternoon. Keep doing great work, mate. And I'm just going to throw a challenge out there to everyone, before we go today, to tag Nook and Dwayne Pears to show us your organised, collocated job sites, and I'll have people who will follow. Cheers mate.

Speaker 3: 1:10:37

Are you ready to build smarter, live better and enjoy life? Then head on to livelightbuildcom forward, slash, elevate to get started. Everything discussed during the Level Up podcast with me, Dwayne Pears, is based solely on my own personal experiences and those experiences of my guests. The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. We recommend that you attain your own professional advice and respect to the topics discussed during this podcast.