Level Up with Duayne Pearce
Beating Breast Cancer to Building Dream Homes
When faced with the towering frameworks of the construction industry and the shadow of breast cancer, one woman, Tarah from Activates Construction, stands tall with a hammer in one hand and hope in the other. She's not only shattered the glass ceiling to win the Queensland Master Builders Women in Construction Award for 2023, but she's also constructed a sanctuary of strength and inspiration for many. Join us as we unravel Tarah's journey, where she crafts not just buildings, but a legacy, intertwining the resilience of overcoming personal health battles with the grit of leading a booming family business.
Tarah's story is a blueprint for breaking norms—her hands, once held down by cancer's weight, now lift others as her company supports breast cancer research with every property sold. We trek through her and her husband's business evolution, from small-scale renovations to a full-fledged development enterprise, all while cementing a brand that wears pink with pride. Tarah's personal touch in home design speaks volumes about the importance of a woman's perspective in an industry often dominated by men. Her voice is a clarion call for young women to pick up the tools and blueprints, to build not only structures but also their dreams in construction.
As Tarah deftly navigates the scaffolds of property development, she shares insights on risk management and the significance of financial prudence—a testament to her calculated courage. The foundation of her success? A robust team dynamic and an unwavering positive attitude that turns every challenge into a stepping stone. This episode isn't just about the framework of buildings; it's about constructing a mindset of resilience and respect that transcends industries. So, tune in and let Tarah's story lay the cornerstone for your own journey of growth and triumph.
check out Activates Construction here...
www.activates.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.
Living PurposedWe want to gather with a purposeful intention to explore the world around us. ...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
check out more podcasts here...
https://levelupwithduaynepearce.buzzsprout.com
When faced with the towering frameworks of the construction industry and the shadow of breast cancer, one woman, Tarah from Activates Construction, stands tall with a hammer in one hand and hope in the other. She's not only shattered the glass ceiling to win the Queensland Master Builders Women in Construction Award for 2023, but she's also constructed a sanctuary of strength and inspiration for many. Join us as we unravel Tarah's journey, where she crafts not just buildings, but a legacy, intertwining the resilience of overcoming personal health battles with the grit of leading a booming family business.
Tarah's story is a blueprint for breaking norms—her hands, once held down by cancer's weight, now lift others as her company supports breast cancer research with every property sold. We trek through her and her husband's business evolution, from small-scale renovations to a full-fledged development enterprise, all while cementing a brand that wears pink with pride. Tarah's personal touch in home design speaks volumes about the importance of a woman's perspective in an industry often dominated by men. Her voice is a clarion call for young women to pick up the tools and blueprints, to build not only structures but also their dreams in construction.
As Tarah deftly navigates the scaffolds of property development, she shares insights on risk management and the significance of financial prudence—a testament to her calculated courage. The foundation of her success? A robust team dynamic and an unwavering positive attitude that turns every challenge into a stepping stone. This episode isn't just about the framework of buildings; it's about constructing a mindset of resilience and respect that transcends industries. So, tune in and let Tarah's story lay the cornerstone for your own journey of growth and triumph.
check out Activates Construction here...
www.activates.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.
Living PurposedWe want to gather with a purposeful intention to explore the world around us. ...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
check out more podcasts here...
https://levelupwithduaynepearce.buzzsprout.com
Over the years, we've had moments where, you know, we've had arguments about work and we kind of look at each other going. What are we doing this for, like? If it's affecting our relationship, what the hell are we doing this for, like? We are working this hard so that we have a great future, so, you know, we can spend more time with our family, so we can have, you know, more things in life, but if we don't have each other, then what the hell is the point?
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. I am super pumped about this one because the lady we have with us today is an absolute inspiration. We've just been having a chat before we started recording and the energy is fantastic. She, her and her husband, buy and develop houses around Brisbane, build incredible properties. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was 27. She now, or a whole team, wear pink as part of their awareness for breast cancer and she's just taken out the Queensland Master Builders Women in Construction for 2023, mate. That is a big achievement, so a big, warm welcome to Tara from Activate's Construction. How are you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, good Thanks for having me, Dwayne. This is awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, we've got heaps to discuss, so let's see where this goes. Yeah. Like hats off to you for just taking out the women in construction Like you must be pretty proud of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a big surprise. I didn't realise I was saying before we started recording that I, you know, got there and they started presenting awards for a lot of the homes that have been presented, and I saw that they were just handing out the awards without having to say anything. And so we were up in the back table near the bar. We had a whole crew there. We bought a whole table, so we were having a great time and my office manager kept, you know, leaning over me. She kept saying you know, have you got something in your pocket to say? And then, when I saw that no one had to say anything, I was like sweet, I'm okay, you know, knocking back some wines. And so then, when they did announce that it was me, I just had.
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, it was a complete surprise because there was a lot of good contenders, other women in there, and then so I had the long walk, you know, from the back near the bar to get up onto stage to say a few things. So first thing that came to mind was, you know, only 11% makes up women in construction. And yeah, so I just sort of threw that out there and I was like, well, I hope this inspires more women to get into the industry and yeah.
Speaker 1:I guess you know, when you approached me to come and have a chat on the podcast, I was like, well, what better opportunity to inspire, hopefully, a few more women to get into it and lift that number?
Speaker 2:I love it. I think look, I think it's. We've been having lots of conversation about this lately, a lot of the builders that I've talked to now through my socials and things that we're all trying to employ females. I think, there's definitely a like I know like we have multiple businesses. Like none of my businesses would be where they are if it wasn't for, like, I'm surrounded by women. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:One of my businesses is five women. In my construction business we got my wife and the council manager Like. I think you bring so much to the table. Yeah. And I know we're definitely starting to see more females in the trade and the building space now as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure it's great, I think that's numbers rising. We've got our first female chippy. That started this year and yeah, she gets in and does it. I actually am a bit tentative with my back at the moment because I lifted a generator onto her the other day and I was like, yeah, I still got to remember I'm not as strong as some of the other guys and everything, but yeah, definitely, I mean, if it's not that, then there's other things that you can be doing and I think that you know, just, you know they talk about a female touch or you know, I think, just from a DNA perspective, we just we're wired differently. You know, we notice things that maybe you know and I don't mean to generalize too much, but you know, I guess we're just wired to see things differently than you know what potentially some other guys can do. So it definitely brings value, I think to any business.
Speaker 2:I think it's like I talk a lot about like you need to know, like your strengths and your passion, and I'm a big fan Like I actually had a team meeting with individually with my team this morning, and we try and have regular reviews not as much as we should, but I've encouraged them to tell me their goals so we can grow together and help them achieve more those types of things. But you're I really like encouraging your team to tell me what you're, tell me what you love, tell me what you're good at, tell me what you come to work every day for, tell me the tasks that give you anxiety and you don't like so much, so that we can like make sure you're doing things. Because whenever, when people are doing the things they love, production is so much better. So it's no different between like with females and males. I think. I think I feel like there's a lot of builders out there that are hesitant on employing female trades Because, like you just said, like you realize that you're not quite as strong as other men.
Speaker 2:Like you've got to know your strengths and your weaknesses For sure.
Speaker 1:There's lots of other ways you can do things, but I mean, we spoke before that I went to I've spoken at an event for NAWIC, the National Association of Women in Construction, and the amount of girls that are there doing trades like, you know, welding or being a sparky, you know, trades where you know you don't have to stand a frame or anything like that, but you could still be an amazing tradeee and do that. And then there was a lot of women there that was, you know, sort of looking at just the project management side of things. You know they aspire to be a builder and to be able to do that, which you know. I think, seeing that rise and you know, I think the world that we're living in today, it's kind of like you can literally be anything, anyone. You know that you want to be, and I think that's really good and there's ways around it.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think definitely lots of opportunities in the future. Like, even if it's not male and female, everybody has everyone's better at something and enjoys doing something, so it's whether it's male or female. It's about figuring out what that is, isn't it? And then using it as your, as your superpower, and focusing on that. So how did you go about finding your female chippy?
Speaker 1:Well, she. Actually we have expanded recently. In the last couple of years we kind of went from doing you know two homes a year to we're now by the end of this year we would have listed and sold nine homes and obviously we have more homes in the pipeline which will be finished off next year. But yeah, we had a.
Speaker 1:Our general manager actually had a construction company and he was sort of contracting his chippies to us and approached us a couple of years back and was sort of like you know, I'd really love if, you know, your company was able to gear up to be able to take all that cruise on. And so pretty much we just changed our business model. We were like yep and out of, my husband just went out and bought as many you know homes as he could and we sort of geared up that way and it was actually his daughter was kind of working in with us. You know she didn't love schooling and everything and she was kind of just being a lucky roaming around and I think, to be honest, you know she kind of saw that there was a good opportunity.
Speaker 1:I don't know that she'll always be on the tools, but if she does want to get into building and be a good builder like her dad was like you know, you really need to be able to see how it goes on and would you be interested, you know, to do a trade? And she was straight up like yeah, and yeah, she's just a go getter, she just wants to be amongst it, be amongst the team, you know, create something with her hands. And yeah. I think you know eventually she's going to make it a fantastic builder, because she's actually done that as well and really done the hard yards from the get go.
Speaker 2:I think it's fantastic. So you've actually got your builders license.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I do. I am not a tradeee, even though I, you know, commend her on doing that. My husband and I bought our first home like 18 years ago now and we sort of did the whole owner builder thing ourselves. Took two years I climbed up a gorilla ladder, to you know, into it to get into my house with groceries and everything like that for a good two years.
Speaker 1:People don't see. They see all the glory. You know they might see our house now and they're like, oh well, you know they're so lucky and it's so amazing because you know, the harder you work, the luckier seem to get.
Speaker 1:And yeah so you know, we did all the hard yards, we did everything we had. We didn't have a roof for a good amount of time because we were doing an extension on our Renault and I remembered being up on the roof and we had a billboard banner. It was a Spider-Man 3 billboard. We know Toby McGuire on it straight over our roof to stop the rain coming in, because it was, you know, those summer rains were coming in in the afternoon and I'm trying to hold this bloody billboard down and Adams on one end and we're up on the roof like, oh my God, looking back on it now. You know, if I could see my kids doing that, I'd have a fit.
Speaker 2:But you know that's what we did. What's the background? So what were you? I was actually a beauty therapist.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we were just doing renovating our house on, you know, the weekends and things like that, doing it all ourselves. You know, I was like his right hand man because he was a carpenter.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:He was actually still doing his trade.
Speaker 1:He was a bit older when he started his trade because, we did a stint overseas, came back and sort of like, what are we going to do with our lives? So I went off and did beauty therapy and he's like, well, I might go and get a trade and yeah. So then you know he's probably like a second year apprentice or something like that. And yeah, we did our own builder and yeah, just had to kind of work it out and do do a lot. So I think that sort of projected me into learning a lot. You know, the project management side for me is like the strongest, strongest suit, like I like being very organized, I like planning ahead and you know you need to be a good planner to be a builder.
Speaker 1:So you know, just dealing with the trades, we've got amazing trades that you know. Our plumber, for example, worked on that house that I was talking about 18 years ago and he still does all their homes now. You know we've seen them have kids and get married and all that sort of stuff and you know it's really great because you learn so much by having good relationships with the tradies.
Speaker 2:It's all about relationships, isn't it For sure?
Speaker 1:And you know, for me, I think, even though not having done a trade, I feel like I just know a little bit of everything to let me get by. You know, I feel I'm constantly kind of proving myself, but I think you know that's like anything, I guess. You know, if you want a job to be run well, you know people need to be able to trust you. They need to be able to know that you know you're knowledgeable enough and you know what you're talking about. You know to be able to take guidance, I guess, and but these days there's not a lot of guidance we need to even give, because everyone's you know sort of on the same page, because we've had those years of relationships.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm super keen to learn more about what drives you Like. I think there'll be so many people listening to this podcast will be thinking like how they got to where they are, like your story, like you've been through breast cancer. You started as a beauty therapist. Like what has driven you. And so now, so 18 years later, you've obviously overcome breast cancer which. I'm keen to talk more about, but you're now basically buying, building, developing your own projects Like you pretty much don't do, or you do very little work for clients. For sure, yeah, so what is driving you?
Speaker 1:Well, I guess for us it was it actually came off the back of when I was sick. So you know, we'd sort of done a couple of homes. We sold our first home after you know sort of working on it for three years and we made a really good profit off that. We surprisingly got the highest result in Kedrin at the time, and it was just when I was pregnant with our first child. And then it wasn't long after that that I got diagnosed and so, just out of a lack of resources, my son wasn't able to go to childcare while I was going through chemo and everything and because he was just getting too sick. You know, when little kids you send them off to daycare they come home with all these dreaded legies.
Speaker 1:And so Adam just said you know, I'm just going to, I'm just not going to work, I'm just going to take care of you, take care of our son. But then obviously we needed to have income and so, yeah, we would sort of doing little renares on the side, you know.
Speaker 1:Just, you know renovating little post wars and stuff like that, and so so buoying, renovating, so yeah, pretty much we did, like a couple, just to scrape by I mean minimal, like you know, profit margins on that at the time. And you know we were just kind of going backwards and luckily we did have, you know, some form of income protection, which was good to help as well, but it really came down to that. We were sort of just really gearing up to be able to do, you know, a full home, not just, you know, doing a kitchen, doing a bathroom, and so it was probably about 18 months after you know, doing a couple of flips, that we, we were able to afford to do a single home, a single dwelling, and we, you know, did the whole thing raised and renovated.
Speaker 2:And some people wouldn't like. Some people would get diagnosed with something and they're like it almost becomes like an excuse, so they'd give up on their dreams and fall into a hole. You've had something that's kept driving you.
Speaker 1:I mean I think to for me it was a big kicker. I think it definitely. I mean it sounds really cliche. You know you get diagnosed with something and it's like, oh, it puts life into perspective and it kind of does you know, like on a daily, I think about it daily. You know, once you've had, I was, stage three, you know my prognosis was not great.
Speaker 1:You know it had spread into my lymph nodes and you know they said to me we're going to give you a mistake to me based on whether it had spread or not. And you know to hear that at 27,. You know, as far as I was concerned, other people got cancer, old ladies got cancer, and the rest. You know I was really healthy. You know I was very, very regularly exercised and I breastfed my kid and so I'd done all, I ticked all the boxes. So then to be told that you know you could lose your life, it sort of really propelled us into being like well, you know, if this is it, you know you got to make the most of it, and so you know I think that really made us hungry for it. You know the late nights of, you know, sanding floors in these homes and doing things on the weekends and stuff like that, just but you don't know this while you're recovering yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So I think you know I just I honestly feel like it just put my life into the perspective and we realised that, you know, there could be a reoccurrence, even though then I got cleared, you know, after I'd finished chemo I did radiation as well and then I was on like a hormone treatment. So you know, they were like you're not allowed to have another child, or even try for another child for five years after I'd finished treatment. So you know, you know, I guess to me as that distraction, all my friends were starting to get married, all my friends were starting to have babies and that was the one thing I wasn't able to do. So I needed something. So I sort of saw these houses as my babies. I guess you know that was something that I just shift focus. My husband and I really loved doing it together. He was able to use his hands.
Speaker 1:I was really good at the design side of things and you know we touched on being a bit ADHD and you know, I think for me I was like I see a lot of patterns with things and I was able to sort of stay abreast of some of the design selections and where things were going and I sort of really honed in on that Sort of people really seem to like selections I was doing and sort of like, oh, that's great.
Speaker 1:And you know, then we sort of kind of got traction off that it was just rinse and repeat until you know we weren't moving into these homes, we were able to just do it and still pay tax and you know, and we just kept growing on, growing like that until now we could build new homes from scratch. You know, it wasn't just hard to rent those and stuff like that and yeah, so we did have to do clients in between, but now we've sort of got that freedom. You know we can go on holidays and stuff like that and the phone's not ringing all the time because we've got great stuff, that sort of help. And they know that. You know, if they make a decision, the only person they're going to deal with is me and me being unhappy with this. You know, design thing that they've implemented while I'm gone.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I think it's fantastic. So you again comes back to relationships. I'm sure like you've built good relationships with real estate agents and things now. So, like there's a network that's like ringing you about property and you're getting sort of first dibs and things. So like you put in the hard yards, you're now getting the rewards.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. I mean it was very difficult at the time. You know we literally went back to zero. You know we pretty much asked for a loan from a family member to buy a house for you know $400,000 or something like that. And you know they helped us with the deposit. You know, back then you only needed like $60,000 or something like that, which is still a lot of money. But you know they were like yep, and we had to pay interest.
Speaker 1:And you know, when we did that home and we sold it, we were able to pay back that loan with the interest and, you know, be able to go like now we've got enough money to do one without the loan. You know, and that's essentially kind of how it started off and I think you know everyone's got to start from somewhere right. And you know we've been doing it, like I said, 18 years and it was very slow at first and it's probably only realistically being kind of in the last nine years that we've been, you know, really building on those relationships. We see the same faces and you know a lot of people that are stuck by us, that kind of you know.
Speaker 2:But you built like from what I see on the outside, like you've built a pretty tight brand, like there's people now that are looking for your next project.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that helps that we only build sort of within 3K of our home. That's a good business partner.
Speaker 1:You know, because those people are kind of like, yeah right, well, we want to be in a city, northern suburbs. They know that they're going to be pretty close, you know, to somewhere where Activate is building. But for us it came down to. You know, we got a young family. We ended up going and having a second child, you know, after I was sick, and so for us to be able to manage these projects properly, we need to be able to get to site.
Speaker 1:You know a lot of trades will ring you and they're like you know you say, ring me when you're 10 minutes away. They will always ring you when they're sitting out the front. So you know we want to be able to get nice, you know, be nice and close and have access to all those sites all the time. And it's also about for us, you know we need to know those suburbs. We need to know you know what people, what buyers, will be looking for. And we always build. Like people say you can just tell it's an Activate's home and I guess for us it's because we're building it as if we would move our family into it.
Speaker 1:So, I think that, for me, is something that I think has created that brand is. We're always like we're a family business and we design it as if we were going to be moving in and how our family would live in it. We love to entertain, we love having our kids close. We also love when our kids can just go and have their own space, you know. So we just that's really what's a big passion for us and a driving force in creating that.
Speaker 2:You've created a niche like, probably not even knowing it, like you've like the pink shirts, obviously, so your entire team wears pink shirts.
Speaker 1:Our entire team wears pink.
Speaker 1:Yep, there was a few boys at first.
Speaker 1:It was funny when our, our now GM sort of came over and you know, the crews that were otherwise contracting were like now their team activates and we were like, well, here's your shirts that we, you know, have been supplied by Bisley. They sponsor us, which is great, and you know the guys now, knowing that they, you know they belong to this, this team, that you know what we're we're now doing is we're corporate partners with the National Breast Cancer Foundation and it's really important, I think you know, to talk about your health, you know, and yes, it's breast cancer and the percentage of men getting breast cancer isn't very high, but you know it's, with one in seven women being diagnosed at some stage in their lives. Most of the guys have someone that's been affected, you know, and I think it's just a that matter of chatting about it, and we used to get, like I remember, these Concretor ones dropped off and it's like, oh, your faggots in your pink shirts. And you know, like we, my husband was like, you know, and I was standing there, like my wife.
Speaker 1:My wife actually had breast cancer. That's why we wear it. Did he get it? From the practice, and this Concretor was like oh my God, my mum passed away from breast cancer. And Adam's like well, there you go, mate. And this guy just changed his tune Like he was just like that's so great that you guys are supporting it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And yeah, just in the last 12 months we decided to donate $5,000 from the sale of every home, from the profits of every home, to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. And you know, it's our little part of like, we finally feel like we're in that position where we can actually start to make a difference. And, you know, no matter what my future holds, it's kind of like our legacy, you know, You've got to give it together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right. And you know I've got, like I said, two kids and I want to make sure that we can, you know, make breast cancer a thing of the past. And so you know, if we can assist with some funding and research and finding a cure, then that's all right by me. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Look, I definitely Mother-in-law's well when I say recently had it like in the past few years like. I know quite a few people that are friends and family, so it is something that impacts a lot of people. So it's incredible that you're putting this awareness out there, but in the process, you're also building this incredible brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I own it, and then a lot of guys are willing to put on pink shirts, but yeah, I think it's definitely makes us easy to spot, that's for sure, if you see us down at Bunnings, a few people that are like oh, you guys are those pink shirt wearing Rebel.
Speaker 2:Branding is huge, but like there's builders around Brisbane that are big on the socials, like they're the ones that do really well, the ones that create brands. Yeah, for sure. You can like everyone's so caught up in a name and the name trying to mean something, but you really want to be building a brand that stands out to people and, yeah, to have a following, like people are now waiting for you to build your next project so they can come on auction and buy one of your homes Like that must be pretty exciting.
Speaker 1:Oh, it definitely is. You know we've had, we get constantly emails, you know, can we see the plants you know? Are you? Will you consider selling before? Sometimes we just have people just literally hanging out the front and I actually had to send a text message to all the supervisors yesterday just like do not let anyone on site. Like someone rocked up recently and sort of was like oh, I've got a text message from Tara. I'm like BS. Later, who the hell is this person? Like, you know, but you know our supervisor is trying to do the right thing. I'm like, no, just don't let them on site. Like it's just too hard to just to manage.
Speaker 1:And you know, because we've got so many projects we like we want to show out, show our finished product, you know. And that's the thing, and you know people fall in love with our product and seeing it all completed, I don't care how good your imagination is. To me, even and I select most of the things there are times I walk on site and I'm like shit, I hope that's okay. And then when I see it all come together, I'm like, yes, cool, I wasn't, like you know, drunk or something when I made those selections. So to me, you know it's sometimes you just need to see everything finished.
Speaker 1:And I think that for us, is one of the things is we want everyone even playing field, you know, if you really want our products like. It's not about exclusivity, it's not about who, you know, you know we just want to like put it out there. And you know, for us we very rarely have long sales campaigns. We had one this year that sat on there a bit longer, but generally our homes are under contract within seven days, unless we go to auction and they always sell at auction. We've never not sold at auction. So I think that for us, is something that shows we we just want to keep the stock moving and we just go and get something else so we can build another beautiful home somewhere else.
Speaker 2:So how do you super kind of dig into your business model because, like it's every builder's dream, like bill is that's what they get to a point where they just they've got no systems and processes, they can't handle the clients, or they just blame the clients for everything and all you hear is, like I just want to get to that point where I've done enough cash, like, and get the clients off and just do my own projects, but like it's not that easy, like you've got to bankroll the whole thing.
Speaker 2:That's why the drawers coming in, you don't have cash flow Like you've got to fund that job from start to finish. Well, from start to sale. Yeah, that's exactly right. You've obviously managed to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean, it hasn't been easy, but for us it's, you know, and it is, it's a lot of risk and I think that's the thing that we, you know, people don't understand is. You know, we can tell people how we've done it, but you know those people, you know, I've never, I've never, had a loan in my car, I've never had a loan on any machinery, I've never done any of that stuff. So you know, I try to tell people what we've done and they're like oh yeah, but I just really love my European car. You know, I'm not like. You know all that comes into consideration, you know. So we did take risks, but I feel like for us it was always calculated risks.
Speaker 2:I mean, everyone's looking for the quick fix.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right. But I mean we're lucky enough that we live in an amazing city that has lots of growth. I mean everyone keeps talking and spruiking the Olympics and everything like that. You know, it's true. I mean I'm from Victoria originally and when I go down to Melbourne I see where it's at and I understand why heaps of people are moving up here.
Speaker 2:You know, like it's just, it's not not, if you look at any of those southern states like yeah we're way too many people wanting to be here and we've got so much room to grow.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So, so, yes, it is a risk, and we do. You know we do bankroll everything, but it's a calculated risk and I think for us, as long as we're, you know, working off the worst case scenarios and what's that's what we always do. We work off the absolute worst case scenario and you know that's the thing I said to you the last three projects. You know we pretty much just broke even and that's because we bought at the height of the market. You know the market went boom there for a while and then we saw these interest rate rises and you know some of the stock we'd held longer because we had to go through DA and you know council was backlogged and everything like that. And then you BA and and you know, by the time we actually finished that property off, you know there was a lot of people that you know didn't have the capacity to to borrow what they could have borrowed 12 months ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so we were kind of capped and we were stuck with these projects. But at the same point it's like, yep, that's crap, but if we sell that, we're buying in a more suppressed market and then hopefully, you know, we'll just keep riding the raves because it's just for us. It swings around about. There's been times there where you know, like, like I said to you, you could, you could still buy, for, you know, within 7k from the city for 700,000.
Speaker 2:That's on the hurdle now, Like a lot of what I try to get out there is it's. It's all you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like you could, you could document your process and everything you do. But, like, like you just said, like you've done the hard yards. Like so many people out there see all the stuff on Instagram like, oh, this is fantastic, how come they can do that? Why can't I do that? But they can't do it because they've just gone and bought the new dual cab or they've been on a month long holiday. Like everyone wants that quick dopamine hit right now. Like absolutely, you want to be successful, you've got to.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you've got to cut back. You've got to do the hard yards. You've got to put the time in the money, in the effort, in For sure To get the reward Like. It's not just as simple as going and purchasing a property and developing it and then getting the cream at the end. Yeah, absolutely, because I'm sure you do months of homework. Well, you've got you've probably got data now Like yeah, we do.
Speaker 1:We've got a spreadsheet.
Speaker 1:Um, we're generally we'll bring up, you know we'll see it.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're on realestatecom several times a day anyway and you know we see a property and you know you go to um PD online, you check it out and you're like, yep, flood. No, okay, where's the sewer? You know you do your dial before you digs and, um, you know, generally when we we're ringing an agent, we, they, we find out what that house or that land, what the the sale price is going to be, and straight and we're like, okay, cool, so if we build and activate home, what would your end sale price be in your opinion to the agent? And we stuck it, stick it in. And obviously we're like, worst case scenario, we take a couple of hundred thousand off and we know within 30 seconds if that's a property for us or not. So, um, you know we're we're we're so stringent on our costs and, like you were saying, you know there's so many people that were operating these days and they're just not not fully over that Most builders don't know what their last job actually cost them.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:And yet they're they're. They're sitting down there pricing a new job and they got no idea what the carpentry cost on the job. They just finished what the cladding was, what the concreting was, like they're just pulling figures out of thin air. And probably the most important thing is and I'm sure you're all over this, like most not just builders trades as well. Most people actually don't know what they actually made from the last job they finished.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. Hey, it's unbelievable. I see, I mean we were talking about pre COVID and then after COVID and you know how much our costs went up. And I mean I know that our costs have gone up about 40%. You know since what we were building in 2019? To now you know and and I was saying to you that I think there's that perception that you know builders just you know rolling in it and you know that that you know they're just screwing us down all the time.
Speaker 1:And you know and there's so many people I hear talking about you know they built through COVID and all this sort of stuff. You know it's gone crazy. Now I can't. You know price is going to go backwards and I'm like, no, they're not going to go backwards because that's the prices. Now, you know, it's not that we're taking the piss, we're not making an extra 20%. Most builders are working on sort of 20%, if that.
Speaker 1:So when it's yeah, well, obviously you were saying that there's hardly even that sometimes. But then for it to be the prices to be going up, like you don't, you don't want to be paying your client to build for them. So you know, it's just about that education for me. Sometimes I get a bit like I'm kind of happy. I don't build for clients, sometimes for that, because it doesn't matter what they have. You know, you can say, you know $2 million budget it wants to be.
Speaker 1:It'll be a $5 million budget sometimes you know I blame Instagram and Pinterest.
Speaker 2:Well it's, everyone needs to be educated. Like, I feel like you guys would have a lot of success now if you went back to client work because you've got so much data and I would assume that doing the jobs for yourself, you've probably got more data than most, because I'm sure there's been situations where you've done something you're like oh no, that's not gonna, that's not what I want, We'll do that different way. Like you, probably spent more than you might have done with the client.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure, and it's easy to get carried away when you're doing it for yourself as well. You know there's been times where you know we've sat down and I'm like, oh crap, I really have to rein it in. You know, I've put these things in and this in, and you know I've gone crazy with the LED strip lights and the sheer curtains and, oh, it looks so pretty and your profit margin was teeny tiny. But the house looked amazing, you know.
Speaker 1:So I think that's you know it's definitely trial and error, but I definitely think keeping track of your costs I mean we use zero for our counting and you know I've never done any accounting course or anything like that, I'm all self-taught. Thank you YouTube. But you know keeping the tracking going, you know I track things in every stage and you know we wanted to keep track of our costs when we were building for clients. I wanted to know you know I'm invoicing for this stage how much does that stage actually cost me?
Speaker 1:You know, and allocating your cost centers, you know, having all allocated properly definitely gave us a much better sort of overall. So I feel like, yeah, I mean, if we do go back and ever build for clients or anything like that, you know I'm well ahead of well across that.
Speaker 1:I just got to make sure that I just keep Adam off site because that guy is just the nicest man in the world and he just wants to please everybody. If I was literally talking to some of the trades all the time, like you know probably no one would want to work for us, because I'm less like a straight shooter.
Speaker 1:You know he sometimes is like that game of course, a bit aggressive you know, but you know, I just I think from me I just I've kind of been conditioned to just being maybe a bit full on because I am a female in the industry as well. You know, I don't like to be fluffy and all of that. I'm just like if I don't like something, you'll just know. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So what's your role? What's your actual title?
Speaker 1:Oh, man, well, I don't know, the girls are like you know you should put director on your you know your email footer or something like that.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, yeah, but I don't know. Like, I guess, for me I used to be the project manager and then I put out that I was not able to maintain what we were doing. I could not project manage 10 homes and do all the selections and all the accounting and make sure everything's running. Okay, you know, just by myself. So we put out for an office manager, on our Instagram actually, and we have the most amazing office manager now. So she pretty much does a lot of that other stuff, that project management stuff of just ringing and checking that everyone's going to rock up when they're supposed to and, you know, meeting with the supervisors or meeting with our general manager, who then you know, will go out and chat with the supervisors. So pretty much now I do all the selections, I approve payments and I get to try to go out and slide as much as I can to make sure that all that vision is kind of coming to life.
Speaker 1:So you're overseeing everything, making sure the wheels are turned in For sure yeah, and then just making sure those you know female touches on things. I think women buy houses, you know, I think you know you go in there and it doesn't matter if that's a stay at home wife that's looking at that home. If she doesn't give it the tick of approval that she can see her kids in the pool in the backyard and have a toy room and everything like that, that house is not getting bought.
Speaker 2:This is a very important thing that most builders overlook, and my business partner and live life builder, Amelia under cover architect. She will drum this into everyone, like females make. I think it's 80 odd percent of the decisions when it comes to building. Really. So builders are. I've got to run with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so builders miss an opportunity because I and look, I'm guilty of this back in the day, like most of the times when I would rock up to meetings or even when we're building projects, like it was a husband that would be meeting me, whereas now, like we, when we schedule meetings, both parties have to be there. We never do a meeting. But, yeah, the female wants to know what she's getting, wants to make it a home, they want to have input. So, like a builder showing we actually get a lot of work now because we talk so openly on Instagram about, like, how we get couples to meetings and how we that's great.
Speaker 2:Like we've actually had a lot of single women build with us because they've picked like I'm not sure on the wording, we're not working for it lesbian gay couples build with us Because they're comfortable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome, so I think so many builders overlook so many opportunities, like even back. I know we're going backwards, but getting back to the costing things, our industry is so focused on the bottom line when, actually, when you educate people clients, buyers, whoever it is on what they're actually getting and what you're actually doing the problems you're solving, what you're going to deliver, you're adding value to them. Absolutely and people will pay for the value Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And that's the thing I think people forget. You know, and I think, trying to do the right thing and I threw my husband under the bus a bit because you know he wants to give people what they want but my thing is often I said to you before, the house I'm currently living in is my 40th home. Yeah, it's my 40th home. I'm not even 40 yet. I'm 40 next year and it's my 40th home that has come at a cost, obviously. But also, I've learned so much about what I do and don't want. There is so many homes that I've lived in that I, you know that we build and I was like this is going to be great, this design. And then I move into it and I go what the hell were you thinking? You know, and I think to me that experience is valuable if you were to buy one of our homes, if you were to build like you know if you just attracted another hundred clients.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, do you know what I mean, like you've learned from our mistakes and I think what exactly what you said? You're educating those clients because, realistically, they might have an idea of what they want in their head, but they don't. You know they don't have that experience. They're relying on you to give your service to actually, you know, get you know your two visions to create a beautiful home that they're going to want to bring their family and friends over to and, you know, enjoy it's going to be their sanctuary and I think that's that's where I think a lot of people maybe get a bit lost is. You know you're trying to accommodate these clients, but you know you need to set the expectation as well and, you know, rein it in, because I think, like I said, inches of Graham and Pinterest, there is a lot. There are just lots of information out there now, like clients, these days are.
Speaker 2:I love important parties but like you and I'm glad you touched on this because I'm a huge fan of this Like there is a massive difference between a house that feels like a home yeah, I agree and a house that's just a house, Absolutely Like, and I'm a 100% firm believer in this. Now, Like when you live in a home, it changes your life. Absolutely. Your stress levels are down, your anxiety's down. You're more organized. You'll have people over more because you're proud of it. It works.
Speaker 1:You've got storage like something that Ticks all those boxes right? Yeah, because if you don't have storage, you've got crap out everywhere. And what makes you more stressed?
Speaker 2:having crap out everywhere so you know it's all about it bugs the shit out of me like you see all these new master plan communities, and the houses are so small, their gutters are all touching each other and no one's put any thought into anything, and so the garage ends up being another bedroom or a storage room, or it's got the camper trailer in it, and then the streets end up with all the cars parked on them.
Speaker 1:And no one wants to entangue because no one can get a park and yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:It's unbelievable. Like we do a thing called the pack process. We, like I, sit in on all the design meetings and I believe it's made me such a better builder because I understand now why designers and architects are doing things the way they're doing them and I can help guide the costings of that and let people know if it's efficient or not efficient or if it's a better way, all those types of things. But I think it's really important for builders and designers and architects to really educate their clients and push hard sometimes to, I guess, get the clients to understand.
Speaker 1:The reasoning, the reasoning for it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Like we only work with the designers and architects we work with are fantastic and one thing that I really appreciate two of them in particular like they take the client on a journey. Yeah, like when we're presenting, like we have the meeting together, they're presenting their design. It's not just here's the drawings, what do you think? Like it's like we start here and you enter here and the light's gonna come through here and like, oh, your kids will be able to entertain here. And like you've told us you like We've got a couple of clients in a moment and doctors, they work different shifts, so the other day he's talking through. Well, like you've told me that. Like you wake up of a night because he comes home and turns the light on. So I've designed it like this so he can actually enter the walk-in robe and ensuite without affecting you. Yeah right.
Speaker 1:Like that yeah that's invaluable right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you're adding value Just about.
Speaker 1:You know, like the plan on a paper, it's actually about how you, as people, are going to be living in that plan. And I think that is something that often gets overlooked. We've done a couple of projects recently where we had architectural plans done and you know that was one stage. You know I talked about getting an office manager and things like that. We did outsource some design elements of things at one stage, thinking that we just could, we were just sinking, we just could not keep up with the workload.
Speaker 2:So do you normally do the design yourself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, adam has actually pen and paper scale ruler, generally a three piece of paper. We do all the designs ourselves, send it off to our building designer and he sends it back in plans that we submit to BADA. So that's generally every house that you usually see. That's how it's been done. Even our home that we renovated, like Adam, pencil and paper, we sat out, we worked it out, you know, had a look at some things that we'd done in the past and what we loved, what we didn't like, how we wanted to change things and kind of work it out like that. I mean, there's a lot of concepts of things that we do that are very similar, that we just know works. You'll often find a lot of open plan. You know we love having, you know, the bathroom upstairs. You know the kid's bathroom, right, we always love having the bath and the shower and a basin in there, but then a separate toilet and another basin you know like. So that to us is like, you know.
Speaker 2:Practical.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really practical. That you know, essentially if you have a door in the toilet and then you have another basin outside, just outside the toilet but then you have a whole another bathroom, essentially you can have three kids using that one bathroom at one time, you know, and then not all in each other's, you know grill. So I think stuff like that we, you know we'll do time and time again. That has always had really good feedback. You know, sometimes the feedback you hear agents will tell you stuff. You know, when we list a home and it's hard to hear that, you know people don't like it. But then also we've sort of grown a pretty thick skin.
Speaker 1:We've got skin like rhinos nowadays you know, I think a lot of people generally, when they're trying to look at our houses maybe, you know, are trying to talk themselves out of it, maybe because they can't afford it, which is really. It's crap that we're in that price bracket these days. You know, I wish everyone could buy an Activate's home, but unfortunately it's just not the way it is, you know, close to the city and everything, but yeah, that's essentially but you're inspiring people.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there's people that just love you, follow you, love your work and they come to your homes, do a walkthrough, get inspired, yeah, for sure I mean we love that.
Speaker 1:I mean most of the questions we get. If I got a dollar for every time I got asked what's this paint color, what's this? And you know we're not like to us. I've seen other people go. You know I can't believe you just share that information. I'm like why not Like what's?
Speaker 2:the secret. You're gonna find it out somewhere.
Speaker 1:To me. I'm like that's the best compliment. If I remembered this one lady. She painted her entire house, down to her front door color, the exact same color as one of the houses we'd built a few years back. And everyone's like oh, it's like the roof's the same, the gut is the same, the paint's the same, even the front door's the same.
Speaker 1:I'm like that is honestly the biggest compliment, like I'm grateful that she was so, inspired by a design selection I made, she decided to do her whole house from that. That is not. You know, I don't feel like I've lost a feeling of exclusivity, it's like that's great.
Speaker 2:So what's some of the things that you said before that you've lived in 40 homes and the things you love and hate, like, what are some of those things?
Speaker 1:Like my personality, I tend to overthink things just a little bit. So you know, often I'll overthink functionality of things. So you know implementing things where, like you know, I don't want the you know the sink to be in the island but I don't want to see the fridge, and you know things like that, which then created like a bottleneck in the kitchen and things like that. I've learned to really kind of really look at the orientation of homes. I mean, light to me is like the quintessential, most important thing that you need to look at, like where the, what aspect that house is.
Speaker 2:Light and breezes.
Speaker 1:Absolutely what aspect that home is going to take in maximizing that. Maximizing, you know, the open plan and being able to entertain. We love entertaining.
Speaker 1:So you know we live in Australia, we've got the best and Brisbane has like the best weather ever. So, you know, for us it's like, you know, making it cool in summer, warm in winter and just making sure that you know got lots of plenty of you know good light. So you know, the things that I love the most is the open plan. That's just what's something we always look at and where we can depending on what size the block is and everything but to try and have two rooms downstairs. You know people are working from home or you know people are recording podcasts at home. You know people are doing lots of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know you'd be able to have you know kids room and then like a utility room or you know fifth bedroom or something like that. That's something that I'll just never compromise on, and yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you guys get into the sustainability type stuff?
Speaker 1:or a little bit. Unfortunately, you know, we, I know that there's movement coming up, that you know we're going to have to be putting solar on all the homes as well. Personally, I kind of push back on things sometimes with stuff like that because I feel like when government's great intentions of making builders do that, you know I get the intention there and I, you know I'm all green and you know I mean we've got a 45 kilowatt system on our house alone, like we don't pay for any electricity. We, I drive a Hyundai but I have a Tesla battery in my car, so I look fancy in the, in the garage, in my sorry, in my garage. I've got a Tesla battery you know to be able to use during the night. So I'm I am pro that. But when government sort of makes us, you know, recommends that sort of stuff, I get worried about, you know, builders looking at the cost effectiveness of things and then maybe it not being the greatest, you know, in the long run.
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of it they do, the I don't know. My feeling is, a lot of it they do like a lot of the stuff they're bringing in is actually to try and solve problems that they've already created.
Speaker 1:Correct, yeah, I mean, I just, I, just I worry that the solar solar panel thing is going to be like the insulation you know debacle Like I. Just I have worries about that. Generally, we will set our homes up so that you know we can easily install solar panels, but we do do the best insulation and slice elation in our roofs and everything like that.
Speaker 2:So condensation is a big one, like I think that's something we all, as builders, we definitely need to be paying more attention to. But again, we've created the problem because we're now creating more airtight homes, because the products, the windows, have gotten better, and when now using insulation in the walls, like when there was no insulation in the walls, there was a cavity and things could breathe. And now? We like so. But yeah, there's all these things that have just led to absolutely the problem and now they're trying to patch it up yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:But yeah, like you said, I mean I think for us we definitely take into consideration where breezes are going to be. I mean Western walls. I love to chuck all the utilities, like all bathrooms, everything like that. Let's chuck them on the Western side. You know the hottest part of the house. You know it keeps all the you know the bedrooms and all the living areas and everything like that cooler. You know, I mean we do put doctor air conditioning in all our homes, but you know we try to look at things so that you know that's not something you have to chuck on all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's one of those things, isn't it? It's driven by demand, like a lot of people wouldn't buy a house if it didn't have ducted in it. Yeah, absolutely. Again. But then a lot of the time when they move into the house I realize I don't need the air conditioning a lot. Yeah, but so have you done any coaching Like? What's any mentoring Like?
Speaker 1:Not well, I mean.
Speaker 2:You've mentioned a couple of times you've loved YouTube.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, not love YouTube. Youtube's coached me, let's put it that way. You know I there's been many a times over the last 18 years, wayne, where I've had to pretend like I understand of something that's going on site. I'm like go back and Google what is that, you know, and that's kind of helped coaching me. But as far as other people, I have spoken at NAWIC in the past, the National Association of Women in Construction so I went out to the TAFE and had a chat to some women out there. You know, I think, like I mentioned, I think it's great that there's more women getting into trades and I'm blown away by.
Speaker 2:you said 11%, like that's. I would have thought like we touched on before, like a lot of the suppliers and trades in that we deal with, like you ring up and it's a female working there, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:All my plumbing suppliers, electrical suppliers most of them are female. You think you know that would drive that number up, but I think, yeah, it's growing and it's great. But I also I love chatting to a lot of women and I speak to a lot of women online. I try to always get back to anybody that contacts us via email or on social media, like I try to get back to them personally. Yeah, and you know, be really open about the trials and tribulations because you know, I think there's that perception as a licensed builder myself. I think people think you have to have a trade to do that and you know, I kind of like to tell people You've been very successful without coming from a trade background.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I mean, and that's the thing I think, if you've got an interest in stuff, you can learn so much you know.
Speaker 2:So have you had any coaching, Like life coaching, mentoring, like or has it just all been trial and error?
Speaker 1:Trial and error, definitely. I did see a life coach for a little while there, you know, just to help, because I think you know when you embark on your own business, you know it might be all, you know the staff go home and you know you leave the office, but you'd know too. You know the wheels are still turning right. You've constantly got that stuff and I think it's really important to just work on yourself and make sure you know you're taking care of yourself. You know, obviously I think from a business level that's really important there's always room for growth. Like every time we build a home, we meet up with people and we go OK, like how could we have done that better? You know, with 10 homes a year, that we're sort of delivering. We're like well, can we still improve?
Speaker 2:So do you do a review, like when you get to the end of a product? Do you do it Like? Obviously review the numbers, but like do you get your team in and talk about it? Yeah, we love that.
Speaker 1:That's one of the things we love doing is, when the home's finished we get the guys and you know obviously the crews are all working on different projects. At the time We've got three carpentry crews and we love to get them all there and sort of really celebrate that crew that you know has brought that home to life.
Speaker 1:And you know everyone gets along and you know they, we, you know, put some sushi on, have a couple of beers. We all sit in the space and we're like, oh, this is how you know the buyers are going to entertain in this home. And then it gives everyone the opportunity to walk around and be like, oh, that could have been better, that could have been finished better. And it's not about criticising, it's about growth.
Speaker 1:You know there's always growth in there. Picking up on things, you know, I even get a hard time. Some of the guys are like, mate, that, what was that? That's decision on that tile? Like that's disgusting. It looks like vomit. You know I'm a big fan of Terratso personally, but not everyone is. But you know all of that. I think it's really important to know that. Yeah, just constantly reflect and grow. So yeah, I think that's that's some way we always do. And also, one thing we've always started, we started to do every year, is do personal reviews. You said you guys do it, you know yourselves, but it's more of a corporate thing. I think, like a lot of people go oh, that's not something builders do, like a car industry.
Speaker 3:Everyone should be doing it, but everyone yeah, even myself and Adam.
Speaker 1:we write out, you know, and look at what we wrote last year Like did I reach those goals? Like what you know? Setting just three simple work related goals that you know, and looking back on it 12 months later, because 12 months just goes like that you know?
Speaker 2:I mean we're staring down Standard time already. You know, do it monthly. I think I'm a huge fan of reflection and like writing in the journal. I try and do it multiple times a week. I think you to be able to continue to have a clear mind, to have growth and keep moving forward and be committed all the time, like you. For me, anyway, like I've had a clear, it clears my mind, like just writing it down, like what I've achieved, what I've done, what I've got, what I'm aiming for yeah.
Speaker 2:And a lot of the time it changes. Like two days earlier I might have written that I wanted something completely different, but just getting it out of my head and writing it down and reflecting on things I think is a really powerful exercise to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And I mean we work on lists, right Like you just constantly, I mean if you go into any of our homes. All the guys are great at writing down on the ply, like all the lists. You know I rock up and they have to add about 10 extra things. That drives them nuts. But you know, I think it's just. There's nothing more satisfying than like ticking those things off.
Speaker 2:You know. So not even just to the work level. We touched on this before. Like AHD, dyslexia, those types of things. Yeah let's have a chat about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, like you said, you've touched on it before in one of your previous episodes and I definitely see it as a superpower.
Speaker 2:I think it's great coming from a female. Yeah because, honestly, for me, I saw it as maybe it's more of a blokey thing and that's something you need to see.
Speaker 1:Because boys are the ones that are disruptive in class.
Speaker 2:You know, that's the first sort of you know red flag is.
Speaker 1:you know these disruptive boys.
Speaker 2:They just got so much energy, but Well, I liked that you touched on before when you were back at school you got pulled up for that. Yeah, they wanted to keep me back.
Speaker 1:They said I was shy. Could you believe that? I mean seriously, I think that was. That was one thing. They thought I was shy and disruptive because I was shy, which, you know, like looking back on it, one thing my mum did really well was pull up and find out that I had dyslexia quite early on, which got me the assistance to be able to sort of sort it out a bit. In that way, you know, like I don't have too many issues now if I need to draft an email and sound quite official or whatever. But and I got through school OK but the ADHD I think is definitely gives me the ability to sort of focus on things, many things at once. You know, often I'll have days and I hate when I do, but I'll have days where I literally don't achieve anything but I felt busy the whole day. Yeah, and I know sometimes I've got to really refocus when you know I am having days like that.
Speaker 2:But what do you do to to focus?
Speaker 1:To real. I'm a big Pilates person so I've got to, like I've got to, either jump on my bike or do some Pilates, get, get, get some fitness into there. That definitely helps, you know, just to really focus. You know it's just a matter of just keeping your body moving and everything like that, and I find having that re centering and that refocus can definitely just some time by yourself, you know with nothing else and keeps your mind off things.
Speaker 1:I mean, you were talking about ice baths, I was listening to one of your episodes and you know it's something that just really stops your mind just from being so busy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you obviously can't do Pilates and ice baths and that all the time, but it's really important to be able to know when you're in that, because I have to catch myself all the time. Yeah, and I'll just.
Speaker 1:You're not achieving anything, right. You just like you've got too many things on that. You, just you. But mind sure it's short circuiting, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just taking five minutes to do a bit of breathing, writing my book, or just even just sit and chill, yeah, and then start again. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a superpower. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think you've got to learn to. I don't know. We'll just talk about this before. Like I think I have this concern that there's lots of people out there Like it's easy to take the easy road with everything. Like everybody can say life's hard, I can't achieve that, I'll never have that. Like it's all easy. Yeah, it's actually easier to be successful once you get structure and systems, but I think there's so many people out there that go and get diagnosed with these types of things and then go backwards.
Speaker 2:Because once I don't know excuse right and look, I actually think I, like I would probably be that person that fell into that trap, like if I went and got diagnosed yeah it'll become an excuse. Yeah. And then it'd be like in my mind it'd be like oh well, yeah, I'll never achieve that, because I've got this and I've got that, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I think also, you can also be a reason for success. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you can look at it as an excuse, or you could, you could be the reason for your success.
Speaker 1:So I think, you know, being able to just focus on lots of things at once makes you a good, a good manager or a good operator, but then also, like I think, with the dyslexia as well, it makes like to me.
Speaker 1:I feel like I see I was sort of touching on before that I feel like I see patterns on things and I just have this easy ability to sort of read people, like I often I'll, I will meet with people and I'll tell my husband, you know, I'll preempt a reaction that that trade gives us.
Speaker 1:You know, a week later, or something like that, and I'm like I just I read that I don't know what it was, but I knew that I could see in his face like this or that, or you know, or, and also, like you know, with some of our guys, I'm like something's going on with him, like we need to. You know, like let's go take Smoky over there and have a chat, because I think something's up, and you know that that can be, you know, a matter of life or death sometimes. You know, like the I mean I've I've heard you touch on it before Duane, where you know there's a lot of guys that are and girls that are struggling and you know the industry's writhed with it. But yeah, I think you know really being able to focus on that is a superpower.
Speaker 2:Well, it's why we're, it's why we're sitting here having this chat, like I think these conversations need to be had so people aren't sitting around thinking, oh, I've got this or I've got that, or like, hopefully, your story, my story everyone that comes on the podcast is giving people hope that all I like to think that they're listening to this and they have that sort of light bulb moment. They're like that's me. Yeah, like if they've gotten through it, I can get through it, oh yeah 27,.
Speaker 1:I was had no hair, no boobs, no money and, you know, fast forward like I, I, you know back then, Tara and Abini I, she would not have fathomed that. She's here now Like just you know, but and it it doesn't happen overnight. You know, it's been a gradual process and I think that's the thing I mean. We keep touching on it. It's not an overnight fix right. You just work hard and, like I said, I always say it's it's so funny. People go, oh you're so lucky, you're so lucky and it's like, well, it's really funny that you know you become lucky at the heart of your work.
Speaker 1:Like honestly it's, it's, it is, and you know having no stairs for two years of my life, and you know it's not an easy feat to climb up those gorilla ladders with the groceries in your hand, but you know you just did it, and it's probably some sort of toddler as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you know you just, you just make do, and I think I think that there's no success and you wouldn't enjoy it as much had you not had that journey. I mean, we were talking about GFC and you know what you guys had to go through and I think you know you just, you can't really celebrate your victories if you haven't hit rock bottom at some stage.
Speaker 2:Right, Well, that's. That's definitely been another turning point for me. Like rather than like we touched on before I was, I was telling Tara we used to do some developing, we had our business partner and we did Speckys in around St Lucia and GFC come, we got stuck with some but and like, back then those types of things would like I'd get down, I'd get depressed, I'd be like what? Like why me, why is? This happening.
Speaker 1:Like um Cause you're in it right, You're not seeing the forest for the trees as well, you can't see a way out. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's very easy to get that way. Everything like putting out fires on site, like it like the smallest things, became like, ruined my day and they were so focused on like fuck this, like I'm going to go and clean toilets Like this is like there's easier ways to do this, like fucking. Why aren't I earning more money? Like everything was a drama. Everything grew into like a tiny problem grew into a mammoth problem. Yeah, because of the way I was letting it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Whereas now I just like I reflect now on that situation of GFC and I just think, well, like that was fantastic, like that was like we got stuck with those homes because we learned how to do corporate leasing and we, we've been able to implement that. And I like, um, I think you're really if, like you flick that switch and like my thing now is there is a solution for everything. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Like if you turn all your problems into a solution, so everything. Like I think my boys on site get the shit for that now because like nothing pisses me off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, like even if it costs you, you just don't let it. It shouldn't either, right?
Speaker 1:It's just stuff, that's yeah got a solution.
Speaker 2:Even if it's going to cost me money, we'll learn from it. Yeah Like, why did it happen?
Speaker 1:Don't let it happen again. Yeah, then we'll have a problem, right? Yeah, so have a team meeting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, guys, it's fine. You made a mistake, or that's wrong or whatever it is. Let's learn from it. Like did we not? Like do we need to improve our system? Like is there something? Like should we have had a team meeting about this before you started, or we should have got the client to do this, or like there is a solution for everything, for sure. And like you leave a site now? Like I just like every day is just fantastic. Like I can't wait to get up out of bed. Like actually, um, I listened to a lot of uh, the real Brad Lee I think he's a legend, but um, he was saying he was saying on one of his podcasts the other day like someone asked him what's your morning routine and he said what's the first thing you do? And he said smile.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, that's great. And I guess it's easy when you love what you do, right?
Speaker 2:You know, I just think that is fantastic, like the first thing when you wake up in the morning is just look at the window and smile. And he said I smile because I've woken up. Yeah, like every day that I wake up alive is a brilliant day. Absolutely. And, um, I think that's an incredible attitude to have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, we didn't even know if I was going to be around 12 years ago, let alone, you know, to have achieved. Achieved what we've. We've achieved now. And yeah, I mean I, I feel like I'm living the dream, like, to be honest, I know all the stuff. I hear these things come out of my mouth. I'm like can you be more of a cliche? But it's so true, it's. You know, if you, if you're really passionate about it, you know the success will come. You know, if you're smart about it and you continue to learn. You know, I say that to my kids. I'm like I don't care if you want to be. You know, I used to say to my son he was obsessed with garbage bins I'm like you want to be a garbologist mate and that makes you happy.
Speaker 1:I'll support you, you know you do it well, you'll get paid well. You know, whatever, you'll have a fleet of garbage trucks. That's great. You know, I think as long as you're passionate like we are, so lucky I have. My best friend is um. She fled Bosnia. Um, her, her parents, you know during, during the war, came over here and it's so crazy to think of. You know that war in the nineties you know to happen in our day and age and you know they, they literally escaped with all their belongings. They stuck it into her you know her nappy and her clothes and everything like that to come over here to Australia. And now they own their home and you know she's a nurse and you know she's independent woman and I just think what amazing opportunities we have here. So, you know, I just think we're so, so lucky and as long as you're prepared to work and make sacrifices you know you can do anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's music to my ears. That's exactly how I am, and look it, it hasn't always been that way, but like, and it obviously wasn't all that always that way for you either.
Speaker 2:No but you've got to um like one thing that really frustrates me is people that um put themselves in a category because of their, their job or whatever. Like, oh, I only earn this or I only earn that. Like it doesn't matter whether you're cleaning toilets, whether you're a garbage man, whether you're a builder, whether you're, like even architect, designer, like anything, a doctor, like you can have a professional at anything that doesn't earn a lot of money, or you can have someone that is passionate about what they do, puts 110% in every single day and earns incredible money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, but you can have an architect that earns $80,000 a year. Yeah, yeah, you can have an architect that earns $80 million a year. Absolutely it is what you put into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And building connections and everything I think definitely you know helps, I think.
Speaker 2:Oh, 100% yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that's that's one the people you hang around the circles you can like.
Speaker 2:I'm a massive believer in that Like you can just pick up the phone sometimes and say hi to someone and see how they how they are, and staying in a loop can be a massive reflection on who you are and what you've got.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I'm sure your guys pick up on that. That energy you know you said it annoys them when you know you're on site but nothing seems to bother you That'll be that calming energy that they'll, you know, learn from as well and, I think you know, moving forward if those guys go and they venture into their own business or something like that one day, you know they're gonna you've been their mentor in that way yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, one day they're gonna have things and it's gonna be their money or their cost or whatever, Like I think you know as owner operators, often you know the buck stops with you if there's a mistake or something like that, and we have it on all the slides, Like we're the ones that have seen up there, you know it's, you know the buck stops with us.
Speaker 1:We're the ones that you know something hasn't got done right. Or you know like oh, mate's, put a wall in the wrong spot, or whatever. We have to, like rip out all the car, the cabinetry, like you know, Jeep rock has to go back up, painters have to come back, whatever, whatever. It's like the buck stops with us, but you know like it's to put support. You know our team members that have made that mistake and be like okay, cool, like that's pretty shit, but like you know, why did it happen?
Speaker 2:Let's you know exactly Cool.
Speaker 1:So we just made a simple mistake, when you know, when we were flicking out on this lab, we just made a simple mistake of our own judgment, and you know we'll learn from it. That's not going to happen again, Is it?
Speaker 2:But that's a perfect example. Like there would be builders out there that that happens to you and it would ruin their day, week, month, year, life. Yeah, they would get so focused that that issues happen that I'm not making any money anyway. Like that's it now that's going to cost me more money. Like the team's fucked. Like why do they do this? Like every blame, blame, blame. Like just it's happened. Deal with it. Reflect on it. Why did it happen? Let's make it happen again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, move on. I mean it is frustrating, I think, when it is your money and you know mistakes have been happening from someone else that you know.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a different story if it happens three times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, but you know, it's not to invalidate the fact that it is frustrating, but you know, I think you can't die an addiction, you know like you said you're still here.
Speaker 2:You know you must have incredible support from your husband, like yeah, he's been through. And what now? What you've been able to build Like you must be an amazing team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think we're pretty formidable because we have got completely separate interests in the in our business. So you know he is, you know we've been doing this for 18 years and he'll still see me come home with like a tile sample and be like, well, that's disgusting. And then you know, fast forward to five months later when the house is handing over and he's like, oh, that was good. You know, I'm like yep, that's great.
Speaker 1:That's why you don't let you choose tiles, you know. But you know he's ability to you know that spatial awareness he has, having been a chippy with you know doing all these designs up for the homes and then, you know, just giving me full control over all the rest of the design elements. You know we talk about the facades we want. We talk about, you know, whether in character areas is it sympathetic to the streets? You know. So from the very beginning we're chatting about different things and stuff that he looks at is stuff that I, you know I'm looking in the completely different direction and so I think that's why you know we kind of work. He's a great people person, whereas I'm kind of like numbers and productivity and you know all that sort of stuff, but he is just like the friendliest man, so nothing worries him, whereas you know my mind's sort of very active all the time and overthinking things, and you know I worry, like you know he sort of can say stuff and then not ever think about it ever again, you know, and doesn't care.
Speaker 1:Like he's like I've said it nicely, so I won't think about it ever again, Whereas I'll say things and I'm like, did I say that nicely? Oh my God, like I've said it better, you know, and got too much introspection, sometimes, Like I think I just, you know, struggle with that. So you know, I think definitely working as a team has has worked well, because we're never competing with each other, we're always working with each other and kind of really backing each other. I think we've always got each other's back. You know I sometimes will say something and you know he will, you know, talk to me afterwards if he disagrees with something, and I think you know, having that unified front about stuff is really, really important. So what's?
Speaker 2:his role in the business. I don't know On the bottom of his letterhead he literally on his emails he says like have you done this? No, no, it's hilarious.
Speaker 1:On the bottom of his emails it says the master of nothing at all. So he thinks it's really funny. You know, it even goes to, you know, like our conveyances and all of that sort of stuff. He does acquisitions, so he's the one that deals with real estate agents and stuff like that. He's the people person. So he has just got the gift of the gap. He can do that.
Speaker 1:And then doing the designs and then, you know, he pretty much hands over to our GM then just to get everything else out of the ground. But yeah, design and acquisitions would be his, his prime focus.
Speaker 2:Definitely a full time job if you're turning over 10 homes a year and you've got to find those homes, design those homes. Yeah, and that's right.
Speaker 1:You just need to have good people, you know, working with you. Otherwise, you know you just, there's no way you can manage it. Just so, what's up?
Speaker 2:What's a couple of tips you'd give for, because I believe the building industry is pretty much run off the back of husband and wife teams and a lot of time, even if it's not the partner working in the business. Full time, like most tradies, wouldn't survive. They didn't have some wife or partner doing book work or helping them use a computer or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so my biggest thing, is probably I mean the ones that you love often can be the ones that cop at the most. You know, like I think you know you feel so comfortable with your spouse and everything. If you're going to be working with your spouse, I think it's just to always just separate your personal and the work. You know it's not personal.
Speaker 1:If I used to take a lot of you know offence if I was criticized with you know, by Adam, you know, with something that maybe I'd said or done, I take it really personally. It's like I'm not criticizing you because you know you you're delayed sending that invoice and now we're not getting paid till now, or blah, blah, blah. Or you know you forgot to do this and now I can't get the house on the market. You know, when we wanted to or whatever it was to not take it personally, it's just a business. You know it's just business and just separating that, you know, and also just trying to really separate when you're at home with the kids. You're at home with the kids, like that's really important to us and one of the reasons we only build sort of close to you know where our home is, so you have a home on the market, where our home is, so you have a home office.
Speaker 1:We do have a home office. We try to not sneak up off to it until after our kids are in bed. You know for us that's it's important. And you know there are times you do when there's a quiet and you know you've had things on your mind. You didn't need to action some things you know before. You know the staff come in tomorrow, or before the guys head up on site, you know it's really important to make sure you get all your ducks in a row. You know, I think for us it's just being patient with each other and just not taking things personally.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think that's good advice. Yeah, it is like, yeah, camila and I work together. It is. There's definitely days where it's stressful, but most days it's a it's a good thing. It's a good thing and I think just having someone that's got you back.
Speaker 1:You know, like your your spouse, you know it should be your support when you have a crap day, if you, you know you do take it home after work or whatever. Like I think it's really important to be able to be able to openly speak to somebody about it. You know, like offloading that, just verbalizing the difficulties you've had, sometimes it can just clear it off, you know you say about writing in your journal or you know, just just re-centering you know, that, just something as simple as that, to be able to, you know, gauge if someone's?
Speaker 1:you know, sometimes I'm saying I say to Adam, I'm like I'm at like 20% right now, like I've just had such a full on day, I'm like at 20% like energy level and the kids are at me, or whatever. I'm like, ah, and you know he's like, no, I've got you, I'm spotting your extra 80% or whatever. It's. Vice versa. You know he's maybe not as good as identifying when he's having a bad moment, as probably I am, but you know we're working on it and I just have to be like in tune. Okay, cool, he's a bit stressed about something. You know. He's trying to get these plans back from the building designer or something like that. You know DA is giving us. You know counselors maybe come back and we have to amend the plans for a third time because they're not happy with DA and stressing him out because we just got houses sitting there and interest is so expensive.
Speaker 2:So yeah, just give and take, you know you're in a partnership after all right, it's important to know each other's strengths and weaknesses, but I know, like I know, something that's made Camille and I just stronger and stronger is like more so me than her. But just learning what ticks are off. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And like just simple things, like even like I used to come into the office and like like give this big list because I just got there and like not think that she's in the middle of something. She's already got a lot on a plate and like so now I email, I sit down and I just send an email. And you can get to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and she'll send back done, done, done Like just little things like that, Like you've got to if you want to, because it can get overwhelming and start to affect the relationship very quickly and the resentment.
Speaker 1:You never want that to come in right. Yeah. I mean, what's it all for? What are you doing it all for If you're not getting a stronger relationship out of it?
Speaker 1:The moment that our we've had in, you know, over the over the years, we've had moments where, you know, we've had arguments about work and we like kind of look at each other going what are we doing this for, Like, if, if it's affecting our relationship, what the hell are we doing this for, like we are, we are working this hard so that we have a great future, so, you know, we can spend more time with our family, so we can have, you know, more things in life, but if we don't have each other, then what the hell is the point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's some things you've had to overcome, like being a female in the industry, like oh, how long have we got?
Speaker 1:No, no, it's not that bad. Like in all honesty, I don't see a lot these days because we're pretty established with you know the people we deal with. Most of the people know who I am, you know we. You know we've got an OK social media presence, which I think you know, people sort of generally have an idea of who we are Before meeting us anyway. But you know there is times, you know, where I do have to prove myself and that I do know a bit more than maybe what they maybe interpret. That I know. You know there's lots of older guys in the industry that you know. Oh, hey, sweetheart.
Speaker 1:You know I've had a few times where you know we're getting the natural gas from the street into a home or something like that, you know, and the guys are just doing their job. You know the traffic control is just sort of stopping pedestrians and stuff like that and I have to get on site and you know I rock up and you know, walking on site and it's like, no, you can't go in there. I'm like, yeah, I can. I'm like I'm authorized to go in there. No, no, you can't go in there.
Speaker 1:And I just said, see that QBCC license on that fence. That's mine, that is my license number, so I'm getting in there, right? Oh sorry, lady, like you know it's just you know and it's probably innocent enough, but you know times where I've gone to go and you know, purchase things and I'm negotiating, you know, like prices and stuff like that, and maybe sometimes I've got Adam there with me and literally they're just making eye contact with Adam the whole time. I'm not even there. And you know it's like mate, like I'm actually the owner of the business here.
Speaker 1:Like you know, I'm the one making the design decisions or whatever it's that. You know we're in a partnership, so I think it's changing though. Like but yeah, you know, I think you get that as a woman anyway. What?
Speaker 2:advice would you give? Like we, um. I think probably one of my most proudest moments with this podcast is we um. Like, we get lots of people telling us we're saving lives and things. But we had a I think it was a 16 year old girl send us an email which I never would have thought would have been listening. And, um, I had a podcast with one of our building designers and she was like I love your podcast, appreciate what you're doing. Had no idea what I wanted to be, but after that podcast I'm going to be a building designer.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, Like what advice would you give for a young female out there that's considering any job in our industry?
Speaker 1:In our industry. Well, I just think the sky's the limit. There is just so many opportunities, like I mean, if you're a creative, there is just so much you can do in the building industry. Um, you know, you can be a building designer, you can be an architect, you can be an interior designer. There is just so many things that you can do. Um, you're good with your hands. Then maybe do a trade, like like I was saying, you know welding or you know lots of things where you can be creative and still use your hands and things like that as well. You know, um, you know you could be a project manager, like you know you can go and get a project management job and you know work out.
Speaker 1:You know the different stages of building to then work up to getting, you know, your building license. You know it's so easy to be able to study online. You know COVID's, you know, made it even easier again. You know to do, to do TAFE. Um that I think don't be scared that you have to be a trader to achieve things or to know things. You know things will come.
Speaker 1:You know, I think most of the things you learn isn't by sitting down in this industry. I don't believe a lot of the stuff that you learn is just hands-on experience. Whether you are doing a trade or not, it's hand-on experience. It's you know, making mistakes. On learning you know, even if you are always in an office just drawing up plans, like you know it's really important to then go out on site and see those people that are bringing your plans to life. Like what's the point in making these amazing house designs if you're not going to see the finished product? And I think you know, I think, as if we can, just you just take the first step to just know, and I think opportunities just come. There's just so many opportunities in this industry I don't know of any other industry that you could be any type of personality and still be able to find something that you love within built, like within building. It's just such a unique industry.
Speaker 2:I think it's incredibly exciting times. Yeah definitely yeah, if you're a female out there, or any young person for that matter that just wants to get in, like I feel like the biggest thing our industry has to do is I feel there's a big part of it that are very stuck in. I'm not even sure the words for it, but like the old school banter and yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean you have that. I mean, if you're going to go on site you can't have, you can't take offense.
Speaker 3:You've got to expect a bit of it, you know yeah exactly Like I'm.
Speaker 1:You know I'm pretty easygoing, I'm pretty left-wing, like you know. You can, you can swear in front of me, whatever, like the. My husband laughs because I have this like I call it the builder's draw, where I sort of like, you know, just like, chat a little bit different. You know, try to have some banter with the guys you know, make them feel a bit, you know, like yeah, I'm relatable, right, and I want I don't want them to feel like I'm going to take offense. You know a lot of these guys. Maybe I think as well, like a lot of guys that we see on site sometimes, that the older guys you know got into being a tradie because they didn't do well at school, right, and you don't have to do well at school to be a good tradie either.
Speaker 2:Or to be successful.
Speaker 1:Or to be accessible at any field. It's 100%. But I think, like a lot of them, maybe, you know, didn't do so well, maybe, you know, had lack of education or whatever, and so feel like they don't even know where to start. You know, chatting with me on site or whatever, but to me I'm, I'm fine, like I think I, I think I just got to make sure that I just make other people feel comfortable, like, and often when you get those guys on site, you know you sometimes have these bravados and you know they're swearing and they're cursing and you know, to me I just look at it like you know he's really uncomfortable, he's acting that way Because he's really uncomfortable. You know a lot of the guys that sort of do that. I'm like okay, so I just got to go, I just got to make him feel at ease and that's how I just sort of try and do it. You know, if they talk down to me or whatever.
Speaker 1:I'm like, yeah, cool, he's just feeling a bit threatened, so I just make sure I'm like I'm not a threat mate Like you're very like.
Speaker 2:It sounds to me like you're very aware of people's, like your surroundings and what's you know that's important.
Speaker 1:That's definitely the reading of the ADHD. I think I'm like always assessing the situation with things. But I think also it's really important to just, yeah, make those connections. Like if you make someone, if you go on site and you make someone feel comfortable and you make them feel like you respect even if they're you know it's just the renderer role, you know, whatever like you know that that I'll have guys, that you know our rendering team. They come and they'll just be rendering just the edge of the step down or something like that.
Speaker 1:But I like make sure I make an effort, when I see them on site, to use their names, to thank them for their job, to say goodbye when I'm leaving site, even if I'm not there to see them and just make them feel like they're really, really important. If you can do that, you know those guys as well. If I need them to do a bigger job, they'll come back and they'll work on a Saturday for me, you know, because they're like you know what like I want to keep. I want to make sure I have that work, I'm respected and you know I'm valued and you get the best result, then you know you're keeping them happy, you pay your bills on time and you make people feel like human beings.
Speaker 2:It's the most important thing. So many important things there like respect is huge, like I think there's a there's definitely a lot of older people in our industry and well, and people that have been bought up old school that need to sort of have a thing about respect side of things, I reckon. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to the younger people in the industry apprentices and things- like everyone deserves respect, yeah absolutely, I know that I sometimes hear guys on site, you know, saying how the apprentices are soft or whatever. You know it's not like. You know, we used to get nails shot at us, you know, to hurry up or whatever, and I don't know what it was like when you were doing your apprenticeship or whatever, dwayne, but like, I've heard stories like that. But you know, I just think it's not about being soft or anything like that, it's just treating people with respect.
Speaker 1:You know I think you don't know what's going on. You don't know why. You know someone's picking up their phone. You know they might not just be scrolling through things, they might be going through stuff. You know they need a bit of escapism or something like that. You know checking in with people and just being respectful. If someone's going slow and you want them to hurry up, check in what's going on, mate, Like what's going on with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so important, like I think so many people are very quick to think like just go off of people. Like what the fuck are you doing? Like come on, we're in a hurry, got to get this done Like rather than saying like you just said, like hey, mate, like is everything all right. Like how come you're on the phone so much. Like ask questions, like figure out what's going on. Like they someone could have passed away, they could have a fight with their partner that morning, like there's so many things going on.
Speaker 1:And that's if you don't give them a space to even start the conversation, they're never.
Speaker 2:they're never going to do it Because if you're in a rush and you're just into your own thing and like back to what we talked about before, like you'll keep getting more and more frustrated because you'll see that they're not working to the quality or the speed that you want them to, instead of just having that tiny conversation hey mate, what's going on? Hey, come at the front.
Speaker 1:just let's just have a quick chat Like yeah, yeah, it's like life is really simple and it is very simple when you put it like that, right, but it and that's the thing I think, and also I think it's really important if you are going through things. I mean, like you said, you've had messages of people saying you know you saved my life, or whatever, like it's nothing to be ashamed of if you are struggling either. Like I think you know I've been through it. You know where there was times where I was like really, really struggling and you know we had no money, we had huge debts and you know I just think to be able to talk to people, and you know we were lucky enough that we had lots of people that we could talk to about it and offload and talk about how much we were struggling to guide us, because when you're in it and you're amongst it, it's really hard to claw yourself out, right?
Speaker 2:100%, and that's again. It's that perception. People just see the shiny new house or the shiny finished project.
Speaker 1:They don't realize it. Lots of tears behind that.
Speaker 2:They don't realize for three months that literally you're living off the smell of an early rag because, like there was millions of dollars outstanding over here and someone not paying over here, it's always a juggling act.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but it's yeah it is really rewarding once you, you know you get out of it and I think, yeah, it's, yeah, we're very, feel, very lucky, but it hasn't come easily and we still have the haters and stuff like that. I think you know we've got lots of people that want to tear us down.
Speaker 2:You've got to have some haters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love, my favorite thing to do on Instagram is like I love doing these polls with things, and you know, I'll sometimes throw in one like you know, you know, do you like to look at this house, or something like that? And it's like hell's, yeah, nah, can't stand it, or whatever. And how many people like actually vote for that. I'm like, why are you following us? Like, what have I done to you? And yeah, I'm just, and now I just laugh. I'm just like, oh, mate, like get a life, you know. Or there's like, oh, I don't love, I don't, I hate the way you've done this. Or blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, oh, okay, cool, Don't buy the house.
Speaker 2:Then, mate, Like yeah, you're always going to get them, I think. I think the haters just prove that you're getting out there and people are taking notice.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, for sure You're not doing anything right if you're not upsetting somebody? We try to do our best. You know neighbors are often, I mean, it's like anything in building.
Speaker 2:You know we start early but we finish early and you know, we're in their space, the neighbors are at you because you're in their space, and soon as the first day, like you're on a site, all of a sudden the calls the neighbors can't get a bag out of my house.
Speaker 1:Won't be forever, I promise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what's next for Tara and Active? What's you see from here?
Speaker 1:We're. So we've got a few houses that we're launching before Christmas so hopefully people buy them so we can enjoy our Christmas. Yeah, we've got another four homes that we've got, yeah, going to market before the end of the year. So in varying areas around, in a Brisbane, in a Northern Brisbane, and then 2024, we've set to have like a bigger, bigger year than even we have had this year. So we're just going to keep acquiring land and homes and just keep doing it.
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 1:I'd love to retire. You know, maybe one day I don't know our son's 13 and he reckons he's going to take it over.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you could retire, I don't think I could Like.
Speaker 1:I just yeah, I'm too much of a control freak. So yeah. I mean, the plan is just to keep going and keep doing it.
Speaker 2:But do you see yourself getting more involved with the breast cancer stuff?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, for us it's close to heart. We find it really rewarding. We're definitely going to keep donating to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. We're encouraging the real estate agents that then sell our homes to make a donation to. We're running a raffle which we'll put on our socials and everything like that. This month we've got like a $1,000 carlal hotel voucher and things like that and all the proceeds are going to go to NBCF. So we want to be involved and, yeah, continue to just wear our pink shirts with pride and spark that you know, chat about health and wellbeing and you know, obviously, breast cancer, health is in the forefront of our minds. But for anything you know, anything within the industry, just starting that conversation about, you know, taking care of yourself and taking care of your loved ones.
Speaker 2:I love it. Thanks so much for taking the time out today to join us. So how can, how do people? Find you? What's your um socials and stuff?
Speaker 1:So on socials, where activates underscore construction, so it's activates with an S, it's an anagram actually, so that's how that name came out and our websites activatescomau. So, yeah, obviously, if you want to keep on track of any of the homes we've got coming up, yeah, you can subscribe to our website or follow us on socials for it.
Speaker 2:And what about the breast cancer stuff? Are there any where listeners can support that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we've got we'll have a link in our bio for this month and we've always got a link on our website to go and check it out, see what we're doing and how we're involved and how you can get involved with NBCF as well. So, yeah, Awesome.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for your time. There's been lots of bombs. I'm sure you've had a lot of value to a lot of people and, yeah, keep doing the incredible job you're doing. I really think I look forward to watching you guys and seeing like I I just love seeing people be successful. It's fantastic, and the fact that you're supporting all the breast cancer stuff like it's just next level. So just keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Dwayne. Are you ready to build smarter, live better and enjoy life? Then head over to livelikebuildcom. Forward slash elevate to get started.
Speaker 2:Everything discussed during the level up podcast with me, dwayne 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 attain your own professional advice in respect to the topics discussed during this podcast.