Are you tired of spinning your wheels in the business world? Looking for a fresh take on branding, personal strengths, and fostering a healthy work culture within your team? Brace yourself for a truly enlightening episode packed with invaluable insights from our special guest, Josh from New Age Electrical. Join us as we journey through his quest to build a powerful brand and utilize social media effectively in today's evolving digital landscape. We'll unravel the secrets behind Josh's success and his unique strategies for engaging clients and attracting quality employees.
Josh's personal journey of transformation is sure to inspire anyone who's ever felt like they don't fit the mold. From turning ADHD into a superpower, to confronting the struggles of the traditional school system, we lay it all bare. We'll talk about the significance of rediscovering passion, the impact of fatherhood on career drive, and the importance of harnessing personal strengths. Add in discussions about balancing work, family, and relationships, and you get a holistic view of success beyond just business.
But it doesn't stop there! We also shed light on frank conversations about the importance of company culture, the challenges of pricing and quoting in a competitive market, and the role of administrative staff in increasing productivity in the construction industry. We also discuss the value of effective communication in successful projects and the importance of staying updated with industry codes and regulations. There’s a ton of valuable insights to glean from this episode. So, ready to level up your business game? Join us on this thrilling journey of discovery and growth!
check out New Age Electrical here...
www.newageelectricalco.com.au
We're on a mission to elevate the professionalism of the residential construction industry, and help everyone enjoy building and renovating homes.
Easy to use Quoting software for Builders. Produce professional and accurate proposals. Quickly and accurately measure and markup plans in minutes. Win more jobs and track costs. 21 Day Free Trial.
check out more podcasts here...
https://levelupwithduaynepearce.buzzsprout.com
Are you tired of spinning your wheels in the business world? Looking for a fresh take on branding, personal strengths, and fostering a healthy work culture within your team? Brace yourself for a truly enlightening episode packed with invaluable insights from our special guest, Josh from New Age Electrical. Join us as we journey through his quest to build a powerful brand and utilize social media effectively in today's evolving digital landscape. We'll unravel the secrets behind Josh's success and his unique strategies for engaging clients and attracting quality employees.
Josh's personal journey of transformation is sure to inspire anyone who's ever felt like they don't fit the mold. From turning ADHD into a superpower, to confronting the struggles of the traditional school system, we lay it all bare. We'll talk about the significance of rediscovering passion, the impact of fatherhood on career drive, and the importance of harnessing personal strengths. Add in discussions about balancing work, family, and relationships, and you get a holistic view of success beyond just business.
But it doesn't stop there! We also shed light on frank conversations about the importance of company culture, the challenges of pricing and quoting in a competitive market, and the role of administrative staff in increasing productivity in the construction industry. We also discuss the value of effective communication in successful projects and the importance of staying updated with industry codes and regulations. There’s a ton of valuable insights to glean from this episode. So, ready to level up your business game? Join us on this thrilling journey of discovery and growth!
check out New Age Electrical here...
www.newageelectricalco.com.au
We're on a mission to elevate the professionalism of the residential construction industry, and help everyone enjoy building and renovating homes.
Easy to use Quoting software for Builders. Produce professional and accurate proposals. Quickly and accurately measure and markup plans in minutes. Win more jobs and track costs. 21 Day Free Trial.
check out more podcasts here...
https://levelupwithduaynepearce.buzzsprout.com
No one deserves to go to work, and I know what I was saying, how I was treated when I was apprentice. I don't want other people to be treated like that. Everyone should be treated right and they should have the chance to be taught well and be taught safely and the right thing.
Speaker 2:G'day guys. Welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are back in the shed this afternoon for another cracking episode. You'll have to bear with us. We do have a thunderstorm going over, so it's bloody, thundering and raining and shit on the old tin shed. Anyway, we'll get through it. Today is going to be a cracker. We've already been having a really good conversation, super pumped to hear where this guy is going with his career. But basically he's on a similar mission to I am and he wants to completely change and upgrade the electrical side of the building industry. So massive warm shout out to Josh from New Age Electrical mate. How are you? I'm going really well, mate. Thanks for having me. Mate, hats off to you. You just bloody followed this storm all the way out of the coast. What did it take you? Like four hours to get here.
Speaker 1:I dragged it with me the whole way. Sorry about that.
Speaker 2:I've got lots to talk about. I'm keen to know about. You're into your saunas, your ice baths. You're surfing, you're in this Boatie Boys group down where you are. You won awards. But I'm super keen to deep dive into your industry, or into your business. You're only a young fella and what have you grown from two tradesmen to over 20 employees in the last four years? You're probably one of the biggest electricians in your area, aren't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're trying to just keep moving forward and stay relevant and, you know, to stay on top of it. We want to be the forefront of where we are and make sure we're always doing something new. We always want to be in the front of people's minds and that's why we've kind of built a brand and, yeah, that's what we're trying to push here.
Speaker 2:Brands are important, isn't it? So many people overlook the power of their brand and these days, personal brands, it's a big part of business.
Speaker 1:I guess when you look at Instagram, you're putting your whole brand out there and everything you do and you can put all your work out there and you're putting it out there for the world to see. So creating a brand around that I don't see it any dissimilar from creating a clothing brand. At the end of the day, you want to get people involved and people to follow along, then create a brand. That's the best way to do it and I think we've done that from day one Creating a good logo that stands out and just updating Instagram with everything we're doing, and I think it's worked for us. So definitely something that needs to be done for anyone starting a business, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:And anyone with a business. It's putting you out there, your beliefs, your cultures, all those things like your work, your team, all your interactions with your clients, the work you do. So your brand is ultimately what's going to attract you. The right type of clients, the right type of employees, the right type of suppliers, all those types of things.
Speaker 1:Well, it's what sets you apart as well. So in our area there's a hundred electricians. Why are you going to choose us? If I don't have an Instagram and I don't have something that stands out or I'm not using Instagram, how do you know who I am or what we do? The times have changed. From word of mouth is so good, but the times have changed from that where it's like, especially where we live in Byron, there's so many people coming, like developers and builders from here or Melbourne and Sydney come into the area that they don't know the local trades to get any feedback from other people or people there. So what do they do? They're going to jump on Google, they're going to jump on Instagram, they're going to be searching local electrician. And then we've built our website to make sure I know it's the best in the area Without pumping our ties up. I know it's good. I've pumped so much time and effort into that, working real hard to make it look sick. It's got videos on there. It looks really good. That's the first impression of our business.
Speaker 2:It's not only. I think it's more than that. You can tell how passionate you are. You can hear it in your voice. You can see it in how excited you are sitting in the chair there. It does so much. You'll be inspiring other electricians around Australia, around the world, that come across your page, see what you do, see how you put it out there, see how you look after your team all those types of things. So the power of it is enormous and I think so many people don't realise the power of it. I know myself. I avoided social media for so long when it first came out. I just harness it with both hands now. It's incredibly powerful and it's the main reason why all of my businesses are the way they are and as successful as they are.
Speaker 1:I reach out to you, find you. It branches out in different avenues to find different things.
Speaker 1:That's it. If you don't do it, it's almost that thing. You're going to get left behind. I know there's some guys that there's some older builders we work for that haven't really branched into that, and then the industry has changed so much, especially where we are. There's all these young guys coming up and they're getting all this crazy architectural work and I know the older builders are going. They're the fuck, are they getting that? Yeah, these guys are getting it, but they're prevalent, they're relevant, they're prevalent. They're in people's faces. They're probably going out of their way to chase that work and that's why they're getting it.
Speaker 2:People can see you, people can see what you do. I like to say it all the time. I think social media is a new word of mouth. Word of mouth is obviously the best type of work and people are still going to be referred to you, but my personal opinion is the number one thing people will do when they hear about you is go and see if you've got an Instagram account and if you don't have an Instagram account where they can't look at photos and things like what else are they going to see for you?
Speaker 2:And 9 times out of 10, if you haven't got an Instagram account, you've probably got a 20 year old shit website. So how are people going to know about you, what you do?
Speaker 1:the quality of your work. Well, I think it shows how passionate you are as well. If you've got a good website and a good Instagram that puts all your work out there, it shows that you care about the work you're doing and that you know what you're doing as well.
Speaker 1:Because you know you could hire an electrician. And you look on their Instagram and there's nothing on there or their website generic photos and you're going I want to do this amazing architectural build. How do you know that guy can do it? Because not everyone. Just because you're an electrician doesn't mean you can do the right work that everyone else you know that you want done Doesn't mean they can do it just because they're an electrician. So that's where it's going to make those people, like especially designers say, designers are going to be looking at our page and the house that we put up, the architectural houses, all that sort of stuff, and they're going to go. Well, you should be using these guys because they've already done it. But the other guy, you go oh, we want to use this guy. He's our local electrician. Has he done this sort of stuff before? Like, I don't know, because I can't see his photos or anything like that.
Speaker 2:So, mate, you're obviously very passionate. What's driving this passion?
Speaker 1:I was saying for, like having a family started my whole thing of running my own business because I needed to, it came down to me needing to make money. I needed, like I need, more money. I need to make money. I need to raise my family. I want to give them the best of everything and I'm one of those people definitely got ADHD. I go all in on everything I do and I bounce around between things. I can have 100 things going on, but when I focus on one thing it's like laser beam focus, like I'll make sure that works. Have you been diagnosed?
Speaker 2:No, I don't want to either. I don't want to either, but I don't know if you heard one of our recent podcasts. Oh, I did, yeah, yeah, and we talked about dyslexia and ADHD, and I believe it's a superpower. You harness it and you run with it.
Speaker 1:I can't write shit, I can't spell. Every time I put up an Instagram post because I do all the social media and stuff, one of the guys that works for me messes me. You guys, you spell that wrong. I check it. I look through it. Three times and I'm like that's sweet, I'm gonna post it. And you guys, mate, you spell that wrong. I get my wife my accounts manager, a business partner.
Speaker 2:I get people all the time. I can't send an email.
Speaker 1:I've got to get the girls in the office to check my emails before I send them and even though it's got the red lines out, I can't figure out where to put commas and stuff. But I think once I had that focus on the business, it's like there's no stopping me. You ask my business partner. He says the same thing he said to people like mate, it's good, I'll just let him go and he'll just. When I focus on something and I've got an idea in my head, I'm gonna run with it.
Speaker 2:I think we've changed topics, but I think this is important conversation because so many people and this you probably were the same like at school, you feel like a bit of a drop kick. You're not getting your A's and B's and.
Speaker 2:C's, you're not fitting in with it. You're not. The teachers aren't putting you in the smart groups or all these types of shit, and you feel like you're always a bit behind or you don't understand what's getting discussed, or. But everybody has a superpower, you've just got to find it. And school is so shit because it's not one size. Well, school is one size fits all and we're not all the same.
Speaker 1:Well, they don't help you harness those powers, do they? Yeah, like if, say, they say someone picked up on it, a teacher goes mate, this kid, you know, probably has got this focus. But it's like I used to sit there and I used to draw Every book I had. I loved drawing. I still draw tattoos and paint, tattoo work, flash and stuff like that. So I just sit there and just draw the whole time. So all I wanted to do was draw.
Speaker 1:I just wouldn't listen and I'm just drawing, drawing, drawing. I didn't do my exams or anything like that, and I think.
Speaker 2:You know the studies that have said or proven that some of the smartest people in the world are the ones that sit there and squiggle and draw all the time. I still do it.
Speaker 1:I've got like I've just anything that's in front of me, I'm just drawing. I just can't stop drawing little doodles and cartoons and characters. You look at any book I've got. It's just covered in, covered in shit all over it.
Speaker 2:But it just I think it's an important conversation because I know like I was actually talking to. I had a phone call the other day from a father of one of the people that we've got in our LiveLockBuild coaching program and he was telling me how LiveLockBuild has just been a saviour for his son and he really hopes he takes it to the next level and joins our Elevate program. And he was telling me like he's like oh, I listened to your podcast with Adrian and it just it resonated so much. So my son at school felt like he was. He was no good at anything, he never got accepted into doing things. He always got bad grades. But he's become an incredible builder. But it took him a long time to get over and I know it did for myself as well. Like getting over that. I guess mindset that you're not good enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and finding where you do fit in and then harnessing that and running with it. I think that's like because I didn't know either. I was so lost like out of school I didn't know what I wanted to do. Did you finish school? I finished year 12 and then I got to year 12, I was actually I was studying. I think it progressively got worse for me. I lost interest. I was studying legal studies and I did a lot of media and art and then I got told by my lea because I don't know if I was saying I did in Victoria. It's like when you do your exams, someone in the class is shit. It brings the grades down of the whole class. She told me not to do my law exam because I'm going to drag everyone's grades down.
Speaker 2:So that's just that's terrible.
Speaker 1:I was straight up getting told that. So I was like okay, and then I knew I didn't want to go to uni because I just wanted to get out of school. And then I hated English, couldn't write. I hated trying to write essays. Then the art stuff, which I loved you had to write essays about what I drew. I just fucking drew a picture.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it means I just drew it. I don't know, I'm trying to. Can you write 500 words about it? No, so then I failed that as well. So it's like the thing I love just got taken away from me because I just want to sit there and draw pictures and paint cartoons. That's all I wanted to do. The typical. And then I had to write a fucking story about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's typical, like the standard way our world works. Try like puts people like us in a box, yeah, and like they keep pushing this bloody like go to uni and do all this sort of stuff like that. I was actually listening to a podcast the other day I can't remember it was a real Bradley or Grant Cardone or someone and I was talking about how one of the biggest rorts in America is the college scheme and so people go to college because over there it's just pretty much forced into you.
Speaker 1:It's just standard. When you go to school. You go to college. It's like part of growing up.
Speaker 2:They'll say the number one subject or diploma or whatever they call it that year is English. I think it was Bradley and he's like I just say to people when they tell me, like I asked him, what language do you speak, and they say English, I'm like what the fuck are you going to college? What more can you need to know? Yeah, and they're like what? It's just an absolute rule. All this money. And then you've got these student loans that you're paying off for years.
Speaker 1:It's like a scam. It's just saying when you sit back and think about it all, and it's like I feel the other thing I know around the world it's different, but I feel like tradies here probably are probably more on more of a pedestal than ours, and well, but in American stuff it's kind of like seen as lower class, yeah, and then here I think it's changing. Like you know, the tradies, the ones driving the good cars, they got the big houses. Like my mates that went to uni, I'm probably making more money than them, like I don't know. It's like it's no, there's no direction for that, though, when you're in school and that that's another thing that I do want to try and push is trying to get some talking into schools, and you know what, doing this is a viable career and like, especially, we've got a female apprentice. I want to try and, you know, do some stuff with her, bring her into schools and maybe Especially locally, like we're looking for kids that want to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so me going to local schools and talking to them might mean I get an apprentice out of it, I don't know. But like finding people that are keen and want to do that, I just don't think you have those people. No one guiding you as that's the viable option. It's like you go do your exams and then go to uni and become a doctor.
Speaker 2:It's like so how did you so? How did you fall into electrical I?
Speaker 1:kind of had it in my life so first time. So my mom was working for a big company as Office admin in in Melbourne for nilson, and so she was working in the in the office there. I Did my year-time work experience with them and they had the contract for the MCG. So I went there and did a week at the MCG, just changing like lives and doing maintenance stuff, loved it. Yeah, this is pretty cool, like working at the MCG. It's like pretty Pretty different, yeah. And then I finished school and I go, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna, I'm gonna go do the search to for electrical. She's still work there. So I got one day a week whilst I was doing the search to at the same company.
Speaker 1:I then my stepdad's also sparky, my step-brother, my step-sister and Step cousin on that side of family are all sparkies, yeah. So I kind of had a bit of. He's a TAFE teacher as well, so kind of had that um, you know a bit of oversight of what it would be like as well. And then I I actually went and did a snow season after I'd finished that Course. I busted my knee, I Disiccated my knee and I had a phone call from one of the guys from that Firm and he said, mate, we want to take you on as an apprentice, ended up Saying no. And then I had a thought about it's like, alright, I'm gonna do it. So I went and did it and then I just did my whole apprenticeship there. I ended up hating it. About three years in I lost a passion for it. So I was, I loved it and I ended up working on a site with a guy that was just a shit bloke and he just Put me through depression and I hate it like I've fully hated going to work every day.
Speaker 1:I've Dispised a common story and I, yeah, so I had my mom working in the office and he was saying like Sexual harassment stuff to her and to me about her. So it was pretty bad and I was young and I just, you know, I didn't know what to do about it and I was kind of like, this bloke's pretty big, I just punch this bloke.
Speaker 2:I don't know how to go about it.
Speaker 1:It's the only thing I could think as I went to a super fire and said man, I can't work on this side anymore. We're working at like a oil refinery. It was like a full safety Place and it was shit work and he just belittled me the whole time. I did. I did paperwork for six months just filling out like going up to little things and writing down all the specs off them, and I was. I can't do this like. This is not what I wanted to do. I spoke to a supervisor and he ended up put me somewhere else for a bit but then I ended up back there because the guy kept requesting me. I don't know what. It was weird like he's he wanted. He reckons he was training me. I was. It was real shit situation. I Ended up saying I can't do it anymore, I'm leaving, and I I had I had three months off and my supervisor this is a big company, like 500 people and he goes.
Speaker 1:You take as much time as you need. I want, I really want you back here. Like he knew that I something was going on, like I'd lost a passion for it. I was good, but yeah, I kind of lost it all. So he let me have three months off and I went up to barn for Three months and lived with a mate in a van and I was like this is what I want to do on a be here, I love this. So I went back, finished my apprenticeship, build a van and then that's when I drove up, worked in a shop up here and I Wanted to be a spark again. I was like I'm never gonna do it again. I didn't think I was ever gonna do it again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't even have my license around. I just finished the finish the time and I was like no, I don't want to be a sparky, I'm done with it. And then met my missus and Found out we're having a kid after three months and go shit, I need to be a spark again so I can make some money. And that's why, actually, my business partner now is the guy who got me a job with a little local, local company in Ballina. So he sort of started my career as a sparky again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I knew nothing. I come from big commercial and they were just doing house fashion and a little bit of commercial stuff, but mostly houses. I didn't even know how to fit off a light switch. I was so like, I felt so lost, I didn't know anything and I just that's when that focus. I was like I'm gonna be good at this and I just went Turbo and I just like I went from not knowing anything to run in the biggest projects I had within like a year or two. Yeah, I'm being like one of the project managers there and that's where it all kind of stemmed from there. And then that's where I got hungry for it but it is it.
Speaker 2:It literally, is that simple, isn't it? Like? If you flick a switch and you become passionate and committed and Determined and you put in effort, it literally like shit can change that quickly, can't it? Yeah, well, obviously, like it did for you and Fatherhood fatherhood did that for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm yeah. I don't know if I went about it the right way After that, but I think yeah, I stayed there for a couple, a couple more years, and then One of the other guys there. We spoke about Starting a business together. That's where we came up with new age. We made a logo.
Speaker 1:He actually went and started doing it himself, first I, and then I was just helping them on the weekends and I was finding work on. I got this work Because I then I was doing stuff at nights and then I was doing on the weekends and then it wasn't till my second daughter was born. And that's when I was like, shit, now need more money. The guy I was on 30 bucks an hour or something and I asked him for a pay rise. He wouldn't give it to me. And then I said, well, I'm gonna go and work with Nick Like two days a week. That that can be my extra money. That's how I get my extra money and I'll subbie to you or buy a car subbie three days a week. It can be flexible. I can still run all your projects. I just need that extra bit of money. It's gonna be like an extra couple hundred bucks a week for me, that's gonna help me provide for my family. And he just goes mate, it's all or nothing with me, mate, so make you the decision.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's where I made the decision to jump out and we went gun-hard at New Age. Good on you. And what's that? Four years ago, four years, 2019? So it's literally. I put it down to the day my daughter was born. I took two weeks off, uh, for the maternity leave, and I worked. I worked every day. Yeah, I worked every day with New Age, um, starting that out. So I gave up a lot of time with my daughter, my second daughter, and I, yeah, I regret it a lot. I look back and I'm not Stoked of how I, how I did it, but I probably wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't do that. And I don't say I don't think that's the right way of going about it. Like I went, like I said, I focus in and my whole thing was the business. I put that above my family. 100 and I was so selfish.
Speaker 1:and then in my spare time I need to go surfing because I'm so stressed from work, and then I need to go fishing, I need to go do this stuff and I wasn't giving them my whole self, and I fully know that and did it affect the family life 100%, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:But my, my wife's amazing. Like she's so supportive and she Knows what I'm. Like she's she can see the goal and then like where I am now she's just sitting back, going, like we went from not being able to pay Rent each week and having to borrow money and now we've bought our own house, we've got nice cars, we've got everything we wanted and it's only growing and growing, and growing. So she's been there with me from the start and she's. Without her I wouldn't be able to. I've tried to get emotional and talk about, but like I wouldn't be where I am If I didn't have the support of her. Yeah, but yeah, I've definitely Put so much of my time with my second daughter On the sidelines and I missed that and my relationship with her shows that as well. Like it's not the same, I think.
Speaker 2:I might just listen to you talk. You're where you are because you like you can hear it in what you're just saying you took ownership and, like you, obviously reflect back on things. I think.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important to To reflect back on things. I do a lot of journaling and I write in my I got Diary journal that I write in every single day. I got one beside my bed that I write in a few times a week, like You're taking ownership for everything in your life and you're doing something about it. That's why you're where you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't. I don't dwell on the past, but it's like one of those things like you can never get time back. Like you know, you can make all the money in the world but you'll never, never recoup time. So I did, I lost time with her and our relationship kind of shows. But now I've had my, my son, which is my third child, and where I'm at with the business now Is like I can spend so much time at home now and it's good because I'm rebuilding their relationship.
Speaker 1:She's only four, so you know not, I couldn't have done that much damage. I just probably didn't change as many nappies as I should have. Might not be a bad thing, but, yeah, definitely, where I'm at now I've I've realized all that and, like you know, I selfish to my wife. She was not doing anything for herself and now I'm like I get home, she goes Pilates, I look after the kids, bathroom, feed and put in the bed, and like I've put a lot of my hobbies on the sidelines. At the moment I'm kind of going through a stage where, like at the moment, my biggest hobby is my business and I'll do, I'll stay back and do the podcast and I'll do all that stuff and it's all for the business. But then I can get home and give her her time and the family time and I can be present more. I'm not ducking off and going on doing hobbies every night or every morning and I'm more, more present with them.
Speaker 2:It's really important, isn't it Like it's a team effort, like? You you've got a, I'll put my hand out like I was bad at it for years. Like you, hit the nail on the head. Like you, you're so focused on work and busy and stressed.
Speaker 2:And then you, you think, if you've got spare time, that you should be doing Something that you want to be doing, but it actually comes back tenfold, like Working together with your wife helping out cooking dinner, like there's just little things, like we've got a little bit of a routine, like I make the bed pretty much every day. Like I tell my mates I make the bed like fuck off, what do you make the bed for?
Speaker 1:I try to do that, and then it gets remade because I don't make a good night.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes, but like you've got to, you've got to work together. Yeah the house. It's not the old school way where all the fucking house jobs are the wife's job and the husband Goes out and does his job all day.
Speaker 1:Like you, there's still a lot more that I need to work on and do around the house, and that it's just been having that conscious making those conscious decisions to help out wherever you can, you gotta be a team, and if you don't, I didn't realize that and I, my whole goal is like I'm doing the work, you look after the kids, I'm gonna make us money and that's my goal. I'm just gonna do that. I'm just gonna be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm gonna do all this. You can just so. But she's got her own business, so she's a PT, she runs her own business, it's just going really good, so she's working as well plus doing that. So you know, it's like it wasn't fair.
Speaker 1:You know I was saying like I'm I'm the most important and I need on one time, but I wasn't given her, her, the time she needed as well. And yeah it definitely was notice, like I could notice it, and then now. But our relationship now and our family life now is so much better. It's so good.
Speaker 2:Oh mate, the flow and effect is massive, like with the home life and everything, when you, when you're on the same page.
Speaker 2:But like a big turning point with that for me was I think it was one of Jim Rome's books like that I think it might have been the best of Jim Rome, like he's the guy that has the um seven habits of highly successful people in all those books, but he talks about it, he tells his story about Like every now and then him and his wife they'd be on holiday or whatever and they'd have these massive barnies and it would take them to get to a point of having a massive barny to figure out what was working and what wasn't working for each other.
Speaker 2:And I think like something that's really helped with my other relationship with my wife is like figuring out who each other are and like what pisses each other off and what stresses each other out. I know that's been a massive one for my, for my wife, like if I'm putting too much pressure on her in the office to get shit done or or I'm not helping out enough around the house so she can get a pilates and Jim and the stuff she wants to do, like you've got to work together like, and set in a routine.
Speaker 1:Like I said, you just set aside your nights, you want to do it and I'll just make it work. I'll change work because I'd be like sometimes she'd be trying to book stuff in and I'm like, oh no, I'm gonna be working late now tonight, so then she'd miss it. And I'm like, no, those nights I'm home and I make sure that's like that just happens now, and then she's playing netball on the wagon. I'm home and like I'm I'm not doing it, like what you set it in, and because she'd be like, oh no, I'm not gonna do it, because you don't know when you're gonna be home from work, and I'm like just make routine, that's what I need.
Speaker 1:I need you to tell me you're scheduling in and you tell me when you're doing it, and I'll be there, and then that's the only way it's gonna work. Otherwise, I probably will be somewhere else because I'm Focusing on something else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's, that's what happens. But again it's figuring out Like you and your wife have done it me or wife have done it. Like you, you figure out what works for each other. Yeah, mate, I think that Definitely comes back to the ahd, like I have to have schedules, like, and it's still something that my wife and I butt heads on a little bit, like if it's not in the schedule and written down, it doesn't happen, it doesn't exist.
Speaker 2:Like all like you just said, I drift off and I'll end up over somewhere else doing something I really shouldn't be doing it.
Speaker 1:I do it all the time. I'm like we're going out, we've got to go do this, and I'm in the garden doing something like yeah, yeah, I'll be there. Like we're going in 10 minutes, like yeah, yeah, sweet, and then I've started another, completely another task. What are you doing? I just got to go to bunnings and get this. Like we're going out, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but, um, mate, I think it's fantastic and the the fact that you're You're reflecting on things and you take an ownership of stuff, like you could. You could see how emotional you were starting to get there, like, and I think, like you can see how excited you are for the future now, like if you've done what you've done in the last four years, imagine what the next four years are going to hold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's cool. That's what I think about. I'm like, right, I said so. I've built the business in four years and it's in a good place where I want to be, and I still don't know exactly where I want to go. I always had goals of being like the, the company that I did my apprenticeship with. You know I want to have 500 blokes one day. Maybe I want to do that, I don't know. I'm dealing with 20 blokes now. It gives me a headache. Say 500 might be a bit hard, but I've always got goals and I'm working towards.
Speaker 1:I don't think I can ever settle. I'll never settle, and you know, like I'll, I never feel like I'm good enough as well, and that's my other thing. Like I feel like I'm never happy with where the business is at and I always think like tomorrow's just going to crumble and that's what's always behind me. So when I'm, when I'm thinking about what I'm, you know, gaining more work and gaining more traction and building the business I'm always thinking, like you know, there's either someone behind me, coming up right next to me, or it's just going to crumble tomorrow. So that's what I got to keep going, and I think that's comes out the same thing you said like a superpower, because it's making me not stop and it's just helping grow the business. It's not going to come crumbling down, I know that, but that's just the kind of way my brain works and it makes me keep, keep, pushing with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but as long as, as long as you and I think you are like, as long as you're conscious that you do you do have to have that family time and that chill out, oh yeah 100% and that's the balance I found now.
Speaker 1:But the only way that's happened is from me and Jared, my business partner, moving people into roles within the business and putting new structures in place to make sure that the business always runs itself without us. So you know the stuff that I'm talking about and and is separate. You know it's building the business online or it's doing stuff that it's not really important but it's. You know it's still building the business and that's like my focus at the moment.
Speaker 2:So have you done coaching and stuff Like how did you know you needed to get structure and put people into positions? Because you went from like taking on another job, where you didn't know what you're doing, to jump into the deep end and starting a business, to now having all this structure in 20 employees Like yeah, I feel like, personally, I'm pretty like loose with it all.
Speaker 1:Like I, I could probably do the business without the structure, but I'd be fumbling through it, trying to do it, whereas Jared he's like, he's like we need to do this, we need to do this, we need to do this, like he's the direct one, that's like, and then we just make it happen together. So we're like right, I'm like, mate, that's a great idea.
Speaker 2:What's your role? So, what's your role? I'm keen to dive into this, because having a partner in business can be very difficult.
Speaker 1:So we've never really sat down and defined our roles per se I am. I'm saying this to him the health and safety manager.
Speaker 1:I just took that away from him. He'll hate that. I'm the head of safety and new age electrical. So he's got his level two. So you know, level two Climbing Pulse. He brought that into the business. He bought, and solar as well. So he bought both of those things in the business, so knowledgeable in the industry, knows a lot about it. And then I've got the background of probably the client relationships building client relationships with builders and customers and customer relationships and probably, you know, being the guy that the guys come to and they're pulling the sick day and they want a day off. They come to me over that. So we both have the different roles we play within the business in that sense.
Speaker 1:But when it comes down to like the structure, we sit down and we go mate, this isn't working, so let's change it. What do we need to do? Like this happened on a job these guys did this, this went wrong. How are we going to fix that? And we make sure we change it. And then so it was things like variations, like builders are cracking it because we're just sending an email with a variation or sending the price. So now the boys have on site a form that they fill out which has all the details of the site, the builder, what the variation is, the cost estimate that they reckon. They sign it off. The builder signs it off, the client signs it off. As it doesn't get done, gets emailed to us. We email it to the builder and then we can put a price against it. And that's just like. That's just one of the things we put in place just to alleviate any one going. Who told you to do that? I was like well, mate, your signature's on it. So little things like that which have just helped.
Speaker 1:Everything we do, like sheets where you know say all right, so once one of the guys forgot to conjure in an island bench slab. So now we've got a sheet checklist, checklist everything from start to finish, and it's like five, 15 pages long, but it's broken down in stages. So pre slab, walk through it. And then I call the guy. I go all right, we check over every job. So, mate, what? Where are you at? Oh yeah, I'm finished. Have you done your checklist? Yeah, yeah, sweet, I got site. Mate, check list isn't done. You haven't done this. I can sign through it or make sure nothing's been missed. And now we've got project managers that we moved up, that have moved in that role of overseeing the jobs to make sure we can keep the quality of work up. When you grow, you lose the quality because I'm not on the tools Like when I was on the tools, I know that everything was getting done perfectly and getting done right. You've got to have systems, processes and check list.
Speaker 2:You don't have that.
Speaker 1:you're nothing like you crumble, especially when you go and people realize that they start going. Why are my losing builders Like what's going wrong? Like you know, he's used me for forever but now I'm not going on the job. So the builder was using us because of me and I was doing the job, and now they're not using us anymore. It's because I sent old mate there. He didn't really know what he was doing, didn't really talk to him in a nice way, and then you know they didn't get the same experience as they got. So that's why we've got to have the processes in place where we still come to site. You're still dealing with me. If you're not dealing with me, you're dealing with one of the project managers we oversee. All the work comes back to us. We can do if you got to requote something, we requote it in the office that day, send it back. We just keep it churned and so it's an easy process for the builders and that's what we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 2:So how do you find, like I'm keen as and look if there's any traders out there, listen, put your hand up, come and tell your story on the podcast. Like I'm, my mission is to level up, create a new building industry, and I really was pleased to hear that you're on. Like you're, you want to level up and change the electrical side of things.
Speaker 2:So, I think, for for both of us to reach our goals. Like trades and builders are going to work together and we're talking a little bit before off air Like I think so many builders make it very difficult for their trades to be successful Because, like, especially even just simple things like scheduling yeah, like you were saying before, like you ring up builders and try and plan your three weeks out and yeah, no, I don't need anything. And then the next week they're ringing you saying, hey, I need a rough end on like, like man, like if there's any builders out there listening to this one today like I can do schedules, it's not hard, tom's planner, actually AI.
Speaker 1:Now you can tell the thing to do a schedule Like and like, if your trades are organized, let them help you with the schedule, go, because the girls and I offer us a call on ahead and go when can we come? When can we come? When can we do the rough end? It's looking like you know we've done the undergrounds, like, and they go no, no, it's ages away. Like, yeah, that's fine, Just let us know, we put in the system and we can move it back a week. It's fine, but as long as we're moving, we're moving it back. You're still in the system, but if you don't tell us you're not in there and we're booking out four weeks in advance. So then when you do call us and go, oh, I need it done, and then you get pissed off because we we can't get there the exact day you want. That's not our fault.
Speaker 1:We make it work, but like it's not my time.
Speaker 2:My guy tells me stories. There's a lot of builders out there that will ring him at five o'clock in the morning and say, oh, I need some penetrations done. Oh, when you put on concrete 630. What are you doing? How did you?
Speaker 1:forget that. Yeah, well, we get it, we get it. A little time with we think and it's yeah, I get it. When there's some things get forgotten about, it's fine. We've got a big enough team where we can make it work. Or, if we have to, the four guys we've got in the office are sparkies. So we just go out and do it. You know like it and I like it sometimes, Like I'll go do it, I'll get on the tools because I'm in the office at full time. So I like going out and doing it. But when it happens again and again, and again and again with the same person, that's when we're going. We're trying to drive it going. We know it's coming up. Can we book it in? No, no, it's all good.
Speaker 2:So how do you look? How do you find the quality of documentation that you get from builders? Like is it? Are you able to price work really accurately? And, like I'm, my big thing is scapes of work, like you've got to have a full, detailed list of everything you're doing, so.
Speaker 1:I'm extremely confident in the way we. I pride ourselves in the way we quote a job. And when we're doing a quote, I know that I've seen other people's quotes. I've been able to oh, this, this is the other guy's quote and it just says like a few line items and it's half the price. And I'm going man, that is a completely different quote. I don't. And ours is like four pages long. We've detailed everything. There's no, nothing hidden. If there's things in there that need to be done, they're not on the plans. We've got them in there because we know it has to be done and we're handing you that and you're going well, I'm going to use this guy's half the price. I'm like, mate, you ain't getting the same job. There's no way that can be done half the price.
Speaker 1:I know the whole, everything we do. Everything's put into calculators. I know our overheads, our costings. I know what everything costs and we do a job analysis. So every quote we do, we have a running job card. So the guys put all their time materials. We use SIMPRO as like a job management system. Everything goes automatically into there and we have a running job for every quote. So I know what the quote is. Quotes 20 grand. And then I know what the running job card is like. The guys are working to that, so I know what the actual cost is. That allows me for the next job. If I've got to, you know, bring my price down to be competitive.
Speaker 2:I know or bring it up.
Speaker 1:I know exactly what our, what our costings are. And then when I see pricing from someone else that's nowhere near the mark, I'm like either that person has no idea what they're doing or they've missed something. Every time I know we haven't missed it. We're sitting in the office with with seven people quoting jobs, like we did a turnaround for a $1.7 million project in three days the other day build a course. I've got to send it to you. I really want to use you on this job. And they sent us the plans and he goes. I know you're not going to be able to do it, just if you can, if you can like, I want to get you on and we turned around three days.
Speaker 1:Like that I don't know how many people could do that, but I was like we're going to do it. I'm not confident that it's going to be exactly right, but we, we pulled this thing together and he was like wow, I can't believe you even did that. So, and it was all documented with everything in there, like we didn't miss anything. Not that I know of I hope not, but it's, I imagine.
Speaker 2:you get some pretty shitty plans from builders that expect you to be able to put a couple of hand-drawn scribbles on a napkin sometimes.
Speaker 1:But we've got some. We've got some iron programs. So if that does happen we'll make. We'll go to the building, I get us a meeting with the client and we'll do a sit down. If they don't have the job, we do a sit down with the client and we'll charge them. But if we get the job, we reimburse them. The money is 250 bucks to draw a plan up with them. It's like peanuts really, and we're doing an electrical plan for you.
Speaker 2:Cause, then if you give it, to another sparky.
Speaker 1:like you can just have it, you know so.
Speaker 2:Let's go Look that. I think all trades should be doing that, Like even if they're well, even if you find a lot of the time and a lot of plans, electrical drawings aren't electrical drawings.
Speaker 1:They're never like perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're not done by sparky, so it might show lights and power points and switches, but there'll be a hell of a lot of other shit that's not shown on there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So I think it's great to hear that you're putting so much effort into them. Like I think, like we have our quoting software Quoteys. Like the whole reason we built that is to give trades and builders the ability to provide very detailed scopes of work. Like you can set your template up. Once it's there, we got to do is each job, go back through and put in your quantities and your costs and things. Like you can smash your quotes out. But the whole, a big reason that that's so successful is because it makes it so simple to provide detail.
Speaker 2:Like I am with electrical. Like using what we request from our spark is and it sounds like you're doing it Like have a full list of everything how many power points, how many circuits, what the circuits are for, how many light switches, how many linear meters of LED lighting? Like how many is a pool circuit? Is there a conditioning circuit? So list everything out. Have you allowed for underground conduits to the island bench, like you name it? Put it in there, because then when it comes time on site to do, like we, especially with the spark in the plumber, we try and well, we always organize a rough in walkthrough meeting, ideally three or four weeks before they're on site.
Speaker 1:That's what we do as well.
Speaker 2:And but having that fully atomized detail list, it is so easy, like at the meeting, you can be going around and making notes and talk because clients want to. We find that, especially with electrical clients need to visualize a room and, like get a feel for where they're going to put furniture, and they might want to table with a lamp on it.
Speaker 1:It's different from when you're looking from a plan above. And that's I always say to the client I go whatever that plan is and you're looking above, it's going to look completely different when you walk in a room. So this is fine, we'll go off this plan that we drew, but then let's do a walkthrough a few weeks before and we'll walk around and 99% of the time it all changes because when they walk in the room and go, oh actually, yeah, that light would look better over here, it would look better here.
Speaker 2:But having a list that said, like after that, after that walkthrough, like if it's, if you had 60 downloads and you now got 68, or and you had 20 PowerPoints, you now got 30, like it's so easy to go well, this is what we had, this is what we've got now after your walkthrough. If you want that, here's the difference Take it or leave it, exactly.
Speaker 1:So we do a full breakdown when we do our quotes that we send to builders and I, yeah, like I've seen other guys ones, and it's just like kind of like a bit of like light and power, like no quantities, no nothing. And I'm then I'm looking to go well, how do I know this is, how do I know they haven't missed everything? You've literally got every single point that we've got here. We've labeled it with a price and how many there is Like we don't hide anything out quotes. We give our full price of what we're charging per point. So the because the builder can see that and they go right.
Speaker 1:I said I know if the client's going to add another light, they know how much it's going to cost them. Sweet. And all I ask is they don't hand that on to someone else. And I put that on there Like I don't want other people to know my pricing. But I'll if, if it makes it easy for you and I trust you that I don't do it to builders. We don't know. But the builders we've got good relationships with, they get the breakdown of the of our costing so that they know what we're charging. We're not trying to stitch anyone up without pricing. We're literally doing it because we know that's what it costs.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So what are you doing that's different, like why are you, why are you lifting the bar of?
Speaker 1:electrical. In regards to that, we want to be lifting the bar with things like testing and safety and those sort of things, and that's what we delve into. When we're talking about in our podcast is about we know a lot of people don't do it what's?
Speaker 1:your podcast, our podcast Sparky Interest Bit of everything in there. So Sparky chat bit of bit of business stuff as well. So just talking about what we do. But we're getting tools out, looking at tools within the industry, that sort of stuff. We get apprentices on other sparkies to tell their stories and it's interesting People. People will find it interesting, you think check it out.
Speaker 1:If you love it, then you want to listen to other people you know talk about their work. If you kind of hate your job, you probably don't want to listen to more Sparky stuff after work. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So what are you doing? That's different, so we want to.
Speaker 1:I was saying before. So we you're quoting against someone else and it's if it's not apples for apples, because you know this other guy that's doing it probably isn't doing all the testing and stuff they should be doing. And if I'm a builder or I'm a, I'm a client, I want to know that the person that's done the work and sign off on that has done the right thing. And I know it doesn't happen and a lot of people say they do do it. A lot of people don't do it. That have you know it's. It's a cost thing. Like you know, testing takes us a full day. We go around and test every single point in the house. That takes at least a day.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, and that's you got a checklist for that and we got a checklist we got different types of different testers, multi function testers.
Speaker 1:You plug them in. It tells you all the results. It brings it all up. We go to every PowerPoint, we trip the RCBOs, we trip each one. It's like a ramp test. So it goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It ramps it up. So you know that that is signed off to the electrical safety standard, so it covers your ass. Someone gets an electric shock in the house and they go did you test it? And they go yeah, where's your test results? We've got it all stored. It's all stored on our testers. It all gets printed off. We can hand it to the client if something ever happens. If there's a fire for insurance, you know when you sign off on your. It's a CCW in New South Wales like the certificate of compliance. I don't know if it's the same here. What do you?
Speaker 2:require from your office. We have to go around and test everything, and then they get a I can't remember, it's a form 15 or 16, which we have to give to the certifier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's got that. You sign off on that, that you've done all the work. It's different in different places. I know where we are. People are taught, so then they don't know. So that's why we want to. We're going to start doing some. We've got a big test board at our shed and I'm not saying not everyone's doing it, that's what I'm saying, but I know it's, it's and you, I'll get so many messages from people apprentices going mate, my boss doesn't test. I really want to learn a test. I don't know how to get into it, like I don't know how to talk to my boss about doing it, cause he's just like in and out, in and out. Like I'm like mate, he has to do it, and the best way to do it is maybe be showing one of our podcasts where we're talking about what could go wrong and and you know it's covering your ass You've got to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I made on those volume type builds where they're in and they do a full fit off in a day, Like yeah, they're throwing cables from one end.
Speaker 1:That's the where it is. You know, that's where the problems are in the industry and that's what pisses me off, because it's not. I don't think it's fair. One of the guys who works for us is real passionate about it. He's probably going to be a TAFE teacher one day and he he revs the boys up, he does some little training things that are shared because we've got the test board where everyone can come and try out testing. He's made it all himself, came after work every day for like a month and built this massive switchboard that he will train everyone to testing on. And he goes and he goes. If you don't know how to test, you're not a real electrician, and they like revs that into everyone.
Speaker 1:So he's really passionate about it, which is awesome. Like we got guys like that that work for us, and now we're starting to have people apply for jobs of us because they know what we're about and they want they want to do that. They don't just want to go and work for someone and bash houses together and not walk away a good sparky. They want to become a good sparky and that starts with us training them. It starts with us training the apprentices and that's what we're trying to get across we talk about. The most important thing at the start is training your apprentice the right way. So giving them the right skills, treating them the right way as well and not treating them like a piece of shit is a big thing as well. You know like no one deserves to go to work and I know how what I was saying, how I was treated as when I was apprentice. I don't want other people to be treated like that. Everyone should be treated right and they should have the chance to be taught well and be taught safely and the right thing.
Speaker 1:So we got a big thing now about locking out. Like you're working in a switchboard or anything. You're locking it out. It's got to be locked out. That's the rules and regulations and so many people don't do that either. So you're working on a circuit, you go to the switchboard, you got your lock and you lock dog on there and it's locked out with a tag. You're the only person with that key because you know, like you probably heard, in our industry in the last couple months there's been three deaths from electricians, two under a house.
Speaker 1:So two different houses, two under floors in a space of a week and a young guy in Perf in the roof, 23 year old. So in Perf you have to turn off your main switch and isolate the whole house. When getting in the roof space it's kind of like spoke about to be it's not regulation or else, but it's like you probably should do it. And then getting under a floor, there's no regulation around it. But yeah, two guys under floors live cables. One of the guys was found with the cable in his hand. 55 year old dude found with the cable in his hand. That killed him.
Speaker 2:And that's terrible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like you don't really get a second chance. People don't understand how dangerous it is. You get really complacent and I've had times where I've done stupid shit. You're under the pump, you're in a rush and when I've actually stepped back now and I'm running a company with other people's lives in my hands, I'm going, I can't. You know, I never used to be like that and I'm changing it now because I want I want everyone to be able to go home to their families and I'd never want to have an incident. We've we're. I don't think we've had one incident on a work site. Yeah, so like nothing serious, apart from a little graze on someone's finger or something you know like, and that's, I think, because we've got things in place. All our swims up today, all that stuff, like you try and drill it in the guys about safety, and it's like, oh right, I'm out, you know.
Speaker 2:But so do you have like, do you have regular toolbox with your team?
Speaker 1:Yeah, regular toolboxes everything like that we bring up. When there is these things that happen in the industry, we talk about it and go man, like you know, god died the other day from taking a switchboard panel and cover off. So now, if you're doing that, it's actually regulation that you've got to wear R-created clothing and be on a on a LV mat, you got to have a class of gloves on and a face shield. If you're going to be working in a, pulling the switchboard cover off like a commercial switchboard, you know. So anything over 63 amps. So that's regulation. That's what we do. I supply all the all that gear to my guys. It's there. If you need it, you use it. But if you don't take it aside and you don't use it, that's on you. So they've got to realize and understand how dangerous it is. So that's what we're trying to get across and that's what we talk about in our show. We're just trying to, because people don't know. You know the regulations come out and people don't hear about it.
Speaker 2:So I think every there's so much in our industry, mate, that it's just it's all driven by cost, like everyone is everyone's in this race to the bottom and instead of doing things correctly, selling your service, selling your quality, attracting the right type of clients, like so many trades and builders are just constantly racing to the bottom. Like you said, show it like.
Speaker 2:I remember back in the day when I was in tendering scenarios like actually even before them when I was when I had my carpentry business and builders saying to me, oh, this guy's 10 grand cheaper, like well, give him the job then. Like I know what it's going to take me to do the job and that is what it is.
Speaker 1:You're obviously telling me because you want me to do it. You just want me to match his price. So if you want to use me, then this is my price and like it's adding value to what you do as well, you know, like you're not going to get the same level of service.
Speaker 2:There might be a guy that's really good that's doing it and he probably just doesn't know his overheads and costings and that's the biggest problem with our industry, mate, is people don't know what they don't know, and if they're taught by someone that doesn't know what they don't know, then they just fall into the same bad habits and do the same things and run the same shit business. So it's up to every individual to lift their game. Like listen to podcasts, like you and I are doing, and do personal development stuff and like I know. Like even now, mate, like the QBCC, the master bills, they send these emails out and I'm sure you, like you, get master electrician ones and shit. Like back in the day, I'd like, mate, I would just delete, delete, delete. Like every time I see one of them. Now I just I skim through it.
Speaker 2:Because you never know what's going to be in there. You never know. Like, just, I want to keep my finger on the poles, like any code changes or regulation changes, all stories about accidents in the industry. Like, because we do a similar thing, like I'm a, I try and have.
Speaker 2:Well, I have regular every time I go to my sites, I basically have a little stool box with whoever's on that site and then quite regularly we get the whole team together on one of the jobs or at a wherever here or whatever and we chat about things. And some of the other times those things are things that I've seen pop up on social media or that's been reported in a master builders email. Like, and it's been amazing seeing the growth in my team just by being able to have those conversations. But I think the number one thing I've seen with my team is they see me taking the time out to invest in them. But also, like I'm really big with my team. I don't give a fuck how long it takes, as long as it's done properly and it's done safely.
Speaker 1:It's the same, exactly what we tell them. No one needs to get this done fast, just do it right. Do it right and then you're only going to do it once. Do it safely. It doesn't matter if we're going to, if we've got a quite a job and you're, the guys are starting to worry about pricing and going oh, you know, like we probably only had a day and like it was probably down to us when we started, we were probably just pumping people on jobs, going, oh, we've got to get this done, we've got to get this done. Like I know the way I work and the way Jared works, we're, you know, we've rip in and we're going hard, like your workers are never going to work that hard. So you got to kind of get that away from the way you're working, like we're not stopping it and having lunch breaks and doing that stuff, and I don't want them to be like that and that's what we're trying to get away from, because that's when mistakes happen, that's when people work unsafely.
Speaker 2:I've come, I've I've I've realized why people do that. But it's because we know everything, like as a business owner like you know what you've quoted, you know how much profits in it, you know if it's not done a certain amount of time, and so you do. You fall into that habit of just rush, rush, rush, but like it's incredible, it's across the board. Builders, tradies I even think it's even worse through like building designers, architects and things like. So many people in our industry do not track data and do not know what the work they're doing is actually costing them and they just they do a job, they put an invoice in, the money comes in your account and they just the wheels keep turning.
Speaker 1:It's a vicious cycle.
Speaker 2:They never know, they never physically know how much profit they've actually made.
Speaker 2:Like I had a interesting conversation the other day with one of the new members in our Elevate Group about supervision. Like it was just we're talking about something else and in the conversation I was explaining how, on my projects, because of all the data we've tracked for so many years now, like we know straight away when we do a job whether it's an architect, a job that's administered by an architect, a building designer's job or a draftsman's job that we're going to have to change the percentage of supervision on those projects. Because a job that's administered by an architect, as you'd know, doing architects jobs like they would chew up far more of your time than a job for a builder that hasn't got an architect involved in the like you're able to make a few decisions. So tracking your data so that you can tell, like, how long your staff are on site, how long your project managers are on site, how long your supervisor are on site, so that every project moving forward, you can allocate the right amount of cost.
Speaker 2:And if you put a, if you price a job, cover all your costs because you know how long it's going to take and you don't win the work, that's the best thing that can happen, because you haven't done a job that you're going to lose. Do your ass on, exactly, yeah, so that's why data is everything.
Speaker 1:Like you did nothing without the data. So you know you can, you can quote all these jobs and do them for what you think it think it's going to cost. And then, yeah, it's turnovers, high volume turnover, if you're doing that and you think you're killing it, but you're not killing it. And then like now it's interesting. Now I'm starting to pull the project managers into doing the cost analysis, like we used to keep it all not secret. But you know they were like, oh, I've made a bit of money on this one, I'm out of it and I'm on this one. And then now I've pulled them in and I'm getting them to do the running job card against the quote and they're coming in going, oh, we did good in this one, we did good in this one. I'm like, yeah, sweet.
Speaker 1:So the other one oh, we did good shit on that one.
Speaker 1:I'm like well that's where it all balances out. You know like there's going to be some jobs that you're going to lose on because something goes wrong, right, but then the ones where we win big on, it's like okay. So maybe we've got a bit too much in that and next time we might have to be a bit more competitive, so we can probably bring it down a bit and then stay level. I don't want to be charging people more than we should. We want to. You know what I mean. We want to be sitting in a spot where we're still winning work and it's like fair across the board. And you know like there's sometimes you lose, sometimes you win, but we obviously want to be winning more than we're losing.
Speaker 2:So you want to be winning all the time. Prophecy is not a dirty word. Like business has to make money, I guess it's hard with us because we're doing smaller jobs.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So like we're turning over 10 jobs a day minimum, compared to a builder where they might be on 10 projects through a year or whatever like that. So it's hard. We try to, we don't. We steer away from the hourly rate. I don't like hourly rate because I don't think you make money out of it.
Speaker 1:So we try and quote everything we can. We can't avoid it with some things like the little little jobs. Here and there we charge service calls and service fees, but I don't like cost plus work. I'd rather quote it because there's no confrontation with a client or a builder. They already know the price.
Speaker 2:And it's not up to you to get it done.
Speaker 1:Mate, we've got to work harder. If we've got to make it get done in that timeframe to make money on that quote and you've accepted it, then that's what it is. But when it's like cost plus and people going oh, you know, like that guy had 20 minutes longer for lunch and then start arguing things and going, mate, like cost plus is the biggest disaster, like it just leaves so many, leaves so much.
Speaker 2:It's just kind of worms. Like, if you can, I would recommend anyone stay away from it as much as possible. But so how do you keep the culture in your team, like now that your team's growing, and like, do you offer bonus structures? Or like, what's the deal when you get a team the size you've got it's?
Speaker 1:cultures are hard. I feel like we always say we've got a really good culture and everyone that works for us loves working there, and I don't think to me culture actually we were talking about this the other day culture isn't having beers on a Friday over to me. Culture to me is your guys wanting to work, turn up to work every day and put in 100%. You know, and that's sometimes. They're not going to be like that, you know. And the thing is, I know when someone's down, then because I know every day everyone's sweet and if someone's acting a bit weird I can pull them. So I go mate, what's going on? You're sweet, something happened at home. What's going on? You're good.
Speaker 1:We try and pull people in for conversations and check that how they're going. We pull people in for reviews and talk to them and go mate, you're dropping the ball here Now. You're doing really well. You're doing really well here. Like, give people praise and it's. We do all those things. You know we do a camp trip every year, we do all that stuff. But I don't, I don't believe that. You know, I see other people that go. We've got a great culture because I take the boys to the pub on a Friday. They might hate being at work every other day?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but Fridays right.
Speaker 2:They might not even be a drink or whatever Like yeah, no.
Speaker 1:I think it goes deeper than that the culture is. I think it comes back to me and it's like you want to work for a boss that you respect and if the respects there, I feel like the culture builds itself. We pride ourselves in the culture where it weans people out.
Speaker 1:That's how good it is. People come and work for us and the culture. I don't have to fire people. They're just, they know they don't fit in and they're going. Oh, probably not for me, mate. Like yeah, I know, because everyone is talking. We're all friends outside of work. We all hang out. Two of the project managers are my best mates. You know like we all we're like a family, you could say. We all hang out, we all talk, we've got a like our group chat. Like we're all sending jokes to each other and I feel like that's where the culture is. Like you actually want to be there, you want to talk to people. Like people are taking the piss out of me. I'm taking the piss out of them. Like it's all banter, it's fun.
Speaker 1:You know like I don't see myself as different and I don't think the guys see me as different to them either. You know. You know like I'm one of the guys like I'm still going to go to site. Like today I was on site pulling in big cables with the boys and I'm there. I think I popped a hemorrhoid, a hernia and a buddy blood vessel in my eye trying to squeeze his cables in, and the guy's like oh, it's good to see you on site, man. I'm like, yeah, I love this shit, that's what I want to do. I'd hate quating and sitting in an office. I want to be on site.
Speaker 2:It's unreal in every business owner you talk to in the industry hates your admin, yeah it's just we just fall into it.
Speaker 1:I didn't. I wanted to be a sparky right and then somehow I've become a business owner and there's times where I was sitting in an office for like a week straight and I'm just sitting there and the most exciting part of my day is going to get my coffee. I'm going I can't do this. I need to buy some tools online or something Like I need to switch my day up and I'm like I can't. I hate that, but it's all part of it. And now we're moving people in. I've got an estimator so he's doing more of the quotes, but I just don't want him to just do it all. Like I'm still going to jump in and do it, but it means I can. The thing I want to do is I want to be growth within the business. I want to do the online presence. I'm starting to do more videos and stuff like that and that's where I thrive, because I love doing that, and I'm going out with my camera and I'm making my own like little movies on site of the boys working and stuff.
Speaker 1:And then I go back and I'm editing it and I love doing that. I'm like mate, if I can get paid to do that, that's pretty cool. So that's my new passion. Well, it's a business owner, isn't it Like as?
Speaker 2:a business owner, you do every role in the business, so yeah but I think it's really important as you grow Like you really you have to find what you're passionate about and like you're smashing it, mate. Like I stuffed around for so long Like and I think a lot of people do like if there is like, my big thing now is you. I believe everyone should do a task where you identify all the tasks you do in your business and then you separate them into categories ones that you just you love doing you get out of bed every single day for, like, you thrive on it. Ones that you do you do well, but you're not real efficient at, and ones that you just you hate doing. They give you the shit, so give you anxiety.
Speaker 2:You're just like and like once you do that like you know like that does so many things. It tells you where you need to hire people. It tells you where you're not efficient. It tells you where you're not adding value to your business. But number one, it it like it enforces where you need to bring people in to do things that you're no good at and so many people don't. Well, they don't know their overheads, they're not tracking their data, they don't know the cost, so they feel like they haven't got the funds in the business to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:People get scared to hire people. I remember when we we actually just did a show with Kazoo's, our office office, um, the lady in our office office administrator, so I couldn't remember where we got her. I was going to the manager or something. So, um, and I was like oh, so when, what size were we? When you came in? And I'm thinking in my head like, oh, we had five people. And she's like oh, no, you like 10, 10, 10 guys.
Speaker 1:When I started, I'm like, did we wait that long? Like we were doing all that ourselves for that long. And I say to people, someone hit me out the other day and go oh man, I got six guys. Like when do you recognize you should get office stuff? I'm like, mate, you should already have it, do it now.
Speaker 1:I did it way too late. Like, if you're going, if you're working all day on the tools and you're going home and then you're doing all your, that's what I was doing. I was doing all the office stuff at home late at night, no one's else is working, so you're trying to do it all when no one else is working, you're not with your family or doing stuff for yourself, and it's just like that vicious cycle of like you're not doing it doesn't work, like it doesn't work, like you think it does, but it doesn't. So if you just spend a little bit extra money, get someone in the office, it means you will be way more productive. If you just want to be on site doing what you got to do, you're going to be way more productive because you're not staying up late doing all the other stuff you just focus on what you should be doing.
Speaker 2:That's. That's is the story of our industry. Like, most people are doing all the shit after hours. They're tired, they're, they're getting frustrated with things they're not, they're not quoting accurately, like they're not putting 100% effort into it, and that's where you lose your passion and you lose your focus and like I think that that exercise I just went through, like the other side of that is like when you're identifying all your tasks, every single task that you do throughout the day, for, like I think you should track it for three to six months, so you you allocate time to it and You'll normally find that the average tradeee is actually doing tools for your jobs. So if you allocate all your time to every task you're doing and you add it all up, you're doing it 60, 80, 100, 120 hours a week, and if you divide what you think you've earned by those, hours.
Speaker 1:You're fucking working for 12 bucks an hour, yeah, exactly, look. And and also, with that hiring someone, it's like you're giving up something that you do. But I realized I actually was so shit at admin and I was like organizing jobs and booking a meeting and talking to people and organizing and I was like, oh yeah, I don't know if someone wants to be able to do that, how I do it. And like they just do it so much better. And it's like that initial thing of actually getting them in and doing it and then realizing, oh, actually, yeah, that it's so much easier and they're doing it way better than I ever could.
Speaker 1:And like the change in our business when, when I was talking to builders, like, oh, it's HZ, you're just calling the office now because, like I'd call you and then you'd be on site and you'd forget and then I need Get the job done. But now it's like it's. You know, it's structured within your business. Your business will grow as soon as you do that, because you know why it has to grow. Because if you've got an overhead that isn't isn't billable, you gotta make that work. Yeah, and and get, get some hours to cover the.
Speaker 2:Um, did it, did it, did it. Or does it frighten you like hiring staff? Because obviously you hire staff. You've got to make more money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, how do you?
Speaker 2:overcome that.
Speaker 1:We know, like from our calculus and stuff, we know what we need to sit for our overheads and I change I do it every three to six months. I because the business changes, we buy more stuff. I put it all in and I know what our overhead costings are. So I'm like, well, we probably need another person on the road. Or I say the guys you know like, maybe we don't need another person and let's come up with a way where how are we gonna be more productive and get this done? And then we work out well, maybe it's another apprentice, we don't.
Speaker 1:You don't need another tradee. We can keep the cost down at the tradee. We can hire an apprentice and work all that out. Finding the right people is hard but we're pretty like anal with who we hire, because everyone has to stick, everyone has to glue together, because we've got such a tight team and as soon as you throw someone in the mix, that doesn't work. We just had someone really bad that I thought was gonna be good and just it was so bad and just you know.
Speaker 2:HR nightmare.
Speaker 1:You could say it was not good, so that didn't last long, but that was from the team weeding them out, and then we had to obviously tell them move on. But they knew like they were like yeah, I thought that was gonna be the case.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I've recently made that. Well, yeah, recently made the mistake of holding on to someone for a lot longer than I should have. And, yeah, you get in that, you get stuck in that mindset that you're busy, you need to work down, like it's gonna be hard to find someone else. So what do you do you? Try and work with them. But um, yeah, I should have listened to the rest of the team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also like to give people the benefit of the doubt and that's why we pull people in and Try and help people. With one thing You're never gonna be able to change the attitude. That's always the hardest one. If someone's got a shit attitude, you're pretty much fucked and you're not gonna be able to change the attitude. But someone who doesn't have the right skill set We've had a few guys like that and but they have the right attitude. To me, the attitude is more important.
Speaker 1:So, I can pull them in for a chat and go mate, like you need to be more organized. Your attitude is there, like you. I know you can't, but you just unorganized and you're doing this wrong. You don't know. You had a bit of a stuff up there but and the change in them is crazy. I've had two guys that are like that and like they're like completely different and everyone's like mate, these guys are killing it. I'm like, yeah, because we pulled them in and we tell them where they're at.
Speaker 1:We've given them advice and was, and this is what you need to do. We're like, we're putting time and effort into them and we build him in, like molding them into what we want to be Well, you tell.
Speaker 2:You want to say that you trust them and that you probably the biggest thing is that you believe in them and you care about them like I'm not.
Speaker 1:I could just have heaps of people that it kind of shit and pay them Not much money and that's how much the guy we used to work for ran and didn't really care. And if they did some shit work, well, it is what it is. But you bit your business is gonna suffer for that.
Speaker 1:So, I'd rather bring people in that have the right attitude. If they're not as good as someone else, put them with that person and let them learn from the person. That's really good. Learn some skills, pull them in and go mate. How you going? Oh yeah, I'm actually learning hate from that and like, well, I'm gonna keep you with them and just keep learning, like, and even if they're a tradie and I've got to put them with another tradie Just to get that skill set, and then I can send them out in the big world and go right out I don't know, you're good to go mate.
Speaker 1:So see a guy sink or swim and they normally that's when they figure it all out yeah, and I think they appreciate that we've actually taken the time and effort and haven't just gone. This guy, shit, get rid of him, find someone else. It's like you know what. Let's work with them, yeah, and it seems to work so much better for the team and everyone sticks around. We don't lose heaps people. We've got the same guys we've had for four years, you know yeah, yeah, that's fantastic, man.
Speaker 2:I think you're kicking goals like to you. What's a good builder like is a? Is a builder one that has job schedules or Doesn't question your pricing. Like what do you, as a tradie, see a good builder being?
Speaker 1:good builder, definitely someone that pays the bills. So we're pretty good, all the guys we work for, a good paying. We haven't had that issue with our regular builders of trying to chase money. That's obviously the first thing. Don't don't rip people off, I guess, but being organized, letting us be organized, letting us, I guess, bring our skill set to it as well, like organizing meetings with the clients. Like you know, it might be a designer involved, but you know we do this every day. So maybe tee up a meeting with us and and let us Do what we're good at, you know. So someone that's.
Speaker 1:We were really lucky with the guys we work for and we've built really good relationships with them. So I reckon that's that's definitely a big thing with that. And then I guess the scheduling thing has got to be big. Hey, like someone is organized because it that's what I say like it, no matter how organized we are, it can all come crumbling down if the Builder isn't organized. And there's guys we work for that I know aren't organized, but I know they like that. So I, I work around it. Do you have job schedules? No, not all of them. Some of them do now, and then we work for a lot of younger guys that are coming up as well, so they're learning and they're changing. They're adapting the same way we are you know, we've only been going four years.
Speaker 1:They might have been going the same time, so they're sort of getting into it and learn it, but sometimes they're better than the guys that have been doing it for 20 years. Yeah, because they know, they, what they need to do and they're they're bringing it into their business, where the old guys like, hey, I need you here now. I'm like that's a rough and that's gonna take three weeks. It's like yeah, yeah, I just need you here, just come and do it, like yeah, and that's when it all comes crumbling down. Then you seem unorganized because you can't get there, and that's when people get pissed off, even though we're trying to go. Mate, do you need to say, do you need to say, do you need to say no, no, no, it's fine, and then it all just gets thrown on you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, you gotta be organized. I think I made, I think you're kicking goals. I'm really keen to keep an eye on you and see, see where you go from here. Like it'll be interesting to see what the next four years like you might come back. On four years time you might have hundred blokes working for you?
Speaker 1:Oh, maybe I might be, might be back on the tools one man Then maybe if I get sick of it. So what do you?
Speaker 2:do, like business is stressful, like what do you do? We're talking before you and what are the body boys? Or something like what's this all about?
Speaker 1:body boys. So that's our group of guys. We go down to the beach every pretty much every morning. We've got something going on. So we meet down there at 5 30, just at the local beach in Lenox head and it's just a fitness group for guys. Anyone like. There's dudes that there's kids down there that are like nine years old. Guys bring their kids down there. There's dudes that are like 60 there and then there's guys everyone in between, and it's just we run a session so you might rock up. There might be 20 dudes there, there might be a hundred guys there. So with now it was a bit of random like I'll do it today and now we started picking names out of a hat to try and get everyone involved, because there's some guys it would come and they're a bit quiet, and so now we pick a name out of hat, your name gets picked, you down there. You got to make a session for an hour and then we play.
Speaker 2:What are you doing?
Speaker 1:So we bring kettlebells down and then someone will make up a session for like 45 minutes of kettlebell work. It's, you get flogged like it's not easy. Well, the one we did today was horrible, yeah, but you feel so good after it. Then we play touch footy offside, touch footy for like 15, 20 minutes which is unreal every. And we do that Tuesday, thursday, each week. Wednesday we go down the beach, we do breath work and stretching and Then Monday, friday, we got a run club. So we do like a 10k run every Monday and every Friday.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we got a bit on how, what, how does that work for you Like? Do you like just the fact that you're mingling with other blokes? Or is there a conversation of like, just talking Like? What's the big thing you get out of it?
Speaker 1:Why I see those guys like it's a community, right, so it's all guys that you see in the street and then they, you know they come down and then you kind of get to know them a bit more and a bit more and you it's so interesting to see all these people and all you know you break down barriers because Even though there's 50 blokes there, someone could stand up and go. I'm having a shit day and it's probably a bit different now. There's more people like they might just be saying it to the person next to them, like I'm out of, had this going on and heard this going on, and then You're getting support from someone there because there's no, it's so weird. There's a hundred places, not one decade, in the whole group, which is unheard of, like you'd never, never think that. But it's like every single person in there I would say is it hundred percent genuine, good person, which is super important for blokes to communicate in that hundred percent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I don't talk to anyone and I sometimes I bottle all this stuff up and then it might be Sometimes I might just write a message in the group chat like, oh, this is, this is going on and this is happening, and then you just support, you get back, and then you just get a phone call for someone like, oh you, sweet, you want to catch up, and like I'm doing that over Some of my best mates I've known my whole life. I'm talking to these guys and I almost go to them first Because you know, you know it's like with your mates sometimes you don't, you don't talk like that way with them. You know burden and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:But this group is just so different and like we do charity events like like the floods was a massive one where we All banded together and we're stripping out people's houses. Then we started a thing where we were rejip, rocking people's house and it's all like this. We were just doing that in our own time on the weekends, just organizing it. How if the guys were saving people in boats, like pulling people out, like that whole time, like a lot of those people were guys from the Boat, boys, and like they've won awards from it for, you know, being heroes pretty much, and we're still trying to do stuff. At the moment we're doing a hundred K run that we're organizing since two weeks time.
Speaker 1:So, hundred K's over 24 hours to run raise money for DIPG. So one of our mates some daughters passed away. Nine years old, passed away a year ago. So yeah, it's just that and we're all coming together for it.
Speaker 2:Like we're all people listen to the podcast, get behind that. Well, actually this podcast will be out after that, so anyway, can they do that to?
Speaker 1:people yeah, we've got a, we've got a fundraising page right to about 30, something grand. So we're just gonna keep trying to raise money. So, yeah, I can give you the, give you the link for that for sure. So we're getting there. It's been I've never like organized an event and there's about five of us organizing it and it's been an absolute shit fight dealing with council trying to get roads shut down and stuff like that. But we're getting there. And you know, that was one of one of the guys in that groups whose daughter and when that happened it completely rocked all of us and but we we've come together in such a way where we've you know it's, we're all there to support each other and that's exactly what it's all about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're into your um, into your ice baths and your breathing and stuff Is that. Is that your?
Speaker 1:Chill out. Yeah, definitely like running is a big thing, like I'm a bit injured at the moment, so I'm not I'm gonna go into 100k run injured, which is gonna be super fun, so, but, um, I so running is like a big thing for me to clear my mind. I love doing that and then Jumping an ice bath. So I got sauna at home as well. So I have sauna, ice bath. Love it so good yeah and then it's actually.
Speaker 1:I've had a bit of a break from it, as it was a bit dirty with some stuff growing in there and then trying to jump back in there. It's like it's been a bit of a nightmare, but now it's warming up, it's not too bad, so I like it nice and icy. So.
Speaker 2:Big silk glass to two months with that with it. But it look for you like for me it it's just about building that willpower to commit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really helped my I guess my mental health and things Just being able to handle situations and yeah, it makes you realize that you get a set of gold and you get stick to it and you get in there and you do it. I said I was gonna do a 10 minute. I had that on my list this year. I was gonna do a 10 minutes in the ice bath, like probably ice, and I did that and I'll probably regret it because I think I got semi-hyperthermia after it.
Speaker 1:But I was like I'm gonna do this for 10 minutes and like the pain was Like horrible but I was sitting down, I'm gonna do it and like after like seven minutes, I was kind of like I was sweet, like you know, but I, I had that goal and I'm like, well, you know, yeah, if you've said a goal, just do it, and it makes you Become accountable for that stuff as well. You know, get no uncomfortable. What is it Ned Brockman says be uncomfortable, get no uncomfortable. Yeah, I think that's it. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Well, get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So um, mate, what's so where to from here? Like, do you do like you into coaching, like your personal development? Like, how are you gonna continue to grow and and keep your journey going like I?
Speaker 1:think like business-wise, we've got Goals and ambitions. We're gonna push bigger commercial, like that's our next goal we want to start getting. We're gonna push up the coast as well. So any Goldie, goldie guys looking for northern New South Wales, sparky, where we're starting to push up this way, maybe probably look at Hopefully trying to open another branch up here, like I think Jared's kind of keen to come up to Goldie way, so we might look at build another branch up up and sort of splitting up a bit, maybe, yeah, and running two divisions this is like years, years away but and then pushing into the bigger commercial stuff. That's where I want to really just be prevalent in a big, big house. I want to win more awards. We've got a taste for it. We went down. We won best residential Building New South Wales at the NECA Awards. So what's the NECA?
Speaker 2:I'm so.
Speaker 1:NECA is like the national electrical Communications association, so it's like the mark, it's like the master builders sort of electrical industry, so it's a good out big awards night and that's up against some pretty crazy houses and stuff, so that we took that out, which was unreal.
Speaker 2:So so was that what sort of house was that for like?
Speaker 1:It was like a big holiday. It's called Villa Reardon in a barn and it's like a massive holiday, like it just evolved from a house into this. It's like all studios off it and like this massive residents, crazy natural pool and yeah, we just like bit of automation in there. The lighting was crazy and yeah, it was pretty standout, build massive, massive square meterage on it and and yeah, that's what we took it out for.
Speaker 1:That and some of the houses they were showing us was like, oh yeah, there's no way we're winning this, didn't write a speech, nothing. And then got called up in front of there's like 500 people in there and we had to go up and do a speech. It was like, oh, thanks for this. What do you reckon, joe? How is it? And he's like it's just have a good night. That's pretty funny. Just, we're so underprepared because we just didn't think we're gonna win. Like you know, pretty small. Some of the guys you know like going up against Stowe and stuff and so some big companies and yeah, we just I think we got a little taste for it and like I think this is what we want to be doing.
Speaker 1:So we're trying to push into finding those. We're in a small area, no, so there's not this. There's some nice houses going on, but it's kind of. You know the builders that we've only been going for years. They got their guys they've been using, so how can we get in with them? How do we add the value? So that's why we're trying to build the presence that we are. So people start coming to us and going.
Speaker 2:Oh, you know, these guys must be right, it's all about adding the value, mate. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1:I guess I had a question for you in regards to With that. Like what do you say? Someone comes to you and they go oh, can I quote your work? What is gonna make you step away from your? This isn't me trying to get your work. I'm just saying, like what?
Speaker 2:No, that's a good question. What?
Speaker 1:makes you. You know that. Did we finger in there and go? I know I might change my trade. You know how long have you had your trades for? Do you use the same trades to use different trades? And then what would make you sort of Push away to someone else?
Speaker 2:Look, we've, we've recently just changed a few, a few of our trades. We've got some trades we've had, like I think my Plum is been doing our work. Well, we've bought other plumbers in over the years when we've been flat out and stuff that Dan's been doing our work from probably buddy 15 or 16 years It'd be hard for you to get someone else to know.
Speaker 2:For me it's all well, it's multiple things. Big thing is relationship, Like I think relationships across the board are incredibly important. I would jump ship in a heartbeat if they ticked all the boxes. So for me, what I'm after now is like I want people that are on a similar journey. So cause, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much personal development I do, how much I improve the business, how many systems and processes I have, how good our quality is, the business will only ever be as good as the lowest person that I accept. So if there's people and that could be suppliers, it could be employees, could be trades. If there's people that have got shit attitudes, that don't respect other members of my team and when I say team, it's everybody, it's my suppliers, my clients, Everyone's got to work together, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm only ever as good as my lowest, my worst person. So if someone comes to me, yeah, like. If you come to me and said, hey, like for me, the first thing I do. If someone rings me and says, hey, like, I'll never say, like, flog someone off. If anyone sends us an email or reaches out and says, hey, how do I do your work, we'll always say I'll look, send us all your details and we'll generally jump on Instagram, like we talked about before, and we'll check them out, possibly talk to other builders and stuff. But if we're looking, like a lot of the time we're not looking because we are happy with what we got, but we'll never flog them off. We'll always say, look, send us your stuff through. We'll just keep in our database, cause I don't even know Most of the time he could get hit by a truck tomorrow.
Speaker 1:He might say he's too busy in my interviews and he might not like working for me.
Speaker 2:So it goes both ways, but for me, relationships number one, the first thing. If we did decide to work with someone else, the first thing is what you and I are doing now, Like we organized to catch up at a coffee shop or something and we have a chat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you gotta see if you're gonna work together and have that relationship for sure.
Speaker 2:Mate, like we've discussed so much in the last day or so, like, catch up with them, have a smoothie or a coffee or whatever talk about you. Just get a feel for people. Like you get a feel for if they're putting in time, energy and money into themselves, if they're improving their business. Scheduling is massive for us, like I am in timeframe, so we will. Like there's been a few trades that we've bought on because they've impressed us with their, how quickly they've responded to things, the amount of detail they've given us in their pricing. Like we don't base anything on price, but if you wanted our work, the last thing that I would like I don't want you to drop your pants Like I want you to give me the honest cost of the job. I want everybody to make money and I want quality.
Speaker 1:That's how I feel like every builder should be, because that's when they're going to get the best out of people. And I know it's hard when you get stressed about competing against people and you're going to make be like oh you know, like I could probably get. We've lost so many jobs to price and we're not the most expensive. I know that because sometimes we sit in the middle. We lost one the other day to I think it was 10 grand and they pulled someone down from the Goldie, but the job was close to our shed and I'm going what's the reason for it? And he didn't kind of want to tell me. I'm going Matt, come on, I'm trying to build my business. I just want to know what the reason was. There's a big commercial company from Sydney.
Speaker 2:I think it's hard with them. I think it's harder for trades, cause the problem you guys have is you're you're working for builders that I would say 80 or 90% of the time, don't understand their overheads, aren't quoting their jobs correctly, and then order for them to make money. They've got to screw you. So I think the best thing any business can do, so how, how I get my work is I sell it. I sell myself. So we've got systems and processes. People got to fill out inquiry forms, they've got to meet our criteria. Like we just don't work with anybody but we, nine times out of 10, our clients end up spending 20 to 40% more with us than what they initially tell us, because we deliver a service, we solve their problems.
Speaker 2:Like how I do that, and I think trades can do it in a similar way. Like we have a. Like I have a folder on my iPad called dream project. So like if they make it through our questionnaire and they meet our criteria and they, we go to have a meeting with them. I show them this folder and I basically say to them look, this is called dream projects, because if we follow all this stuff in here, I'm going to deliver you a dream project, and so I put it in front of the client and show them, like, when you work with us, this is the type of proposal you're going to get. It's going to be 40 to 60 pages. You're going to get a full job schedule. I'll flick through a job schedule. I'll show them the contracts we use, like I show them all the shit that they're going to get put in front of them, and so I'm demonstrating what it's going to be like to work with us and that's value.
Speaker 1:It's value I'm solving problems.
Speaker 2:I'm giving them confidence. I'm setting myself up as a professional. They I'm getting their respect. I'm being honest, I'm earning trust. So I think trades can do the exact same thing, like if you're a sparky that come to me and, look, you've only put this on me now, so I'm just thinking about it as I'm talking. But if you come to me with a dream projects folder and said, hey, look, if you work with us, this is what we do. We have a full job scale on the job. This is a type of proposal I'm going to give to you. This is how a variation works. This is how I liaise with your clients. This is a type of electrical drawings I do and you list, you show me all the problems you're going to solve.
Speaker 1:It's adding value to your business, I'd give you my work tomorrow yeah. I'll get that. Send it an email.
Speaker 2:But that's like I think. It's that I think and again it comes back to what we're talking about before. Most tradies don't have the time to do that Like they can do it. They want to do that, but they're on the tools all day. They don't understand the business. They're not employing someone to help them out in the office, so they're trying to do this shit of a night time after hours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's all networking. So we have like a. We've spent a lot of time with a designer. We've made a capability fly that when I do get introduced like the other day, I had a guy I've done some work for he's actually a developer and he uses a big commercial builder who's stuck in, who they want to use. He wants to use us because I've done his house, he knows me, we have that relationship now and the other builders kind of like oh you know, I use this guy because I know his price and I know it's just that comes that same thing.
Speaker 2:I know his price.
Speaker 1:I know he's cheap. So and then this guy going yeah, but I like working with these guys, I don't, it doesn't matter to me if they're a bit more expensive. Like, I know their work, I know what they do. So he's put us in together with an email to introduce us, and I've, you know, said good day. And I just said look, here's a little bit about us. And this is what we got. Instead of a website, we've got this, like it's almost like a pamphlet online. Yeah, it just documents everything we do. And then they've got that. You might you can't throw it in the bin, but he might chuck it in his junk mail, but at least it's that thing. They've opened it up and seen it. Our logo is there. It stays in their brain Next time they see a car, next time they see another car driving around, and then, when they're sparky, might fuck up saying and then I go oh, who's that other guy who pulled that thing?
Speaker 1:up Like oh yeah, maybe we will, you give them a go.
Speaker 2:So it's systems and processes will win it all day, every day. Like the um, like we've got a job we've recently started, we're trying out a new sparky yeah Um, mate, him and I just connected Like, are we? Um, it's a long story. We were pricing a job that a bill to gone broke on. We were trying to do the right thing and get the trades that are.
Speaker 2:He started the work to finish the work and well, actually he did what I just told you. Like at the meeting, he asked me oh, here you go, he's got much work on how many jobs you do. And, um, he bought out his iPad and he was showing me the quotes and shit they did. Anyway, long story short, um, they've just started their first job for us and he um made all so impressed. So he's got a few things impressed me. So the first one was, without me even asking, he told me how he operated. He's like we have this many guys.
Speaker 2:You book a scene. This is what happens. It goes into our schedule. We'll ring and follow you up, we'll check in with you, like all this stuff. And then, anyway, so he started this first job's coming up, and so we've emailed him. I've sent him a text message just saying hey, mate, we need to do disconnect so we can do our demolition work. He's gone out there Like he's locked it in he's, and we sent him our job schedule and one of the first thing I was like far out, like that's fantastic, like a very few like he works for.
Speaker 2:I think he said 140 odd bills or something. He's pretty big, but um, anyway, he went to site. He did the disconnect. Well, he didn't. He's teamed in and mate within two hours or an hour of him, his boys being on site. We got sent an email with photos of everything All the PowerPoints and lights that disconnected J boxes on them. We got instructions to where he'd set up the temporary power and I was like fuck, like that is the best thing I've ever had. Like that's straight away. I was able to put that message onto Slack to let my team know that, hey, the spark is being.
Speaker 2:When you show up there in a couple of days time, everything's safe. The hits of pictures like it was fantastic. I've never. I've never had that before Processes.
Speaker 1:And that's yeah and like how good, and then that's making you go all right. Well, maybe the next time I've got a job I might, you know, use him, cause if they're offering something that the other person's not, it's like the biggest one of our one of our biggest costs is supervision. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like so, um and if and things like that eliminate well, eliminate a lot of it. So our jobs rely on. Like to keep our jobs, the quality consistency stay on schedule relies on like we've got an incredible supervisor. Like it relies on him getting to sites, checking things, letting the next trade to know what's going. Like one thing that I think so many trades don't do that they should. It may be a text message, but send something when you've completed your task, just communication.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's hard and it and it's hard because, as someone who's an owner, that's dry, you got to drive that in your guys as well. You know, like, and it's one big thing with us as photos. We're like you take photos of everything, because it not just covers your ass, but we've got that documentation, so if something ever does go wrong, we can go no, look, we got a photo of it. Yeah, and nine times out of 10, when something goes wrong, the photo we need isn't in there and I'm going to the place, going.
Speaker 1:Why didn't you take a photo of that? Oh, it's the one. It's the only thing I didn't take a photo of. I was like man, it's the only thing that we needed.
Speaker 2:Oh, mate, we've just solved that. And again, it was my um supervisor's idea, um, cause he does a lot of snow skiing and he got one of those cameras that you put in your helmet and it films, films, everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all the guys got to walk around with go-pros on that.
Speaker 2:So now, like when we um, so before we start plastering, like once everything's done, tied it up and we're ready for plasterers to come in, he does a full walkthrough with the job with this camera, the 361.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they're cool, yeah, and it shows everything.
Speaker 2:So we can put that on the computer screen at any point after he's done that and move it around and we can see everything. It's so good yeah.
Speaker 1:It's incredible. I've got a main model and that use one, so it's like same as the real estate ones where you can take yourself through a house.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the 3D, and it gives you like a 3D Um, it'll be different than that. It's like a 3D uh overview and then you can click. You know, when you go on real estate and you can click into a house and it takes you in and then you can like click the buttons and it takes you through. So in Melbourne he's been doing that and he pays for it and he so after every rough and he gets it done. So he's got it all documented. I don't know, he probably splits it with the builder, so they've got the same thing. But he was saying like it's, it's just another thing that adds value and you can't, you can't hot.
Speaker 2:Like there's no lot, Like there's no, he said. She said like if something comes up at, fit off you, just you go back to the camera Like, uh, it tells a thousand words.
Speaker 1:So you know, that's like we're like lucky we've got that technology to be able to do that, so why not use it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100% covers your ass.
Speaker 1:That's why I always try to charm in people, because at the end of the day, on the person that is is fixing all the problems. So I need you guys on site to give me everything you can so that if I do have to fix a problem, you know I can prove that we're sweet, you know, but if you don't do that, then it all comes back on me and I'm the person that's putting the fires out because you didn't get the photo of the thing that you didn't do. Yeah, or something like that. So you know, we've, we've drummed that in the guys.
Speaker 2:so well now, where they know like sometimes they put too many photos in, like a hundred photos of it, but it's not a bad thing, but it's good yeah.
Speaker 1:I'd rather them do that than than not do it. But that's taken, you know, years of getting everyone on track and having problems where you know, boys have gotten a roof and didn't have a roof sheet, and then we've got to pay for it and stuff like that when they're going. We didn't even walk there. I'm like, yeah, but we don't have any photo proof, and the other guy does, so we'll just top it. But next time get a photo.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, mate, look, really appreciate you taking the time to drive this afternoon. Like, um, I could actually talk all night Like it's been an incredible conversation, so, but just before we wrap it up, like new age electrical head of people find you what's, what's your Instagram Like?
Speaker 1:it's a new underscore age underscore electrical, underscore co. So if you type in new age electrical, it'll come up yeah.
Speaker 2:Web site yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a yeah, same thing. New age electrical code yeah.
Speaker 2:You got personal.
Speaker 1:Instagram Personal one Poppy's biological father. Um, what is that?
Speaker 2:We could go on for hours.
Speaker 1:I think I don't know what I did there, but yeah, I just. Uh, I actually am her biological father. I don't know why I put that on there, but yeah, that's their personal one. And then, um, yeah, we got our YouTube. So all our podcasts are on YouTube and Spotify under um new age electrical code or spark your interest, so awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, um, thanks for taking the time out Really appreciate it. I think you've dropped a lot of bombs and, uh, as usual, it's more information that's going to help level up the industry. So, um, look for anyone that's listening to this or watching this. Make sure you like, subscribe, share. Uh, it really means a lot to us because, uh, we want to get this podcast in front of as many people as possible and, uh, continue the mission to create a new residential industry. So, um, thanks for listening and we'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Are you ready to build smarter, live better and enjoy life? Then head on to livelightbuildcom forward, slash, elevate to get started.
Speaker 2:Everything discussed during the level up podcast with me, duane Pierce, 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 obtain your own professional advice in respect to the topics discussed during this podcast.