Level Up with Duayne Pearce
I take on the role of an authoritative voice that fearlessly communicates truths drawn directly from my lived experiences. With a genuine sense of ownership, my insights are free from any hidden agendas – they truly belong to the audience. My stories and journey add remarkable value, the key now lies in harnessing its power effectively to help others.
My purpose is to create a new residential building industry. My mission is to inspire unshakable self-confidence in my colleagues in the industry, empowering them to orchestrate prosperous, enduring, and lucrative businesses that bring exceptional projects to fruition for our clients.
My goal is to foster a deeper comprehension among clients about the identity and functions of builders, redefining their perceptions.
Level Up with Duayne Pearce
How Running A Marathon Has Lead to an Incredible Business
#124 A transformative episode focused on embracing authenticity and understanding one's core values in business and life. Luke Doecke shares his journey of personal growth, highlights the importance of genuine leadership, and redefines success through the lens of identity and community.
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Probably one of my battles was always trying to be someone I wasn't. You know you're looking sideways at what everyone else is doing.
Speaker 2:You're dropping a bomb there, mate.
Speaker 1:Run your own race.
Speaker 2:G'day guys. Welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are back in the sheds this afternoon. We've got a new backdrop at the moment, so stay tuned over the coming episodes as we make some more improvements to that. But we've got an absolute cracker coming for you today. Luke Dahlke's, I think, is that your right name, mate. I always say your name wrong Dahlke Dahlke, luke Dahlke. So Luke is one of our Live Life Build Elevate members. We've known each other for probably three, three and a half years now. The improvement that this guy has had is insane. I'm keen to go pretty deep today, mate, because you've done a lot of work, just not on your business, but a lot on yourself. So thanks for coming and having a chat.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely no. Thanks for having me. And yeah, like you say, go wherever you like to, because, yeah, I really believe strongly that you've just got to live out who you are. And I'm a, I run a building business, but deep down that's not exactly who I am. So but, yeah, looking forward to the chat yeah, well, let's look.
Speaker 2:I'm keen to talk about everything, mate, like identity, especially because I know you've done a lot of work on that. So I think the building stuff and the and the industry stuff and the trade I think that's just going to come out through this conversation, but I talk a lot on this podcast about how you can have all the tools and systems and processes you need to run a great business, but it's all pretty useless if you're not right yourself.
Speaker 1:I mean for me, I got into building through I was actually a boilermaker when I left school but come off a farm pretty marginal farming property I was actually a boiler maker when I left school but come off a farm pretty marginal farming property I suppose and so you saw mum and dad do it pretty tough, but then you come into doing a trade. Then moving on to putting up steel framed houses is basically where I started the housing thing and then basically now into running the business. But for me, and what we've probably really worked on in more of the last six months, I think, is really identified for our business what our real purpose is and also then transferring that into what our core values are.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Can we dive into that a bit, because it's something we talk a lot about in Live Like Build. Do you mind sharing the story, because you put it on your team and I know I've done this as well?
Speaker 1:When you said to your team, what's our core values? Yeah, what'd they say? Well, when we went into this, we didn't even probably ask them, because it was a little bit like what does it even mean? Because us ourselves didn't even really know what they were. You know, and you talk about a team culture and those sorts of things as well, but we felt we had a good team culture, we knew sort of what our values were, but to actually really knuckle them down and actually name them as well, then when we gave that to our team, they were the ones that actually go.
Speaker 1:It's interesting you've now said that these are your values, because that's what I've picked up off of. I've got five guys on our team, but the comment came from the second guy that we brought on. He goes. Well, those values are what Russell has actually taught me for the 12 or 18 months that I've now been into it and now he's been with us five years. They actually resonated with the team because of naming them, but they resonated with them because it's essentially what they're living out as well on site. We've taken another step further to really fine-tune what the behaviours of those values are as well, and it's just given us a real awesome foundation, I suppose, for our whole business moving forward.
Speaker 2:So yeah, can you give us an idea of what some of those values are?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So our purpose is we want to make building homes an enjoyable experience. That's our business purpose and out of that our values are genuine, professional, health and education. So we've got four main values and out of those it's really interesting as we were diving deep into them the genuine one came off the back of Lisa thought oh, we want to have fun at work and we're sort of like, well, we don't want to come across that we don't care either, but at the same time we want to be professional, we want to be fun, we want to have a good time at work. Make sure, not only our own employees, but our subcontractors, our suppliers, our designers, that we're working with the clients are all having an enjoyable building experience and that we're all genuine people. So straightaway you can start to identify those types of things. What does professional look like? What does health look like for us?
Speaker 2:I think it's awesome that you've included health.
Speaker 1:We're starting to move towards this more healthy home type of building. Looking at your ventilator cavities, all these types of things, good moisture management, mould risk management, all this type of building. Looking at your ventilator cavities, all these types of things, good moisture management, mold risk management, all this type of stuff. But also we talk a lot about well-being now with our team and we've had a couple really good sessions with our team to identify what that well-being looks like for our own team. I think there's a stat like you spend nearly 80 of your life working, so you don't want to be rocking up to work and just feeling like this is shit. I just want to turn around and go home. You want to make sure it's enjoyable, you know. So yeah.
Speaker 2:It's super important and I think you don't realise the value of having those conversations until you do it Like it's all good to like. I thought for years that my business was this and my business was that, but it was all. It was all in my head, it was all me. I might have been telling other people but yeah, and even now, as we sit here today, like I'm sure if I went back to my team and said what's our values like, they would probably maybe struggle with it, even though we've just recently updated and we've actually got them. Our values are across the top and the bottom of our site signs. Yeah, um, yeah, I think it's something that you have to keep like at your team meetings and your site toolbox meetings and those sorts of things that you've got to keep reiterating. You've got to talk about it in your marketing like.
Speaker 1:So we've just recently rebranded our website, so we've got them all on there now as well, and so that's another way of because that attracts also the clients that you want to work with as well, and I think then the team can actually call things out as well, like if you're thinking about professional and you're starting to do something, you feel like a trade or something gets delivered incorrectly, instead of turning a blind eye to it, you can actually call it out and say no, we need to sort that issue out. It sort of creates that smooth path.
Speaker 2:I think um I think it's a like I talk about. It's all part of that where the magic happens. Like it's where you're separating yourself from all the other builders in your area. If someone's asking you what you do and you're saying a builder and it's not just a builder, like whether you're a tile or a painter or a plumber, whatever like if someone's asking you what you do, you're like oh, I'm a painter or a plumber or whatever. If someone's asking you what you do, you're like oh, I'm a painter. What separation is there between you and the next? So if someone asks you what you do and you rattle that off straight away, there's separation. Your business is different to any other builder they've been looking at.
Speaker 1:Because one thing that we looked at was when you're and in our area there's a lot of other custom builders and stuff like that and we're all doing great work. So to say that we're building quality homes or something like that doesn't really make you stand out. But if we can get in at that personal level, for me, something I've always struggled with and it's something now that I'm learning to deal with and actually put to the side was you know, if ever I'd make a mistake or do something wrong on site, it was through no wanting to do it on purpose. It's just occurred through, whether it was something's gone down or whatever, but it wasn't on purpose. And so I would always kick myself thinking oh, they're going to think I'm the worst builder going around because I've made a mistake.
Speaker 1:But what I've started to learn is that mistakes happen all the time. But it's actually now, and that's where the genuine thing comes in. For me, it's like look, no, you're actually a genuine person. You're not trying to do the wrong thing by people. You'll put your hand up and own the mistake. If something comes, you know, and that we've got to rectify something. But it's not you know. Kick yourself because you were the worst builder going because of one little thing, and that's the other thing. You look at all the positive stuff that comes to you as well, but we're always focusing on that, the worst little thing you know.
Speaker 2:Mindset's huge. Eh, it is absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:I know it's really set a good foundation. Like we've been in business now 10 years, this is our 10th year, so you know from where we sort of started. You know probably the last five odd years more doing renovations and new homes and that sort of thing, we really wanted to set a good base for the next 10. It's been an awesome exercise to go through.
Speaker 2:So what do you think the difference is that you've been with Live Life Built for nearly three years or a bit over three years. What's the biggest difference in that three years to the previous seven years is mostly personal, do you think?
Speaker 1:oh, absolutely. I think we fill out that 6p wheel. I've always valued relationships. I've always valued wanting to learn and you know, education being one of our values. We're just going to keep learning for our life. So for those types of things to come into live, life, build and actually now focusing on that personal stuff really sets a really good base for working on all the other parts of your business. And for me I know it's interesting on our facebook group there that we've got. It's interesting when you see new builders come in and they don't feel like they can hold themselves with other builders, whereas now I was no different. I thought for the top end builders up here and I was just this little guy doing a few decks and verandas and that sort of stuff. But I always wanted to build custom architectural homes, but at that point I hadn't yet. You set yourself that goal and all of a sudden you don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 2:You just keep learning, asking questions from people and all of a sudden you can start having these conversations with people and you see yourself as that professional now yeah, I'm really keen just to keep digging in on this because, like we can see, like you've obviously had huge success with knowing your data now tracking data, knowing your numbers and charging what you need to charge and all that sort of stuff. But you broke a lot of old stories that you were telling yourself from what growing up and the farming days and things so yeah, and that was a big turning point for you absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, and that's probably really been the last 12 months. I reckon I've really gone leaps and bounds ahead in that sort of area. I had the most awesome upbringing. I mean growing up on a farm. I just loved it going out, you know, shooting rabbits and you know all this sort of stuff camping sways, campfires, all that sort of stuff. So I loved that upbringing.
Speaker 1:Mum and Dad worked their butts off as well, but we were in a very marginal area. Down in SA there's this imaginary line called line and we're on the wrong side of it. So basically that line is there. This guy from like a surveyor 200 years ago he came and drew this line said, oh, you're no good to farm on that side of it, you know so, and that was all to do with rainfall and things like that too. So but straight away it was like, okay, we worked hard and mum and dad worked their butts off to give us four kids what we've got. But coming into now what I do, I sort of felt like mum and dad did it tough, so I've got to do it tough as well.
Speaker 2:I can't have, and it's not materialistic either, but money actually allows you to do things which you wouldn't normally do, and that's like I think that's really important because everyone, like I think money is a very evil thing when it's looked at the wrong way, like, and I think like for a long time I chased the money but the money, and now when I tell people you shouldn't be chasing the money, it's not about the money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really think that's the case. It's a thing to trade with.
Speaker 2:Basically, that's what money is there for, but it's also appreciating it, understanding the value of it.
Speaker 1:For our business. I wouldn't have been able to grow a team to five, six, seven, eight people if I was doing what I was doing six years ago working your ass off, getting home at night doing all the quotes, sending out invoices and checking all that sort of stuff and you just felt like we were spinning wheels, you know, and not getting anywhere. That's when we started to reach out and ask for that help. It has now gone to not just about the numbers numbers but actually to see what it needs to take to run that business really well, to give our clients and our staff that experience, to make sure that we're going to look after them well and that we're not going to disappear. And that's why, when we have discussions and we get along really well with clients and you start to be really open about the numbers that we charge and things like that, all of a sudden they can see why it is like it is and really, in the big scheme of things, we're really no different to everyone else when you look at the numbers.
Speaker 2:at the end of the day, what were some of the stories you were telling yourself? About money, I think I don't know.
Speaker 1:I just felt like that we were always just going to work our butt off and try and go from week to week and not have some money in the bank to fall on, to maybe go on a holiday but was it like were you telling yourself you didn't deserve extra money or you weren't worth it?
Speaker 2:like weren't worth it? Like what?
Speaker 1:yeah, I reckon yeah, a lot of worthiness came in around it and I think, instead of just being called that builder, it's actually saying luke, you are, you are allowed to have this, you know, and you and you know I come from an upbringing where I've got a strong faith and it's sort of for me it was like you know, luke, you are good enough, you know you can do this, you can have that. I mean he talks about having an abundant life, like why wouldn't he give you those things, why wouldn't he allow you to have those experiences?
Speaker 2:But, like you just touched on before, like it's money. Like I get a few people tell me that I'm a wanker because I want to earn millions of dollars. I want to earn millions of dollars a year because if I have millions of dollars a year, I can like, I have this. I have this. One of my goals is I want to help disabled families Anyone that's got disabled kids or they're disabled themselves. I want to be able to go fuck it, you need a bathroom renovation on me. I'm going to pay for that. Yeah, like I want to be able to if a family member's got issues or problems or need it, need somewhere to live, or in retirement, whatever the case. Yeah, look, I don't want to be that person that someone around me is struggling and I can't help them yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:But if you actually just start to help them now, Just start helping Just in a little way, If you think you've got to get to a certain dollar value to be able to give money away, you're never going to give it away. Give away a dollar, give away a hundred bucks, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:And that to me it's something again. You know, the last 12 months we did this dance for charity thing too, you know, and so Looks a performer gets on stage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, under sufferance, that one, no, but even that too, like that, was going well and truly out of my comfort zone. But I knew it was going to be helping people. So you start to do things that raising money and that sort of stuff and just recently just done another little thing to help homelessness as well. And it's interesting I was talking about earlier in the sense of the amount of stuff we pull down off of a demolition type of job and we have all this timber or all this iron, which is people were just living in that, yeah, and now we've just pulled it down and people go and throw it in a hole. Well, when I've been thinking about this homelessness thing, I'm like, well, well, surely you know we can build some sort of something out of recycled materials, where you put these little buildings or something I don't know. But straightaway it starts making your mind think to how you can help these people and get a roof over there.
Speaker 2:That's a really good idea.
Speaker 1:You know it's. Ultimately, that's what we've got, you know, over our head. That's what we've got over our head. That's what a house is, and sometimes we get a little bit hung up on all those little finishing details, which is great for the person whose house it is. There's people out there that aren't and that, to me, that's starting to come back to my true self, not just taking it all for myself.
Speaker 2:I want to give it away. But yeah, that whole money mindset and, like most people out there, go ah, fuck, I don't have an issue with money.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But deep down I think we all all two to some degree yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think too, like the story was like with just this poor little old farmer from Sutherland. That was sort of something that was running through my mind and so that just straightaway transferred into my working life. That was running through my mind and so that just straightaway transferred into my working life, like I say, the last probably 12 months to start journaling and writing down. I have this. I have that you start thinking about the brain science behind some of that sort of stuff and how things start to occur. You know it's happening.
Speaker 2:How often a week do you journal?
Speaker 1:Probably been a little bit slack lately, but I don't know, maybe once or twice. At the moment we go through phases, I think, where you are just fully into writing things down. I'm the same.
Speaker 2:Always once a week, but sometimes it might be two or three. But, even just that once a week makes, and I've journaled for years, but it wasn't until 2020, going to that first Grant Cadone conference I went to in Vegas, where he was like you've got to write it down, like you've already got it. Your brain needs to think that you've already achieved that.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what flipped for me on the drive 23 last year when you guys were saying I went. After talking about it on the bus, one day I went back to the hotel room and I was saying I want, I want, I want. And I shared that then the next day and I think Amelia might have said you know, you've got to write it down and say I have. I've shared that with a few people since and it's a whole mindset shift, to actually put it in that way.
Speaker 2:Wanting something is like everybody wants things. If you want things, you could want things your entire life doesn't mean you're going to get it. All your life's going to change. But this is that wording, writing it down like you've already achieved it. Yeah, I guess it's giving your brain the confidence to push harder for it absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:And then when you start seeing little results I would think of the start of this year some of the things I wrote down that I wanted to do. I just reread a few of them the other night. I'm like, sheesh, a few of those things have actually happened and how good is it. But when you do that, it's so good. But it wasn't like you set that goal and right, I'm going to do everything in my power to actually going to work my guts out to go and do it. Just keep living your life putting things out there and things start to come back.
Speaker 2:It's amazing when you start seeing this, you've definitely gone next level. Like, and tell us about your journey this year. Like.
Speaker 1:You've definitely thought your commitment has been insane yeah, I learned a lot about discipline and showing up and just getting out there and doing the work when you don't feel like you want to be doing it, and probably part of it was, you know, this time last year.
Speaker 1:Someone knocked on our door at the office saying, oh, we want to have you as one of the stars of the Barossa to do this dance for charity, and so I actually thought they were just asking us to sponsor the event or be part of the sponsorship package or something, and so no, we want you to be up there and do one of the dances. We had a friend you know lost her life through cancer, so this was all to raise money for, you know, cancer Council, let's say, and another local fundraising group down there, but as one of the stars, we had to raise money. And then over the Christmas period my brother gave me the new Ned Brockman book, which this young lad from Sydney ran from Perth to Sydney and basically the book was showing up, you know, and get comfortable, being uncomfortable, and I read that in like two or three days, just bang like that over Christmas.
Speaker 2:What's it called?
Speaker 1:It's called Showing Up by Ned Brockman, and so that was. You know, 1st of January. So I wrote these things down Want to run a marathon, want know 1st of January.
Speaker 2:So I wrote these things down want to run a marathon, want to do these sorts of stuff, so have you ever has that been in your mind before like to run a marathon?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it probably had. But again, I go back three years ago. I wasn't going to the gym, I wasn't doing any exercise or any of that sort of stuff. So that came out of learning what guys and girls successful people are doing and I was just starting to get off the tools a bit. I'd just turned 40. A few of these things started to happen. So I said, right, I'm going to start doing CrossFit. I cooked myself that one session. It took me about 15 days to come back. But now that slowly went into, do it once or twice a week. And then it went to three times a week and now four or five times a week I'll be doing some sort of exercise, and only through that.
Speaker 1:There was an event, probably 18 months ago Do a 10K at the Brossard Marathon event. All right, I'll go run 10Ks. Oh, how awesome is this. And then that levels up to oh, I want to run a half marathon. Do that three or four months later at the City to Bay, and then from there it was like, well, the next thing I want to do is run a marathon. That's the next point.
Speaker 2:You set a target, but didn't you have days, yeah, days. You wanted to consistently show up.
Speaker 1:So and that was off the back of raising money for the Dance for Charity. So the idea was I just Google counsellor, say, 30 people diagnosed with cancer every day in South Australia. So I thought I'm going to do start off February 1 to the dance on May 11, I'm going to run every day until the event and run 30 minutes. So it wasn't distance or anything like that, but it was like okay, if I'm feeling rubbish, I just got to get up and run somehow for the next 30 minutes and it was off the back of that. I had visions in my mind. How cool would it be when you get to number 70 of 101 or number 80 of 101? That's where the discipline and the habits came to doing hard things consistently and you know that can then feed into business as well it was unreal watching your post in our facebook group like every week, smashing out how many days did you end up doing consistently?
Speaker 1:so that was 101, yeah, yeah every day rain half shine yeah, and luckily, I reckon it probably rained two days in that whole period.
Speaker 2:But again you set something but I remember that you post some videos that you'd had a shit day at work or a big week and you're buggered.
Speaker 1:But when he talks about running from Perth to Sydney and the pain that he had to go through to do that. I'm like jeepers if he's been able to go through that pain and feel that pain but consistently keep doing it. Yes, the goal he had in his mind. He still got the distance, but he was trying to do it in a certain number of days and things like that.
Speaker 2:You've done more than you did without setting it, you know so I think that's an important point, because so many people at some point in their life try and set some goals and they don't achieve them and then they get the shits and don't try again. But yeah, like any goal you set, like if you get halfway there, that's half, like it's further than you were before and I think it's getting harder and harder. Like I think too many people and I know this was my case for maybe right up until my mid thirties like the goals weren't personal, they were materialistic and so my goals weren't really my goals. They were goals from influence, from industry, from other builders, from things other people had, and I quite often, like I achieved a lot of goals but they weren't fulfilling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a bit empty, yeah, a bit empty. Yeah, it's just empty. Like you think you want whatever it might be. It could be a new tool, a new trailer, it might be a new vehicle, it might be a boat, it could be like, I think, when your goals are materialistic things, like it feels like it's a big thing to achieve it. But like, even if it's a Ferrari Ferrari like what you buy, the Ferrari you sit in it. Yeah, like it might be awesome and fun for the first week and then you're like, fuck, it's just a car, yeah, that's right. But when your goals are like you're running for 101 days, yeah, like it feels like such an achievement that you've pushed yourself to do something that you didn't think you could do, yeah. And then that discipline flows through everything your business, your personal life, your relationships yeah.
Speaker 1:It is. I was just blown away by the end of it because I was pretty spent. I finished the run that Saturday morning and then that Saturday night we had to actually get on stage to do the dance. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever thought to go up and dance in front of 350 people. Not on YouTube, mate. Can we check it out? It'd have to be out there somewhere. Get Shadleford in the link.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll drop a link.
Speaker 1:But it's just like. But I had, like Lisa was up there and had our two apprentices as well and they were just absolute legends to do that, and that whole event raised $52,000 or $54,000. And myself, just by doing my running sort of thing I don't know it was $4,000 or something went into the kitty. So that's the joy and that's the achievement that I see is that you've actually been able to help other people through just doing something you know. But then you know, like you finish that and you it becomes addictive.
Speaker 1:It really does, and so at the moment I've actually stopped running quite a bit and I'd lost, um, a lot of strength and stuff through that period. But it's always that thing you don't know what you don't know going into it. It's like I'm just running, you know, but now I've learned, okay, there's a lot of nutrition that comes into making sure you're keeping that strength and keeping the weight on and staying strong while you're doing all this running, and it's just. But if you don't try and push yourself to go that level, you would never, ever know what you need to do now to do the next thing yeah, and it's the same as business, isn't it absolutely?
Speaker 2:yeah you have to push to the next level to know what it's like to be there. Business is always going to be difficult, but it's your consistency, your commitment, your mindset, your integrity, all that sort of stuff that's what ultimately makes you a good business person.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And, like I say, I go back probably three, four, five years ago and there's jobs we're doing now which I thought back then that I would never been able to build, you know. But you take little chunks and say, actually, this will be a little bit of a challenge you want and honesty comes into it too then, with clients, if you find part of that project which you've never done before as well, just be honest and say, look, that's something we haven't dealt with before, but got a great network of builders that we can call on and ask bits and pieces. You know that sort of stuff, so it's oh, I.
Speaker 2:I think it's true. I think that's really important and that's something I've always done. We we won award back in 2012 um, for I can't remember exact name award. We missed out on um difficult side award at the the master builders, and then we actually got the job, got accepted in at the time. They don't do them anymore. They used to be called the abode awards. Yeah, there used to be a show on tv called abode, it was. Anyway. We got accepted in it. We made it into the finals, we went down to melbourne and we won the award for the construction on the most difficult site, and so we built this house in to wong and brisbane here.
Speaker 2:At the time I was 28 or, basically, the block was 43 degrees, jeez, and I can't remember the width of the house. But you walked in the front door off the driveway and then it had a suspended pool out the back. By the time you got to the back edge of the pool, it was 16 metres off the ground, yeah right. And it was suspended on these big 900 round off form concrete columns, like each column. Each column had a. So we had to dig down until we hit rock. So we had these four meter by four meter holes in the ground, like one of them was five and a half meters deep, yeah. And then we tied these big cages, the the steel cages were, I think it was 16 mil bar, two layers big cages like 16 mil high, and I'd never done anything like that.
Speaker 2:The owner was actually the developer. He was in this little 18 lot, sort of prestige, little development. And I just told him. I said, mate, like he drove past another job we were doing on a steep site and showed me these plans and I was like mate, I've never done any of that but fuck, I'll have a crack at it.
Speaker 1:And he loved my enthusiasm and so how'd you work through to nut all that out then, like when you think of a first job that I've never done it just asking questions of people yeah, I ask questions a lot all the time, even now, but I stared at those plans for hours and hours and hours and I just jot down things that I was concerned about.
Speaker 2:I wasn't quite sure I spoke to my form worker a lot off. Like concrete isn't really that difficult, like it's all in the preparation, yeah. So if you get your foundations right, you get your form work right. And one thing I've always done with any type of form you just brace the shit out of it yeah, if you think it's good enough do it more.
Speaker 2:So I just spent hours online researching and then one of the columns, I think, was 11 metres from the top of the pad footing to the underside of the deck and I didn't know that we had to pour that in four stages. And so I just learnt by looking online. Talking to the form worker the concreter we were using at the time had a little bit of experience. Yeah, I learned a shitload, but it's one of my most proud jobs because everyone the owner told me that he had, like I think it was a dozen, more than a dozen, bills with it. No one wanted to do it.
Speaker 2:It was all too hard, yeah, and he was concerned because I was keen to do a fixed price contract, because I'd been burnt the years before doing a cost plus, yeah, and so ever since that we got burnt, we've never, ever gone near a cost plus ever again. And, mate, I just kept that and over and I priced that job perfectly. It was at the time one of our most profitable jobs when we finished. But in saying that I still back then I didn't know my overheads. So all the pricing for the materials, labor like even the earthworks, like in that steep job yeah, block work, core fill like pool was bang on, but I fucked up my overheads, yeah and like. So I covered all my costs, all my costs, but I only made a salary out of it because I didn't understand my running costs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's again, though. When you do one of those jobs for the first time, you don't know what you don't know, and you go into it and it is talking to the trades that are working with you, or engineers, or whoever it is.
Speaker 2:I don't think there's enough collaboration from a lot of people, or whoever it is. I don't think there's enough collaboration from a lot of people. That owner was so, I guess, grateful that I wasn't trying to bullshit him. I told him there was a lot of things on the job, that was going to be my first time, and so I would send him an email and say, hey, mate, I've done some research on this. If we do this, it'll come up like this. If we do this, it might be a bit better. So he really appreciated all that collaboration. But the other thing that I've always been very good at, like it had, we'd always done a lot of structural steel.
Speaker 2:I'll show you a photo of this job um, shake and maybe put a link into it as well. But uh, it was like a u-shape with this big pool in the middle and the two u-shapes sat on top of concrete columns. I had like, so the guy uh, he was really high up with quantus, he worked like he was in and out of the airport all the time and the brisbane airport's got these concrete columns with these big they call them bird's nest on top, yeah, and he wanted to influence the hair 175 tube, like big legs coming out. And so, mate, I sat beside, I went to the steel drafts. When I sat beside and we worked through it together, he explained connections to me.
Speaker 2:I went and sat with my steel fabricator and, like, we nutted out roughly what size crane we needed and how long you thought it'd take, yeah, and then I actually shit my pants on that job because we got the crane there. Everything was all perfect like, and so for this, this steel frame, to work, we had to finish our form ply within 40 millimeters and then it had a cage on top with 22 bolts round that we set in the concrete. And if this huge big plate didn't fit perfectly on those bolts it would have thrown the whole job out of square, because off this bracket was what all these arms come off of, even just with shit like that. The steel guy explained that to me. So, yeah, I allowed extra surveying. So we we allowed a surveyor to come to site once we got our form work to the site before we poured the concrete to mark square on the circle form work, yeah, so that we could set our bolts up perfectly, anyway.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we got all the structural steel in and it was like bouncing all over the shop and we're walking around and I'm like this is not right. And I got the engineer at the site and he's like no, no, this design relies on all the floor joists being in the floor, being laid and screwed off because it's all got to lock together.
Speaker 2:I was like shit. Like man, I hope you're right, because like this thing was like flopping around and yeah, it was right, we got our floor structure in. You've got to have a crack. Yeah, you can't be silly about it.
Speaker 1:That could have gone pear-shaped, yeah, quickly yeah, absolutely it is a bit of that, and that's where when I ego has to come into it a bit too sometimes.
Speaker 1:I don't think you can just conquer the world. You just got to keep building towards that and that's probably been a bit of our growth. I've never felt like I want to grow to a team of X in a certain period of time. It's sort of like, as long as we're growing, I'm happy, you know, and it doesn't have to be in any time. You know I need to have 20 blokes in two years or anything like that, or X amount turnover or profit in a certain amount of time and that sort of thing. Because I think one part I'm probably well aware of myself is that making sure that I don't overcook myself as well, because then I'm useless to everyone as well, because when you do get focused on something, you can really get nearly too focused on it and burn out and all that sort to everyone as well, because when you do get focused on something, you can really get nearly too focused on it and burn out and all that sort of stuff as well.
Speaker 2:How do you like? How have you structured the business to allow you the time to do the running and the exercise?
Speaker 1:I think a lot of personal scheduling, I think is big. But apart from the running stuff, my morning routine is bang on most days, like I'd what is it? Pretty much going to the gym. I'm my alarms going off at 4 42 in the morning. I'll probably hit the snooze for nine minutes and then I'll get up again. But yeah, gym at 5 30, work out for an hour and then back home start getting ready. I'll sort of help the kids and, although they're mostly self-sufficient, a lot now but, um, help lisa, get all that sort of stuff ready around home. And then generally if I'm not going to, I'll be into the office by 8 30 or be on site anywhere between 8 to 8 30. The boys start at 7 30 in the morning. Shit, I don't need that alone.
Speaker 1:That's the guy there I don't know, you guys have a lot more daylight here because you don't have this daylight saving stupid thing.
Speaker 2:Jesus, I'm inside at six oh quarter past six If it's getting hotter, I think they'll probably start earlier.
Speaker 1:That's my part of the day and I just yes, I'm doing my job, but I love working out and doing CrossFit stuff, playing cricket and footy for most of my life to now doing something completely different. It's just fresh, it's new. You're doing things which you never thought you could do as well. So, again, that's just part of my time. When you get to work, you just get stuck into the day having a morning routine is so important.
Speaker 1:Like just sets you up for the whole day I didn't go yesterday morning but I ended up going at night and that cooks me in the afternoon. If I got to go to the gym in the afternoon and we were talking about with a few people and they said, oh, no way can I be a morning person to do that, but I find it's the best time of the day to do it. So I started doing a 6 30 when I first started. I'm like I can't get up at 4 40 in the morning, like no way all of a sudden. Then, nah, I'm getting to work too late, I need to go at the early session and now it's just habit. Last two and a half years doing that like habits are so good to have structure in your life would you think?
Speaker 2:would you have thought three years ago, when you first joined elevate, that you'd be sitting here talking about this sort of stuff?
Speaker 1:no way, and you got to have an open mind to stuff like I think you were talking about cold showers and ice baths and that sort of stuff and it's just like I can't stand under a cold shower, no way. You're mad. But now you're doing it. You know having ice baths, doing some breath work, journaling, all this sort of stuff. You're seeing benefits of it and so you start sharing that with other people as well. I just recently done 10 ice baths every morning. One of the guys doing a retaining wall goes oh, have you thought out yet? This morning I said, mate, you need to come do it with me.
Speaker 2:It's powerful stuff. That's why we're called Live Life Build Absolutely. You can't be successful if you're not right yourself. You've got to focus on number one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the relationships and it's like at home with your kids, you know, with your partner. For me, I need to have my own time to actually make sure that I'm showing up for them as well. If I'm putting some of that effort in for myself, I know I'm going to be showing up and available for my staff as well and contractors. So and all of a sudden, you just start to talk about stuff. It just comes naturally to you. You're not trying to put this mask on and be something you're not. And I think a lot of this year has taught me that I love exercise and I love running, and it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but those talks.
Speaker 2:You've got to find your thing, don't you? You do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you need to just be honest with yourself. For a long time probably, one of my battles was always trying to be someone I wasn't. You're looking sideways. It's so interesting how, when you actually believe that stuff, I've got a number of those notes on my screen and you're looking at them all the time. So when you go and run a marathon, don't worry about everyone else running around. You just run your own race seriously. And I thought I was running and I cooked myself, but I didn't know what I didn't know. So I'll learn a lot for next time. That's for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you need to be true to yourself. If you can't do that, you're going to just things are just going to grind a little bit more, I reckon, than what they could.
Speaker 2:I want to come back a little bit. So we've got a bit of a thunderstorm going over at the moment, so you're hearing a bit of rumbling. It's not luke. All right. I think this summer we're having now is fuck. Everyone talks about all this global warming and all this stuff, but this is what it was like when I was apprentice, mate, like in print. When I was apprentice, so many days we had to finish early, like people forget because they only listen what they're fucking told on the news. But oh, there were summers where at least once a week we were going home early because one, two, two o'clock storms would roll in piss down hail and it couldn't work and like we haven't had that for years, and like this year we're finally getting the storms on a regular basis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah I like it.
Speaker 1:You always think back to when you're at school and whether it's pissing down and it's raining and all of a sudden Mum has to come and pick you up at the bus stop because you can't walk home because it's raining or whatever. But you start to see what things are like now. We've had a bloody dry winter down our way. Growing up on our farm, we had probably 11-inch rainfall there, so you couldn't grow a hell of a lot. Very much marginal grazing country really. But now where we're living in the Barossa, you talking probably 25 inch rainfall, 24 inch rainfall, and I reckon for the year we've probably had I don't know the numbers may be anywhere between 10 and 14 inches for the year if we're lucky. So we're a long way off of where things are normal. But you know it'll, I don't know. It's all cycles isn't it?
Speaker 2:yeah, I want to come back to identity because I think it's something that I don't know. It's all cycles, isn't it? Yeah, I want to come back to identity because I think it's something that we don't talk about. I know, recently, one of our mentors in elevate did a session the other day, which I saw you commented on as well, around your identity. Yeah, I definitely am so convinced that 99 of people on this planet do not know their identity.
Speaker 1:And I reckon part of that call that really sort of resonated with me is that your identity is fluid, it can actually change a little bit as well, and so for me, my identity isn't tied up in what I do. So I'm not a builder, I'm Luke. I like to do these things. These are the things that resonate with me. I'm a relational sort of a person. I like to talk with people and get to know people that sort of a way. But it's not. And that's the thing where I think sometimes, when I think about business and things like that, that's where I've always sort of felt like I'll do everything I can to make sure we're running it profitably, sustainably, but at the end of the day, if things go well or if things don't go well, that's not who I am, you know, and that's truly sort of how I see that identity thing.
Speaker 2:And do you reckon it's given you freedom?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. You don't have that pressure to strive and you don't have that Be something you're not Correct. Yeah, because you're not correct.
Speaker 2:yeah, because you're just living out who you truly are do you reckon most people, do you reckon a lot of people, are living someone else's identity?
Speaker 1:yeah, and I probably sort of think of and I think, growing up not necessarily whether you're trying to be like your parents or anyone like that sort of thing, but I think more so as you come into a professional sort of a life.
Speaker 1:I reckon I always put certain builders probably on pedestals when you get feedback from people you're working with and they say I'd rather work for you than such and such, because you actually can work with me on things, not just be told it's got to be done like this or make sure it's done in that timeframe, and just hound it, and so that's the sort of feel like, well, you need to make a dollar as well. So if you put that pressure on people, they're not going to be at the best of their ability either. So, yeah, I truly think that people are trying to live someone else's life, but also I want to instill that in my kids as well. Like, just do your own thing. You know they might not quite get it yet, because they might know what did I get when I was understand, when I was 15 as well. You know, yeah, probably a lot of it comes with age and a bit of wisdom yeah, definitely, we're the same.
Speaker 2:I want my kids to know that they can do whatever they want to do. It doesn't really matter so much what, camille and I think, like they're their own person, they can come up with their own opinion.
Speaker 1:You can say no to things. Yeah, well, like that doesn't align with me, so I'm gonna let that go. You know, when it doesn't work, like just recently, we just bought a car and literally looked at it on a sunday night. We had it on friday. It just flowed that easy and we'd been looking for six months or so but all of a sudden found the right, the one. It was where I get my car serviced. It just sort of everything just fell into place and it was not hard at all, you know.
Speaker 1:And that's how life should be Some people just battle everything don't they? Yeah, I'm going to get that, because I said I was going to get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then they'll stretch themselves too far. They won't be able to get proper finance. They get high interest finance. They dig themselves a hole just because they're not comfortable being yeah it's a bit of a flow, isn't it?
Speaker 1:You need to try and work out how you work and what works, and that's where I think sometimes I'm feeling more comfortable now with our guys on site, that I can trust them. I've come up here now for a couple days. I trust them on the job. While I'm not there, a couple phone calls here and there and things like that to work through, but I can trust them that it's not going to be. I'll get back and it's a show and because I've worked out that my value is in all the pre-construction side of things and actually talking with clients, because I know that they are valued in their position.
Speaker 2:You know what they are doing so important to know where you're where you add the most value, isn't it? Yeah?
Speaker 1:and I'd like say that had never been the case. It's really again nearly the last, I think, off the back of sharing these values with the team, we sat down with our two leading hands and we said because this time last year we were in a real slow spot, so we had this big up and down of work and so they can see they were quiet as well, they nearly didn't have a job. So it's sort of like well, they can see that now, so they're taking on that responsibility as well, because they can see Saxony is going to work because of that. So it doesn't feel hard either. It's refreshing because you're all on the same page.
Speaker 2:Everyone in the business like. For a business to be successful, every single person in the business has to be doing the job that they're the best at doing, or that's adding the most value. Yeah, like if you're running around like a headless chalk trying to manage every task, do everything yourself, getting stuck in the weeds.
Speaker 1:That's not good for anyone. And then you've got to find that's the other thing too. I probably you know again coming from a boiler maker doing steel frame, and I've said to you before that I always didn't think myself I can't talk with other builders because I'm not a carpenter and know anything about timber work and stuff like that. But I've put that aside now and it's like well, I just need skilled carpenters to put the frame up and do that part of it.
Speaker 1:I know what it needs to look like and how I want it done but if I don't have the actual hands-on skill set to do it, that doesn't matter, you know? And then you become comfortable within your own skin because some of these guys can't talk to a client the way I can talk to a client don't have to be doing everything, just want to make sure everything's getting done. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's super important and not getting stuck in the weeds. So where to from here, mate?
Speaker 1:Well, like you say, I think the world's my oyster in a way. Another marathon. Yeah, we'll do another one.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've sort of pegged something middle of next year so I'd like to do the Brosser local one again. But when I ran that late August I probably got to the last six or seven Ks where I just cooked myself and haven't felt pain like it. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2:But you kept going.
Speaker 1:And that's the thing too. Now it's that growth sort of mindset again. You're always trying to work out right. How can I do it better next time? I want to run the full 42 next time, not get to 35, cook yourself and then walk for a bit. Run for a and then walk for a bit, run for a bit, walk for a bit, run for a bit. So I'm starting to look at things. Get back in the gym, get a lot stronger. It sort of affected my back a little bit on the back end of it so, but if I can give myself a lead-in of nine months, ten months like it is now to do another one, I know you need to push yourself to a point where you're scared yeah to do something 100
Speaker 1:and I yeah, I was scared with doing that and that's the thing with business as well like there's some things where I'd like to get to, to make some better profits and get to some high-level projects and things like that. But that scares me because I've never done it before. But I know and this has been the benefit of having such a good community of people around you they are so encouraging for you and wanting to see you succeed and when you get people around you like that, well, there's nothing that can stop you because at the end of the day, it's going to feed on to a lot of other people. I feel like this year I've done a shitload, but I felt like it's been a pretty consistent sort of a year. It hasn't had the big fluctuations, like I've sort of felt, and so, out of those learnings, just keep doing that if it's working.
Speaker 2:Just keep falling back to those habits of it I like how you said you've got to find something that pushes you and scares you. I definitely think, because one of my big turning points was going to ever a Base Camp nearly seven years ago. I'd just never done anything like it, but it wasn't so much that it was the training up to it, it was a camaraderie, it was a group of guys, Whatever. That was like the 20 years since I'd left school I hadn't done anything like that. You've got to find those things that push you to your limits and the growth, because you'll get so tied up running the business you think I can't have time off. That's the first thing I thought when we went to Everest, because we were away for three weeks, I was like how's everything going to run? What's going to happen?
Speaker 1:But the growth that comes on the other side of that is enormous. And do you reckon, then, as well, like doing that stuff yourself? You know someone? I think back to CrossFit. I reckon I got caught at a weak moment to go through friends and that's okay, but all of a sudden you do it and all of a sudden shit, because I had a story that I'm not a gym person. That's just what I told myself. But now it's become the best part of my day getting up and doing that. So but we're doing the 100 days running or doing a marathon, or I'd love to walk Kokoda one day as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mate, we'll add you to the list because that's going to happen next year. Yeah, when they open, it's shut, didn't you? Yeah?
Speaker 1:Well I think, yeah, I'm not sure. Actually I'd sort of follow someone who does a bit of stuff over there, but like my papa he served at Bougainville over there in World War II. So I just love that bit of the connection between something more than myself, you know, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Going to Everest really highlighted for me like I need a target.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like if I just say, oh, I'm going to get up every morning, go for a walk, whatever, like it might happen for a few weeks or a couple of months or whatever, but I need something to aim for. Yeah, and that like it, it went really well, like I did that, and then 12 months later we all we went and did the milford track and then we were supposed to go to kota and covid hit, yeah, and I've just been up and down and up and down, like I get stuck in the exercise and I fall off, like so we've only just a myself. We've got a couple other guys, we'll add you to the list, but I I got on there to start like looking about and getting serious and it's like, oh, kakada cracks clothes, yeah, yeah, I just think that would be amazing, like again read the book and it's incredible for me, that type of stuff is well number one.
Speaker 2:It's getting me out of my comfort zone. It's something that you just can't turn up and it's not a walk in the park, so you have to commit to a little bit of training, but, yeah, it's that camaraderie, it's that pulling a group of people together, similar interests, the growth that I had on that Everest trip, because you don't have anything else to do, like you're walking, yeah, and every day like seven, eight, ten hours, and there's some deep that gets spoken about because people open up, you get vulnerable.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of tears, yeah, and then on top of that, you're pushing yourself to get to a goal, yeah you know you touched on you open up and I think us as blokes, we need to be doing something to be able to talk and open up. We can't just let's go down for a coffee, sit at the coffee shop. It doesn't quite work like that. You need to be doing something and I think if you've got a common goal, all of a sudden you achieve it and you know and I think that's the thing with the crossfit gym it's a, it's a group class environment. You're not going there yourself, so I was just talking to the coach about it.
Speaker 1:So this whole thought of getting out of your comfort zone or pushing yourself into uncomfortable situations, like you do a workout for 15 minutes and everyone's a bit like at the start thinking, oh shit, this one's going to be a bit spicy, this one's going to be crap, but by the end of it we are absolutely cooked and spent. But the way we talk to each other and oh, how crap was that? And you just start to smile and whatever. But I think she was saying there's nearly like a 20% to 30% increase. If you do something in a group towards a common goal, that you will achieve more.
Speaker 1:And I feel like that's the whole thing, with the whole Elevate community as well, is because we're a whole group. You've got people at all different levels and stages and areas and all that sort of stuff. We all just share and encourage each other to keep going. And that's exactly what the gym is Like. Everyone's patting yourself on your back and you watch back squat 200 kilo and there's me doing sort of about 90 and you're like how the hell are you doing that? But then everyone has their strengths and weaknesses as well. You know what you're good at and you know what you can work on and put the weaknesses aside and just say, oh no, I'm no good, but keep working at them.
Speaker 2:But you're this whole podcast. I'm just sitting here. Look at the smile on your face. Like you're, I'm super proud of where you are because you've had some enormous growth in the last couple of years.
Speaker 1:It feels like since you committed to that 101 days walking, your growth was sort of climbing steadily and now it's just yeah I think when you put yourself in that situation, you get the belief within yourself and like I really say thank you that you're proud that of where I've come from. But I used to probably want that a lot more, you know, because I had to be told I was doing a good job. But now it's like I'll accept it and say thank you. But for me it's actually myself being proud of myself. It's not coming from outward sources and that's how you can stay grounded. I think a bit too.
Speaker 1:But yeah, when you do freaking, do it. You're like how freaking good is that that I've actually just achieved that. And that's why that ned brockman fella like he's inspired so many people across the country to get uncomfortable and put yourselves into not nice situations and then if some person hears that, they go. Actually, maybe I might try that, because that's where the growth starts to happen. You got to go beyond that comfort zone. That's why you always keep setting the bar. It's addictive like.
Speaker 2:I think it's addictive because it why wouldn't it be addictive when it it gets to a point where it feels like everything's just falling into place. But it's not falling into place. It's the journaling, it's the mindset, it's the identity. Over time, you're changing what you're putting out to the universe and I just think it's incredible.
Speaker 1:The story you tell yourself. Growing up in a church sort of background, I just felt like god was put in a box in a church on a sunday. Yeah, well, to me, when I was running 100 days, he was there with me 100 of the time. I always felt a bit uncomfortable. Share that stuff with people as well, because of they might not be, or you know how does that make you feel as well. Once you're true to yourself and you're comfortable with yourself, you're not standing on a corner with a picket telling everyone how good it is or what it is. That's me, that's myself. Everyone's got other thing, say other religions or what they're involved in. So just be you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love it mate.
Speaker 1:It's great to be able to get to that point, because it takes a long time though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's no one thing, but is there? No, everyone wants that secret source. Yeah, and it's not. Yeah, it's within you it yeah it's within you. It's a combination of lots of different things, but we're probably going to have to wrap it up because this storm's bloody getting quite noisy. But, mate, before we do, what's level up mean to you.
Speaker 1:I think we've probably just spoken about it today Like it's pushing yourself to a point where you've got to take another level and you don't know what's on the other side unless you set a goal, set a target, push yourself to get to that point. Once you've gone through and you've achieved that, all of a sudden there's another level above that again. So levels don't stop. They don't stop. You keep leveling up. I love listening to what you're doing through this podcast and being involved live, life build. I'm really happy and proud that I've been involved with it and continue to be, because I feel like I've got something to give back to everyone else who's coming into the program as well now.
Speaker 2:So it's awesome really appreciate you jumping on a plane, coming up here and looking forward to heading out. Now we're going to go and have some dinner and stuff. Look as always. Please like, share, subscribe and look. We really want to continue to make this australia's number one construction podcast, so share it, tell the world about it and we look forward to seeing you on the next one. Cheers, guys, are you ready to?
Speaker 1: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, duane pierce, is based solely on my own personal experiences and those experiences of my guests. The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. We recommend that you obtain your own professional advice in respect to the topics discussed during this podcast.