The "Level Up" with Duayne Pearce Podcast
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.
The "Level Up" with Duayne Pearce Podcast
Why This Australian Builder’s Journey Will Change How You See Success
Discover why resilience, vision, and relentless determination are the keys to success in Australia’s building industry. In this inspiring interview, Jacob Bain of Kingfisher Homes shares his journey from humble handyman to respected builder, overcoming personal tragedy, business hurdles, and self-doubt along the way.
Whether you’re an aspiring builder, entrepreneur, or just love a good Aussie success story, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical advice, and motivation to help you level up your life and business.
Check out Jacob Bain and Kingfisher Homes: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingfisherhomesau/ Website: https://kingfisherhomes.com.au/
Check out the Duayne Pearce website here...
https://duaynepearce.com/
G'day guys, welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are back in the shed this afternoon for another cracking episode. I'm really pumped about this one this afternoon. Been wanting to get this guy on for a little while. He is another Alevate member, so he's part of my Live Life Bill business. He has done incredible things in the last couple of years. And uh a big warm welcome to Jacob from Kingfisher Homes that has come all the way down from Rocky. How are you, mate?
SPEAKER_00:Good, thank you, Dwayne, and thanks for having us.
SPEAKER_03:Mate, I'm excited. You're uh up, you're down from cattle country. That's it. The beef capital of Australia, they call it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And uh it's a good place to be. Like I keep telling people, we live in the best nation in the world. It's got to be Australia, right? And I think Queensland's the best state in the nation. And I think Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast has got to be one of the best places in the whole state. So I live in the best place in the world.
unknown:That's it.
SPEAKER_03:It's definitely awesome up there. But we're um we've had a few guests that have come down from up north, but a lot of our guests have come from down south. So it's really good to have another Queenslander on the uh on the podcast telling us how it is. How's business up in Rocky, mate?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, look, Rocky is it's going hot, like there's plenty going. Like all of Australia, we we need more houses. Like Australia needs more homes, nothing, nothing to it. Um big thing is just the developers is just drip feeding the market with land. And um, but it's coming on, and there's there's there's builders up there, and we're doing our bit, and um, but there's plenty of opportunity there, a lot of investment's been in. Um, you know, I'm seeing articles in like realestate.com, you know, national media of talking about Rockhampton as a property place. Um, also, you know, you poon the Capricorn Coast again, national media talking, could this be the next buyer and bay and things like that? So a lot of yeah, a lot of movement, obviously, a lot of movement's been since COVID, but it continues to coming, you know, people coming to the area. Um, there's a lot of things there, like$1.8 billion they're spending on a ring road at the moment. They just spent or are spending a billion dollars on there's Army Country up there, so every year they do uh joint training exercises with uh Singapore Army, plus every three years they do joint training um with the US Army, and so they just spend a billion dollars on renovating and upgrading facilities there. So billions of dollars being spent in the area. Um, and it's like everyone, we all need more people, uh, like as far as tradies and and people to build. So but no, it's going great.
SPEAKER_03:Mate, Queensland has some incredible coastline. It's it's definitely um like I like rocking, and especially out around your poon, and that's bloody beautiful on that that coastline up there. And you're correct if I'm wrong, but you're far enough north, you don't get the stingers, do you?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, you can swim in the beach there.
SPEAKER_03:No crocs. Well, the crocs in the river, you don't swim in the river, but you can swim in the beach. Um well mate, let's go back a bit. Um you're obvious you're a builder. Yes. Um, I think your story is pretty interesting, but how you get it? It's a bit of a different one, not the average builder's story. So, yeah. Well, let's get into it. Where didn't where did it start? Go back to right.
SPEAKER_00:Go right back. Back in my day, 19 the year was 1996. Uh, believe it. Um, actually, I uh I finished school the year at the end of year 10, and I remember um my mother having conversation with friends saying, like, Jacob's my builder, you know, he's gonna be my builder. And uh, this is from when I was a kid. But at the end of year 10, I actually finished school and went and did a year's TAFE course, uh certificate one in construction. So it was a 12-month course. They sort of did carpentry and bricklaying and and different parts of all those aspects.
SPEAKER_03:So, where was this? Where were you living back then?
SPEAKER_00:That was in Bunderburg. Yeah, so born in Mulaney, but grew up in Bunderburg, and so that was Bunderburg Tafe. And um, so I did that year course, and that took six months off an apprenticeship. Um, at the start of the next year, so 1996, I got a uh carpentry apprenticeship with Q-Build, who is you know the Queensland government building arm, and so I got a carpentry apprenticeship with Q-Build. I was 16 years old, and um, so I did two years of that, and um, and then my father got a transfer. So he moved uh or took a job in Sydney, and so at that point I'd just turned 18. I decided to move with the family to Sydney, and so I'm 18. Um, I was actually the first year, I think 1996 was the first year of what they call the competency-based system. So it was coming out of the you know, four years that's an apprenticeship, um, moving into you know what it is now to say, well, you could do it faster or slower depending on your competency. And so they gave us all when we signed up by logbook, and your job was to get all that signed off. And so actually, QBill had actually in those first two years, they'd sent me to Rockhampton to do TAFE. That's where I met my first um my first wife, and that's how we end up back in Rockhampton years later. Um, so they'd sent me, and I'd actually done all of my TAFE, so all of all of my uh practical was completed. Um, so it was all signed off in the book, but you know, this was the first year in the tradies, and and you're you're a kid, you don't know what's going on, and so I think I had about three signatures in that book. And so, you know, you're 18 and insecure, and you wonder what else the big wide world's got to offer. And so we moved to Sydney and and uh so I didn't pursue um carpentry there. I worked in retail um in Sydney. I lived there for three and a half years. Uh in that time um I got married. We end up moving back to Rockhampton.
SPEAKER_03:And um so you got married young, mate?
SPEAKER_00:I did, yeah. I was married at uh 20. Yeah, um, yeah, married at 20. And my first child just before 23. Um, so I'm a granddad now. Um I've got four kids and three grandkids just had holy dolly, mate. Yeah, so look, this is what clean living and good genes do.
SPEAKER_03:Something like that. Um well at least you're like you're I I think that's awesome, mate, because you're young enough, you're gonna be able to enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00:Like that's it, yeah, yeah. So I'm 40, you know, 45 now, 46 this year, and uh although um yeah, so I had two older girls and they're 23 and 21, and some eldest is married with kids. Uh and then we had a big break, and uh I actually lost my first wife to um cancer, and so I had a remarried, and then so I got a six-year-old and a four-year-old now. So we've gone my second daughter, just finished uh year 12, and then the next year my son started Kindy, so right back through again.
SPEAKER_03:So geez, mate, you've been through a bit. Like, sorry to hear about your first wife.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, look, that's I mean, it's it's life, and uh life will throw at you whatever it will. Uh I always say um it's like to me, if life had a job description, if this was the job description of life, it seems to me that life's job description is to make you hard. It will do everything it can to make you hard of heart. Our job description is to stay soft. What can I've got to stay soft? I'll be forgiving, gracious, and and how do I, you know, not come into that temptation that life will throw at me to say be hard?
SPEAKER_03:And so life That's a good that's a good analogy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, none of us are exempt. We've all got something. You know, it will do whatever it can in you know, financial health or relationships or whatever else.
SPEAKER_03:So do you live your life along those sayings like life is hard? Like it is. Yeah, well it is that that's the truth. It is hard.
SPEAKER_00:I said I got I got married in 20, in 2000, I was married, first married at 20. And that year, um, you know, you've seen the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. For my family, um, 2000 was two weddings and a funeral. I got married, and then my you think married at 20 was young. My little sister got married two weeks after us, she was 18. And um, so we had two weddings at the start of the year, and then at the end of the year, my sister, who was her 23rd birthday, she fell off a cliff on her birthday and died. So I remember that phone call. I was just coming out of band practice, locking up, uh just leaving with the guys, and dad called and said, uh, there's been an accident, car is dead. And you know, you feel just your body drain.
SPEAKER_03:Holy shit.
SPEAKER_00:And uh so she was 23 and she loved, she was a wild, and we always say she packed 10 lives into that one. And uh, but she loved the we're living in Sydney, she loved the Blue Mountains, she decided to go climbing up there, you know, just bushwalking for the day. And uh, you know, took a trip off the path and decided I'm gonna and yeah, didn't come home. And uh and that's life, you know, like and so I've known sorrow. We all have, like I said, no one's exempt from that, but I've known comfort and I've known, you know, I've I've I've known the support of friends and family and and that too. So yeah, we all get that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, oh mate, that just tells me so much about your character, and um and I wouldn't have picked it, like you and I have caught up a few times. Um, last year when I was on that charity rally, we called in, we had dinner with you. That was on your way up to the charity rally.
SPEAKER_00:This one, I'm here at your place.
SPEAKER_03:We just got home. You just got home, but um, yeah, I wouldn't have I definitely wouldn't have picked that you've been through all that. So that's um it's well, I guess it's what's made you who you are. It does, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You're very resilient, and that's why I say like life will throw whatever it can at you, but you just gotta say, no, I'm not gonna come into that. Because people are still good at the heart of it. Yes, there's there's people who will hurt you, there was all sorts of things will happen, but at the core, you've got to be you've got to be gracious, you've got to be forgiving, you've got to keep walking that path. You can't give up on it. Yeah um because yeah, life sucks, and in the end you die. But but I want to walk and know at the end of the day, like some people, their greatest fear is public speaking. To me, happy, not a worry. My biggest fear is Which I wouldn't have picked.
SPEAKER_03:I actually would have picked it as a very um yeah, it's like corner of the room guy, not putting yourself out there.
SPEAKER_00:I I'm very much an introvert.
SPEAKER_03:Until you walked in before and started screaming, hot pies. What was it? Hot pies and hot pies and cold drinks. So tell where did that come from? That's coming up, is it? That was part of being in Sydney, wasn't it? Um The Hot Pies?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, no, no, that was when that was later on. Okay, yeah. So we're telling a story how I become a builder. Um so I moved to Sydney, um, and that happened when we were there. Um later on after we'd married for a year. Um my wife's family, they were all in Rockhampton. And so she was missing family, so we moved back up there, said goodbye to Sydney. I said to my mates, uh, I said, if I'm not back in two years, come get me. Well, no one came, so I'm still living in Rockhampton. Honestly, I wouldn't go back to Sydney. I love uh I love regional life. Um but so yeah, so moved there and I worked for you know the bank for nine months. I sold health insurance and uh I was young and um and then ended up getting into real estate selling real estate. 24 I started selling real estate. I sold for six and a half years, commission only real estate, and that will, you know, that proves you're alive. Um, you know, no backing up, it's just you had to sell if you want to survive. And so, you know, we had good years. I started in 2004, and you know, Rocky was booming then. We had some great booms. 20 2007, um, you know, I'm a slow start. And um, so after three years, I finally started to get the hang of this, you know, Hot Pies actually had a voice that people could understand, and um not mumbling all the time. Um and so, you know, it's 2007, Rocky Real Estate was going fantastic, and so I went to Christmas um in 2007 going, that's it, I finally did it. You know, this is the year I'm gonna make you know six figures, I'm on my way to a hundred grand. And and um, and so that was Christmas 2007. I came back in 2008, right? Who's ready to buy a property? And it was like somebody, it was like crickets, like it just 2008, you know, they they turned that finances off and everyone felt it. And I went through a period, I didn't sell getting commissioned to real estate, I didn't sell something for six months in one one portion of that. And um, but it kept pushing, kept pushing, and um until 2010. And in 2010, middle of 2010, I was like, what am I doing? You're like, why am I still doing this? And I'm a stubborn man, obviously. Um, that's how you know I think that's why you're good at business, right? Just keep going, keep going. And um and so 2010, I thought, why am I doing it? Why am I still trying to do this? Like it's not working, why am I still here? And I thought about it and I thought, why did I go into real estate in the first place? Because, you know, 99, 2000, around then, um, my family was introduced to Rich Dad, Poor Dad books and cash flow contraint. I'd I'd read those books, you know, got into Robert Kiyosaki and investing. And so I actually I thought about, I thought, actually, you know, the reason I got into real estate was to learn about how to invest in real estate. And I thought about, I thought, one of the first lessons that I actually learned when I became a real estate agent was you don't need to be a real estate agent to invest in real estate. In fact, it's probably better to not be because the banks don't like commission-only salespeople. If you've got a job with a wage, they actually will fund you better. Um, so I realized, okay, so I got into real estate to learn about real estate investing. I think this last six and a half years has taught me that. Yeah. So I felt free, okay, I don't have to be a real estate agent. I let that go. And when I made that decision, uh a friend of mine, he had an electrical contracting business. And he we'd spoken previously, and he like I went away and I'd come back, it was Monday morning, I'd made that decision on the weekend. And lo and behold, I get this call from me, mate on Monday saying, hey, he had an electrical contracting business, and and 2010, obviously, all the solar grants and stuff, so you know, solar power systems were all going. So he'd started a solar power business selling sales in um PV systems and hot water systems. And he called me Monday and said, Hey, my salesman's just given notice two weeks. Would you like to come over and have a meeting? Would you be interested? So I sat down with him and I just made that decision. He made the call. So I went over and worked for him selling solar hot um, you know, solar power systems. And so I did that for a couple of years, and um, and so I was a very autonomous, like he had electrical contracting business, he was busy running that. His partner was sort of started the PV, and so she did the administration and I did the sales. And and I was faithful to any business I worked for. You know, you give it your best, you do everything for it, you treat it like your own. And um, and so I was a very autonomous salesman. I'd come and go as I pleased. They knew that I was doing the best by them. And so I was just this one man band just out there selling solar. And next thing, one day I walked in and they sat me down and they said, What do you think? I said, What do you think about what? He said, On the desk here, there's a new organizational chart. And Jacob is the uh operations manager of the electrical contracting business. I said, Well, that sounds like fun. It was a promotion and more pay, so I did it. And so I went from this one-man, very autonomous salesman to running, you know, 10 or 12 electricians, labourers, you know, apprentices. And my job was just to keep them moving and always have something to do. Um, and so I uh I so all of a sudden was just right in the midst of it.
SPEAKER_03:Like up until this point, have you have you had any training in sales or marketing or just learning on the fly?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you keep learning on the fly. I you know, I learned and and obviously like personal development, all that sort of stuff in the real estate, you had all that, and so you're learning as you go. And you know, I was investing in that, and and uh, you know, Jim Rohn and John Maxwell and Zig Zig. I love, you know, like these are the classics, like, and there's some great stuff, and so you'd hear that, and the real estate salesman's like you know, that was back when McGrath, you know, John McGrath had just this little office, and uh he was doing uh real estate training and stuff like this, send the CDs to salesmen all over Australia. This is back in the olden days, right? Yeah um, and so you're doing all this.
SPEAKER_03:We're calling it the olden days because it had CDs, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00:Uh mate, times have changed. Um yeah, I love that joke on the menu. I'm gonna have to buy the white album again.
SPEAKER_03:Um I've got boxes of CDs, mate, and the only time I can play them is when I come down the shed and crack them on the old CD player. Don't even have a CD player in my car anymore.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, I bought a new youth, there's not one in there. I was like, oh well. And so yeah, I've got this, like I've got this program from tapes. Um Peter Daniels, he's from South Australia, and he was he was a millionaire, and then he sold a business and he he created this program, go all of Australia and and you know, talk and then sell this program. And it was on tapes, and I listened to those tapes, like you know, they're in my head, you can hear them. I listened to them so many times. I got still got the tape from that, and I want to I I want to convert this to digital so I can still listen to it. Like it was about the dream and a vision and you know, perseverance and all these sort of things there. So all of that, you know, that's yeah, that was all part of you know development. And so um, yeah, that's all. I mean, I remember my father gave me uh as a teenager, Zig Zigla book, see at the top, youth edition, you know, sort of thing. So it's you know, go Zig. Um so all of that's just life you learn and and life compounds, and so what you do in a little step today, you know, you keep going and you keep going and and life compounds, and here you are. I was just talking to a young fellow on my team yesterday and saying, just like you know, he's 21, he started with us as a school-based apprentice at 15, you know, so he's done his time, he's you know, qualified chippy, he's just looking at build, you know, buying his first home. Like, mate, you don't have to rush it. Like you're doing, you're doing good, you're taking the steps. As long as you stay faithful in taking that next step, life compounds and you're sitting really good. And it's easy to look at your father, like every generation looks at your father and says, Oh, but there's so much, you know, um, you know, young people on the on the Reddits and stuff like that. Oh, you know, the you know, the older generation hogging all the property, and how are we gonna own it? Like it's just faithful in the little things. It's easy to look at people who are 50 and 60 years old and say, Oh, well, why have they got a home?
SPEAKER_03:And their parents would have thought the same things when they bought their home, mate, that we're never gonna afford it, it's too expensive.
SPEAKER_00:Like I saw a news article from the 1960s, like literally, how are our kids gonna afford homes? Like, it's they've been saying the same thing in the media. Yeah, in fact, a couple of years ago, I stayed at this little um when my my daughter was married, she lived in Kabulcha for a while. Um and look, this is just to prove, like, I mean, when she got married and her husband um had an apprenticeship, he was working for a mob working on the rail lines um as an apprentice, electrician. And um literally he's I mean, they lived in a duplex in Kabulcha, lived modestly. He was on apprentices' wages, she got pregnant, had their first child. Um she kept, you know, he kept working, she was at home, uh, and they kept saving for, you know, all through his apprenticeship. He he finished his time, he worked another year for him, and and um in the last year they've moved back to Rockhampton and bought built their first home or bought their first home. You know, um 22, 23. Yeah. And it proves you can do it.
SPEAKER_03:Anyone can do it, mate. It's just people want to, but people have too high expectations.
SPEAKER_00:But when I went down to Kabulcher to meet our first granddaughter, and we stayed in this little Airbnb, it was a 19 you know, 50s cottage, and and so the owner, I I would assume she might have inherited it from mum or something, decided to give it a little bit of a touch up, but kept it of vintage and Airbnb it. And we went down there and and obviously they must have pulled up some lighter or something because they had these old newspaper in a um in a glass frame in the back of the house with all these newspaper clippings from 1956 or something, whenever it was. And I looked at it and I was looking at all the articles, and like every one of those articles was like, oh, there was, and you know, this was a couple of years ago, there was talk about they didn't want to raise the price of milk, you know, more than a dollar a litre, and you know, and there was this article from 1956 talking about oh the price of milk, and and at that time, you know, there was um blowing up in the Middle East, you know, Israel was looked like they were going to go to war again, and here it is in 1956. This article about Israel's going to war again. And uh, you know, the NDIS is out there, and they had this article, and not to be derogative, but this was the headline of the article was like, you know, um college for subbies, you know, for um special education college sort of thing. So the NDIS scheme was still there in 1996, like there's nothing new under the sun.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we're just recycling. Everything just gets recycled and re it's all part of the agenda, mate. They've got to keep the the cycle going.
SPEAKER_00:That's it. Yeah, hey, I listened to you. Um you said you suggested this book, um, The Creature from Jekyll Island, and you just you just and so after this we're gonna have to get commission from that book.
SPEAKER_01:Everyone's getting on board with it. It's 24-hour listen. It's a big one on audio books. I'm halfway through it. Oh, it's it well, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I've banged on about a lot, mate. It it really changed my view on money and value, yeah. And I definitely think since reading it and understanding the the value of money better, my wealth has exceeded because I'd I'd treat it very differently.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. No, if it wasn't so grim, the tale that's actually telling, like, it's actually the most entertainingly read.
SPEAKER_01:Like, as far as the way you read it, it's just a very long, drawn-out book. Yeah, but you can see all the path he goes through, but yeah, interesting.
SPEAKER_03:But alright, get us get us back to how you become a builder.
SPEAKER_00:So, anyway, I was um yeah, I was running all of a sudden found myself running this electrical contracting business. I'd done that for a year, and then um my first wife got sick. And so from May was like not really 100% going to the doctor to find out what's wrong to buried in the ground in September. Oh. Four months, that was it. Bang, bang, bang. And so in that time was, you know, trip to Brisbane and come home and start chemotherapy, in in hospital, out of hospital, in hospital, you know, and I was managing this man's business, you know what I mean. And so every time something happened, you know, he was fantastic. I mean, stepped right back into that seat and he'd take over and keep running for it. And then I come back, okay, she's alright, she's home again. And so I get in and start running again and run the business. Next thing she's back in hospital, well, he'd just take over and just let me go and be there. And um, after this time, it ended up the last time she was in hospital. We we jointly said, like, he knew I knew, like, I couldn't, it just wasn't working, so I knew I had to be there with her. So we parted ways, and he was like, he was great about it. And I understood the position. We both agreed, like, he just had to do what he did. But he was always like, you know, as soon as you've got something, there's a position here. I don't know what it'll be, but there'll be something for you. But anyway, yeah, so my wife passed away from cancer, and um, and so suddenly I was a solo dad, two two girls, um, you know, eight and ten. And um, that's and uh yeah, so I've you know been there, been the solo dad, and um, and so done that. And so, yeah, so I just went after that. Um, my dad actually is a pastor and he was running a church. He he said, Why don't you come work for me? Um, called me the church manager. I did the administration and stuff, the back end there, and just work school hours. So I'd take the girls to school, um, drop them off, I'd go do administration stuff there, and then pick them up from school, and then we do there. So it worked well. I did school hours, and um, and so life kept going. And but I uh yeah uh you know, it's a lonely life, and so I I found a new wife and you know married Marie and she came in and loved those girls and did everything she could, but she was never married and no kids, and so it was always part of the agreement that you know she always wanted children of her own. And so yeah, so I um I'd been working for dad in that position, and after we got married, as I said, I continued working school hours, and then at the end of the year it was like I knew the position just wasn't going where it wanted to be, and I knew it wasn't gonna last, and I thought it's it's not right. And so I was back and forth in my head, what am I gonna do? Where do I want to, you know, what is it, and what am I gonna do? And and I had a conversation with a mate, like he's like, You've started to apprentice because when I was doing the electrical contracting, the boss had said, You're gonna be managing electricians, I'd like you to have your trade. So, as well as being the manager, I actually had signed up as an apprentice as well, and so I was an apprentice and the manager, um, with the intention of, you know, over time you'd get your trade and do that. Obviously, that didn't work out. So when my wife had passed away and I quit that job, um, also quit that apprenticeship. And so he's like, you've started two trades, you haven't finished anything, you've got to finish something, right? And so I'm thinking about life and what am I gonna do? And so working for my dad, and we used to have this meeting Wednesday mornings, we'd have a you know, catch up, what's going on, you know, all the whatever matters of business. And so this had been going on my head, and I hadn't made a decision, and I could see like I've got to do something. So anyway, I went to that meeting, I said, Dad, like it's not gonna work. I'm gonna move on. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'm gonna finish up Friday. Don't worry about me, I'm gonna be okay. And I knew I had to do that for myself because if I didn't cut that tie, if I didn't, it would just keep dragging out, and the position would just, it wasn't the best thing for anyone. And so I made the decision. Oh well, I'm gonna finish this job Friday, don't worry, I'll find something. If I've got a deadline, I'll make a decision. And so between then and Friday, or next Monday at least, when I started, I started as a handyman. I decided um with a wife and two children, um, going back and doing apprenticeship was going to be probably not financially viable. So I'd come up with this plan that I was going to be a handyman. I could run a business for myself, charge, you know, um a reasonable rate doing that, and I was going to um RPL, you know, any sort of carpentry jobs. And I did that the right thing. Like, I mean, I started Monday morning, was like, right, I'm a handyman now, this is my job. And no jobs, you know, no clients, nothing, but this is what I'm gonna do. What I did have was a house that I had a tenant in, and the tenant had overstayed a welcome, not paid rent for three months, and made a mess of the house. And so I had something to do, right? I had work, and so I decided, right, I put myself out there and called a couple of real estates and things like that. In the meantime, I was just going to um start working on cleaning up my house. Um, and so I did that and I started, you know, talk to real estate. My dad had a friend um who was a builder, and he just finished renovating this house, but it needed painting. So for$3,300, I painted this house. That's amazing. And I was right, like in that handy man. I had plenty of opportunities as it grew to do jobs over$3,300. I always said no, it's not right, I'm not licensed. It's fine. So I started out with these tiny little jobs, and that was the biggest job I had. Like mostly after that, I had real estate jobs,$200, and$300 and$500. And it was hand to mouth, and it's like, well, you they're knocking on the real estate. Please, uh, when am I gonna get paid for that$300 job? And um, and so but you just went and you did it, and um, and so and then I had another mate who he said, Oh look, I had a quote, they had this greenhouse in the backyard, and it was built like a bomb shelter. Like the frame was this beautiful hardwood timber, and the the concrete nib wall that was buried in the ground underneath, like took a whole day of the dingo to pull out the excavator. Like it was just built for years. And years, but he said, 'I've I'd had this quote to have it taken down.' He says, 'I was going to pay them this price, I'll just pay you to do it.' You know, you start a business, I'll give it to you. So, you know, one by one these jobs happened, and and so you start growing a business that way, and and um eventually, you know, you get busy, and so I had uh my first father-in-law. I said, 'Oh, I need this, you know, just every couple of days I need just two-hand jobs, you know what I mean. You you're building a handrail, and so it's helpful to have someone at the top while you'll say he started working for me just sporadically helping out on two-man jobs and things like that. Yeah. And so eventually then he came and I ended up sending him to jobs,' and he went, you know, was working for me and and bits and pieces, and so you start growing this little business, right? And in the meantime, anything that was carpentry-based, I'd take photos of it, and I set up, you know, Jacob's Carpentry RPL at Gmail or whatever it was, and you'd take photos and you'd send it to there, and you keep records of all the things that were relevant. And like I said, I knew back in 1996, I'd done all the practical, you know, all the tech side of it there. It was, but I thought, well, I didn't really know the pathword of what was required, but I just thought you just start and do something you can. I've still got a star picket in my office, and I built this business on do what you can with what you got. I've got a star picket. One of the first jobs I got from a real estate was at the start of 2015, which was when I started the business, Cyclone um had come through Rocky. And um, and there was this real estate had sent me this job for the fence on the house, had obviously a lot of water, a lot of wind, and and the clay soil, you know, the the fences had blown over. So it all dried out, and the fences had all stayed like this. And so they sent me, can you quote on straightening up the fences? And so I'd um give them a price, and and then it was Friday morning, and I remember and I got this email through on the phone, oh, your quote's been approved from the real estate. Oh, you beauty. So here I was, and I was I was working on the house fixing it up, and I got this through maybe nine o'clock Friday morning. I said, Right, here we go. I'm gonna go do this job. I drop everything here, go out there, and I've got, you know, nothing. And um, you know, the the idea was to dig around one side of the the post holes, push it up, and concrete in the other side to straighten this fence up. And so I had a crowbar, and I'd taped masking tape around it, and just was digging this thing out just to try and dig it out. And my good old father, he uh, oh what you up to? And he sent me, I sent him, he bought me some gloves from Bunny Sport and come down with some gloves. Yeah, Jacob, have some gloves, right? Be smart. And so that was my crowbar. I didn't have a crowbar, but I had a star picket. The star picket was your crowbar. The star picket was my crowbar. I just wrapped, you know, duct tape around it just to try and help my hands and just went and do what I can. And I've still got that star picket in my office because it's just a reminder to me. That's a motivator if I've ever heard one. Just do what you can with what you've got. You don't have to have everything, but you can do something now. And like I said, I was a handyman doing$300 jobs, but I could do something. I didn't know the full pathway, but I just know that I wanted to I wanted to somehow finish my carpentry apprenticeship. And so I did that for a few years, and um, you know, had someone working for me and tried to hire another guy too. And and uh we're just doing all sorts of bits and pieces, what you could, and like I said, there was opportunities to do bigger jobs there, but I always said no, I can't do over 3,000 three. That's the rules. And so I kept that and was did the right thing. Yeah. Um, but you you can do all sorts of jobs for that sort of price, and again, this was 10 years ago, so I was charging$50 or$60, you know, an hour, so it's not rates we're getting now. Um, so you could build a set of staircases, you know, you could build a staircase for that, um, and do all these songs, and it was a fair price at the time. You can't build a staircase for$3,000 now, but at the time you could. Um, and so I kept photos and all that, and then I started, after a couple of years, I started calling around training organizations and just started calling. Hey, I want an RPL, what have I got to do? And they oh no, no, you gotta work for it, you gotta work, you gotta do some work framing for a builder and stuff like that if you want to get signed off, you know. And so I made a few calls and okay, the time's not right. Uh, and then I probably another year later I started making phone calls again. Well, anyway, I just called this bloke and he says, Oh, mate, oh, and I remember talking to you, which I don't think he did, but um I remember talking to you. He says, Oh, no, if you want to RPL on your carpentry, we can do that, no worries, he says. In fact, we've got a we've got a trainer in Mackay tomorrow night, right? This was Wednesday, I think just Wednesday through the day. He says, tomorrow night we've actually got a trainer in Mackay. If you can get Mackay, and they'd hide out the Leech Club there or something like that, he's actually doing a course. If you can get up there and see him, you get there before the before the training, and he'll run through with a bit of RPL stuff and we can go through some paperwork. He said, Have you sign all this paperwork? He says, We can take care of that, no worries.$3,000 or whatever it was for the yeah. He says, and by the way, we've just got some government funding, right? For an extra$8, you could actually get your cert four in you know in construction as well. I'm like, that sounds interesting. So yeah, anyway, I thought, well, look, it's government funded, it's cert four, beautiful. I get up there. So next day, I'm in the van, drive to Mackay, and um they'd set it up. Anyway, it turns out these guys were, let's be honest, Dodge. They were Dodge. Um, they were a RTO registered training organization who was all about the money, honey. And they would do whatever. So they would get, you know, your CSQ, whatever, funding to do courses. And literally, what they had done in this, like, someone's up in Mackay tomorrow night. They had literally sent a trainer, okay, a salesman, to Mackay and Proserpine. He'd spent a week or two beforehand just driving around all the estates and the all the job sites. He must have just gone to every job site. Hey guys, we've got this, you know, government funding for eight dollars, you can get a cert for. In and so they just he must have spent a week or two driving around selling that thing. And if you can be at Mackay, you know, Leagues Club on Thursday night, we'll get you, right? And literally, I was sitting there at the front and you could hear blokes talking, waiting for it. Oh, can't they just sign us off? Like, and all the deal was you had to sit in one classroom and he was going to talk about contracts. And if you sat there and did that, we'll get you a cert for, right? And there's blokes and there's blokes outside who driven from Prosper Pine saying, Can't they just sign me off? I just want to drive home. Well, I've got to be here, and sit in the classroom for 40 or two hours or an hour and a half, whatever it was. Count you just give it to me. I mean, that was dodge, and I'm thinking like, and that's not what I signed up for. I knew that I I knew that I had the capacity and the competency to be a carpenter, and that's what I'd gone there for. And I'd paid for a carpentry, you know, qualification. And I knew, like, I always joke, like, around Rocky, there's a lot of carpenters, probably around Brisbane and all over Australia, there's a whole heap of carpenters. If you can't fix it with a nail gun, don't know how to fix it. No, I haven't exactly and like I could build a set of staircases like hardwood, routed out, and and do all that sort of thing there. So I'd done a lot of fine sort of thing. And so I knew that I knew that I could call myself a carpenter. I didn't have the paperwork, but I knew I had the capacity, the capability to do it.
SPEAKER_03:I don't think it matters, like everyone learns very differently, mate. I don't think whether it's a tradesman, a doctor, a lawyer, whoever, like there's just people that are good at what they love doing.
SPEAKER_00:That's it.
SPEAKER_03:There's plenty of people that have gone through the system correctly, and still don't know.
SPEAKER_00:They don't have a clue. Like I said, unless you can fix it, unless you can do it with a nail gun, I wouldn't have a clue. Um, and so so I knew that, and so I went there and sat down in that thing. Like I said, I sat down with the trainer beforehand, we went through a bit of RPL stuff, and and then sat in on the the course for the cert four. And I um I went home, I filled out all the stuff for the carpentry, and I'd fill that out and you know, drove home that night, got home midnight, went to bed, got up the next day and went to work, and um and he'd give me some paperwork. Oh, if you can get a builder to sign this off, right? Um we'll send you a cert for. And I was like, I I don't know that. I I can't say that I've earned that. I can't say I know the things. And I, you know, I had a builder mate, and I didn't want to approach him and just I didn't even want to ask, um, because I didn't think it was right. It wasn't. And so I didn't fill out that paperwork. Um I I'd sent did all the stuff for the cert three for my carpentry. I'd sent that off to him. Anyway, sent it off and you keep doing life. Anyway, a month or so later, two later, whatever it was, envelope comes in the mail. Open it up. Here's your cert three in carpentry, right? And you hadn't signed anything. No, I had for the cert three. My cert three, which is the carpentry, that's what you that's what your carpentry trade is at certificate three in construction. Yeah. I had signed all the paperwork for the cert three. Yeah. So I pulled that out. What's this behind it? Oh, cert four. They sent me the cert four, dated the very day after they dated the cert three. I'm like, I did not sign any paperwork on that. I'm like, well, what do you do with that? I went about, I took the cert three, I went to QBCC, I registered and did everything, I everything proper to get myself a construct, you know, a carpentry license. I put the cert four back, put it in the, you know, put it in my cupboard and left it there. I didn't, you know, I just went, I I'll come for a cert three, I wanted a carpentry qualification, I knew I was competent to do that. And so I took that, got my QBCC license, and here we go. I can call myself a carpenter, start doing bigger jobs over the 3,300 and keep growing the business a bit more. So the cert four I just put in the cupboard and kept growing the business, and so you know, hired guys, and you know, and so what started out in two and three and four hundred dollar jobs was now two and three and five hundred, five thousand dollar jobs, and you know, maybe a ten thousand dollar job here and there, and so the jobs just got a little bit more and a little bit more. And so I just was running the carpentry business, and and but I had I had that vision that I wanted to be a builder and I wanted to get there. And so um after a few years, it was like I knew that was sitting in the cupboard, and I knew I hadn't done the course. Um, but also know that I now if I approached a training organization, it shows that you've done the course. They can't do I can't pay, I couldn't even pay someone again to go do that course. They wouldn't let me do the training because you've already done it, Mr. Bain. Sorry. You know, so and so that's the dirtiest part about that RTO is, and I think they got shut down, um, is like they they didn't just rip off the government by just handing out free money and just taking all taking that all from self, like you know, they didn't train anyone, but they ripped me off because they didn't train me, they got paid to train me and they didn't do it. Yeah, and so here I am. I want that. I want to know what that course was supposed to teach me, and they didn't teach it to me. And I can't just go and say, I thought about do I just go approach the approach the master builders and say, Hey, I know you run this course. Can I just sit in the back corner and just listen? I won't answer any questions. I know you can't give me the qualification. Can I just sit in the back corner and listen to what you're saying? Like I thought about that. Um, but I just kept going, and so the time came and I I wanted to do it, and I thought, well, I stepped out, I found um I was introduced um a friend of mine who'd worked, he was a plumber, but he worked for a local builder. And John, I really appreciate John um 40 years building in CQ area. He'd had a a franchise and you know, a lot of experience run business, and and so I didn't introduce to him and and he was, you know, he'd done well. And then after 2008, when you know things had gone sour, he was in a position like 55 or something like that. He was able to shut down that business and retire, sort of thing. And ten years later he was sort of he's just doing some little project for himself, and and you know, a man's got to do something with himself, he can't do nothing. And so he had these little projects, and so he didn't see it as competition or anything like that. And he sort of, you know, sized me up, and I sort of talked to him, met him a few times, and said, This is what I want you to do. I'm looking for a licensee, and it was like, you know, to get your builder's license, you've got to work well as a carpenter or bricklayer, you've got to work under someone else's license for two years as a supervisor, and so it was easy enough to get a supervisor's license from the QBCC, but you had to work under someone else. In the meantime, I've mean my carpentry business is thriving, it's there, I've got guys working for me. Um, do you shut that down and go work for someone else? Well, no. Um, so we founded, you know, Bain Builders Proprietary Limited, and I hired John as a nominee. And um, and so I worked under him, and um and that way I kept my carpentry business going.
SPEAKER_03:That's always the solution, eh? Like, I think it's like it it's good that you're going into all this detail because there's so many people out there that'd be wondering how they become a builder or get to a builder, and they're probably getting hurdles put in front of them. Like, you've just kept pushing and pushing and made it happen.
SPEAKER_00:You just gotta go, have a go. Like, it's just I know there's a way. Just keep going. I've got a vision, I can do this, and that's what I appreciate about being in elevators. Like, you see guys who've done it, like you're in a community, and you see, well, if he can do it, then surely there's a way that I can do it too, right? You know, and so like John had sized me up and he looked at me and said, You're running a business. Like he he knew, and this is at the end of the day, I knew I didn't have well, I had the piece of paper, but I didn't have all that all the school training. But I knew that if I wanted to be a builder, it was a game of continual learning. I couldn't sit in a class this year and say, well, I've got a builder's ticket, I don't need to learn anything more, I'm fine. No, I knew to be a builder that that code keeps changing, the rules keep changing, technology, we keep learning. And so if I want to be a builder, I've got to keep learning. Yeah. Every year, you don't get away from that. And so one piece of paper that I might got five, ten, twenty years ago is worthless today if I don't keep learning. And so, with that, that's what sort of empowered me to say, look, even though they didn't do the job they were supposed to do, and even got a piece of paper that I didn't deserve, I know that I've got to keep learning. And so, like that was a couple of years ago, whatever they taught me in that course, or they should have, probably there's some things that need to be upgraded on that today, anyway. Yeah, and I know there's builders who's got a license 25 years ago, and they haven't done any development on that since then. And so, and so that's I think John looked at me, he said, You've got a business, you've got the mindset that understands running a business. The fact that I could meet with him in the middle of the day and sit down with him for an hour and ask him questions and talk to him. He understands if you could build a business to that point, okay, you understand it's not just can you nail, put the nail there. Yeah, it's can you do you have the mindset to understand running and the numbers and the and the So they teach you all the the structural stuff, foundation, sales? Yeah, so he's fantastic and all of that. They're in like, you know, I could ask him any question, and like I said, he was doing a project for himself, so um, so he was yeah, doing a little townhouse development. So my guys are actually working on that job. Like he hires his labor for that. So we're in there, and I could ask him any question, anything that we do. The actual first project that we did at Bain Builders was actually raise my house. I got a double gable, like Queenslander style, um, and there, and so I said, Well, I'm gonna do it for myself, right? I can do it for me, I'll prove to myself that I can do it, and then I've got the proof to take to the world to say, this is what I can do. Would you like me to do the same for you? And so John would come and we'd walk around site and he'd ask, What are you gonna do there? or tell me how you how you're gonna weather proof there, you know, it's all right where that existing deck is, and you've got a sliding glass door above that, and now you're gonna have wall underneath there that you don't want how we gonna fix that problem and all this sort of thing. So he, you know, and at any time I could call him and ask the question, and nothing was you know, that's what I say. I'm I am uh really f in debt with him. I appreciate him all the time. Because without that I couldn't, you know, I wouldn't have had it. And I still could, you know, still can call him and say what's going on.
SPEAKER_03:And so where did uh Kingfisher Home start?
SPEAKER_00:Well, at the time I'd registered Bain Builders Proprietary Limited, um but I wanted something that was um not just me. My point in starting business was not just to create the Jacob machine, but I want I want to create something that's beyond me. I want a place where people can come to work, be encouraged, be developed, you know, not you know, um not held under the thumb, but that we can, you know, grow and learn together and and have a benefit in that and you know and find our place in the world. And so I didn't want just Bane, I wanted something beyond that. And so Kingfisher Homes. I don't even know, to be honest, what's like where it sort of come from. I do remember when I'd done my um, you know, when I got my contractor's license at Carpenter, you had to do the um a course in management, like a two or three-day course Master Builders put on. And uh the master builder's trainer was like, oh, you know, there's not enough like red dog or cattle dog homes or something like that. You know, why does everyone want just want bang constructions and pierce constructions and all that sort of, you know, like uh he was like, you know, come on, boys, think outside the box a little. And so maybe it was a bit of a throwback to that. I didn't want red dog constructions or something like that, but it was just something like there, and I like, you know, the Kingfisher is small and fleet and beautiful, and so maybe all these things combined, and um, and so I'd registered the name Kingfisher Homes uh with the intention that when we get to the new home sort of side of things, um, we can use that as a name. Yeah, and so that was the development, and so I worked, I actually hired John for well, technically I only had to do it for two two years, but I hired for two and a half years of I worked under his licence, and and then um time came to um and I'd kept my two businesses separated, whereas I kept um you know Rockhampton Carpentry as a separate entity and just started Bane Builders, which just worked under because John was the licensee and I didn't want anything, not that I thought there'd be anything, but just in case there was any trouble, I wanted that separated from this here just as in respect to him, and he didn't ask for that, but yeah, that's just the way I wanted to set it up. So um after I got my builder's licence for myself, I you know merged, brought all the guys into the Bone Builders Proprietary Limited, and and now we operate under under that there. But um That's awesome, mate. Yeah, that's that's where we come. So like this November will be 10 years since I started our one man handyman through the few hand tools I had in the back of the family car for territory and said, I'm gonna be a handyman, here we go. And last year we built$960,000 home. And so I don't take that lightly.
SPEAKER_03:Um so that's your dearest contract today. That's our biggest to date, yeah. Yeah, and you're um so what what made you so how long were you building for yourself before you decided to come along to elevate?
SPEAKER_00:Um, well, I've through the course of my business career I'd had, you know, different um business coaches and stuff. I knew the importance. I had the realization many years ago is um there's only two ways that you can learn. One is you go out and make mistakes and you hope to learn from them. The trouble with going out and making mistakes and learning from there is what you make what you learn from making mistakes is how not to do it. And you don't necessarily learn how to do it. You might try a different way, but then you might that might be a mistake too. Another one, another one. And so eventually you might get there, but so that's one way to learn is go out and make mistakes and learn from that. The other one is you need someone to teach you. Um the trouble with having someone teach you is you don't know what you don't know, and therefore you don't know what you need to learn. Um, and so what you need if you want to be taught from someone is someone who's been there and done it. And I'd had different business coaches, in general coaches, not necessarily construction coaches, you know, that I'd been under different programs, and that was good. And that I I wouldn't be here, my business wouldn't be here like if it wasn't for that. As I said, I'm an introvert, and one of my biggest challenges that even sometimes still plagues me is just to go back and just be that one man band and just like blow it all, and I could do it perfect, and I could, you know, have the sweetest jobs, and I know I'd never want for work, and I'd look after my family fine. But I want something bigger than just me, and that's fine. And that's and I think the biggest thing for trade is is just knowing what you're here for. Like, what is your goal? What do you want? Like, it's not everyone doesn't have to have a 50-person business. Like, if you are a one-man band, then do that and do that well. If you have, you know, you and a couple of apprentices, then that's okay. You don't have to have 10 staff, and that's all right.
SPEAKER_03:Success is very different to everyone, though.
SPEAKER_00:Do you and do it well, like that's okay. Like, that can having a$50 million business for you might not be success, it might just blow you apart.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and that's all right. The do-it-well part's really important, but because a lot of people aren't doing it well at one man ban or ten million or fifteen million. If you're not, and reality is if you're not doing it well at one man ban, it's not gonna get any better when you've got ten.
SPEAKER_01:It doesn't, it doesn't, no.
SPEAKER_03:But everyone, that should be their minimum goal is whatever they're doing, do it to the best of their ability.
SPEAKER_00:That's it. And that's what I always did. Like, I am a perfectionist at heart sort of thing there. And um, you know, I remember like building a staircase and something went wrong, like, oh, the post got cut, it was a bit short, and you and you think, oh, I could, you know, just check that out and put a bit on top and glue it up and both, you know, and it'll be fine. And you know, you work for another half a day and just it just plagued me. And no, pull it apart, do it proper, and you know, that was and you just do it proper, and then like everything. I just want to know that we walk away saying, We did the best, I'm proud to be part of that. Yeah, and um, if you do that, but anyway, coming back to business coaches, like um, yeah, there's only way to one way to learn that someone's someone's got to show you, and that someone better be someone who's been there and done it themselves.
SPEAKER_03:Every every single person, doesn't matter what level you're at. I firmly believe now, should be learning from someone that is where they want to be. Yeah, like it's the only way, like at all at every level, and that's with everything. That's with business, property investment, wealth, like everything. Like the um, I feel like social media, like there's just so many people on there now that make it look like they're killing it, but behind the scenes they're probably living in a bloody one-bedroom apartment in debt to the eyeballs. Like, it's very easy now to look like. By the Mustang, mate, look great. But um, like where so where's Kingfisher homes now, mate? Like you you're kicking goals, you like you're just telling me before, you've done three homes this year, you've just signed another one.
SPEAKER_00:Signed another contract, and um, yeah. So now we uh yeah, I feel the traction like it takes time. Get yourself a name out there for to be recognized. I think um yeah, I feel quality in the leads that we're getting, that sort of thing, there where people are coming in, and it's a different questions they're asking and different sorts of um so there's a bit of and I like all the first number of houses that we built were all in like a cul-de-sac or a little out-of-the-way street or something like that. It wasn't over in the new estate where everyone can see, and yeah, and Rocky's a little place, and and um, but nothing was sort of in the way, and so we built some beautiful homes, but they just weren't on a busy street where everyone can see your sign and see what you've done, you know. And so, how do you get that out there? And you know, we've kept going with marketing and just keep on being faithful with what we've got and keep doing that and finding ways to you know to do what you do as well as you can, and and just again, life compounds, just keep doing what you do, and it compounds for the better or for the worse.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, um, but life does compound and so the one you were working on when we called in to see you last year up in Rocky, that was a pretty challenging project, multiple levels, like split levels and three levels.
SPEAKER_00:Um, there was uh roof directions, there's about nine different roof slopes in the design. Um, so yeah, there was I learned a lot in that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, it's really good. Like to hear your full story and where you've come from, what you've been through, and how hard you've pushed to get to where you are, like it's it's it it's pretty inspiring. Thank you. But there's no excuses, is there? Like these people that make excuses about what they've got or what they where they want to be or the type of business they want to have, or what like whatever it is, like that there is no excuses. There's always a solution. You've just got to keep pushing.
SPEAKER_00:You have a go. And you know, like I said, it's okay to start small, it's okay to start with what you've got, but I guarantee you've got something you can start with. Like I said, I had a few hand tools and the family car. And well, that's what I got, so start with that. I had a star picket, so I'll start with that, right?
SPEAKER_03:I've keen for you to send me this picture of that star picket when you get out. That's that's pretty inspiring, that story.
SPEAKER_00:But you do you can do something, you've got something. Yeah, and it wasn't great. And um, but it was a start. And like I said, I'm I've never like it's actually, yeah, kind of uh it is vulnerable for me to say this like to tell my story, like I said, to say that publicly, like to get out there and say, I found my builder's license in a in a cereal box, um, you know, um, is something that's just like, well, I don't know, it's not the best way. I'm not saying this is the way to do it. I'm just saying this is this is how it worked out for me. Yeah. I kept going.
SPEAKER_03:And so you put in from what I've seen and from what I know you over the last um like what do you mean with Elevate now? Two years?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, 80 months, start of 2024, I joined with Elevate.
SPEAKER_03:Look, you um like there is definitely people out there that are just looking for the simplest, easiest way to get a license, and they their work shows that they're they're unskilled, they're untrained, they don't know the codes. Like it it's it stands out like dogs walls. But like I've seen your work, and you've you've obviously put in the training, you've got the knowledge to be able to turn out beautiful homes. So it takes time. Yeah, it takes time. There's there's lots of different types of people in this world, and you're you're not one that's taking advantage of the system. You you've done the hard yards, you've you've learned what you need to learn. Yeah. Um, but so what what's been some of the learnings? Like, what was uh I guess uh what made you besides learning and looking up to me, like what have what made you come to live life build?
SPEAKER_00:Well, like I said, after I'd had a general business coach and I said, Oh, I actually joined another Australian business company uh specifically construction, and I did that program for a while, a couple of years, and I thought, oh, and again, it's what you put into it, and probably not that it's not a bad, you know, it's probably not a terrible system. I just hadn't put the training and things in there. And so I was looking for something else. And before I'd even joined that one, I was actually searching around, and there's another building coach, specifically building coach. Um, I won't name any names, but literally when I was picking between this company or that one, I you know, on their website. Website that had testimonials. Oh, you know, ABC constructions and you know, GYG constructions and all this. And I literally Googled searched, oh, okay, ABC constructions. Google searched this. Uh Builder goes broke. Oh, okay. We'll try this one. GYG constructions. Uh GYG construction goes under. And like literally, these were the buildings, their testimonials on their website, and I searched, and I'm not talking that it was one or two, there was a few. And I get to the point, like, okay, I'm not using them, right? If all their I don't know why, but if they just teach them, okay, market, you know, turnover business. Put your heads out there, guys. Yeah, get your turnover up and grow your business until it crashes because you burn yourself out. I don't know. I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna use those ones. Okay, someone else. And so I ended up with another company, and then after that was okay, they were all right. But I'd seen you on the socials and I thought, like, this guy's actually a builder, he's there actually doing it. And um, and so that's what attracted me to it there. It was just like because it's not just teaching you, and which is important, and which builders do need to know their numbers, they do need to know how to systemise, they do need to know how to market, and you know, all these things. And like I said, my background, the reason I tell you all those things is I did retail insurance, I did banking, you know, I did, you know, real estate sales and all this, all of that there has come together, and all those bits and pieces, all that knowledge has come, and I use all those things now. It all helps me to run that business. It to knows because I know people, I've I've learned, you know, how to get on with the different people, how to look things up.
SPEAKER_03:You've come a long way in the last 18 months, but like you've oh yeah, yeah, look. I've had some pretty big uh wins.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And I was just again, we was just part of this thing and building, and you know it can be done, and and being part of that community, and you can as I said, you can see it's done. If he did it, then why can't I? Like somebody else has done it so it's possible, yeah, right? Is it is it the best thing for me to do? I suppose that's what you've got to learn and say, is this the right thing for our business? Um, but yeah, it's just putting in the training, you know, getting involved. It is getting involved. Like you'd see it more than me. Like that you see, the people who actually get involved, they get on, you know, get on there, do the Facebook post, you know.
SPEAKER_03:You've got to get involved, mate. That's the biggest like you've got to be consistent, you've got to get involved, but you've you've got to implement what you learn, and and actually sit down and watch the stuff because every day, you know, every month that money is taken out.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, what what are you gonna do with it? You've got to get there and watch those videos and think.
SPEAKER_03:It works. It does. Um I'm not I can't remember um if it was you or not, but did you have a like you had a bit of a funny mindset like you were holding yourself back because you didn't think you were you called you said I was the mountain.
SPEAKER_00:I was saying I was getting up there, and what what I meant by that was that you can know as you're building a business, you know there's a step by step by step, and if you keep putting that step upon step on step, you get critical mass. You you push, you push like it's like train on the track, like shh, you feel the wheel spinning, but soon enough those tires are gonna grip, and then you actually get some traction and go. And I could feel you know, I know I was talking to people, I had some good customers, we were in design, you know, home design and stuff like that. You could just see it, but it I didn't have any contracts, or you know, or we had things that we're doing, not that we weren't doing it, but I knew there was more, and you could see we're working with these customers and and the design on these homes and the pricing on it's getting close. And um, but you just that's just to keep pushing. And so many times I said 10 years in business, like the amount of times that I would have quit, um, and said it's not like year after year, it's like every end of the eight of years, like, oh, why am I doing this? Like, it's not profitable. If it's not profitable by next year, that's it. I can quit that's it, I'm shutting this thing down. End of next year, if it's not profitable next year, but it says I'm a stubborn man, and uh, and I know it, and so does my wife.
SPEAKER_03:But there, but you there was definitely some mindset stuff there, wasn't there? Like you were you were putting a lot of things in place, but you had some mindset things that were ultimately holding you back from achieving your goals.
SPEAKER_00:You can definitely shut yourself down, like and you whether you realise it or not, can be fooling your own opportunities. And there's definitely that there, and sometimes you know, and again, sometimes that thing's like, Well, do I know enough? And you know, I didn't, you know, I haven't done this for 20 years, like all the other builders, and you know, so am I really good enough?
SPEAKER_03:And I think you look, I know when we first met you had some big issues around that because we we've had some we had some conversations, and you you would say to me, I don't I'm not good enough. Like I I haven't been I haven't, yeah. Like I think one of our first conversations on the phone, like you were basically saying I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing because I haven't been on the tools for 10-15 years. Like that's um you've but you can be a painter and be a builder.
SPEAKER_00:I've got a good mate who built like hundreds and hundreds of homes in Rockhampton, and he was a drafty, yeah, you know, but he built hundreds of homes, he never swung the hammer himself. Yeah, and even my mate John, who was a qualified carpenter and worked his way up, my friend who worked for me uh for him, who before he introduced me, he said, John built hundreds of homes, but he didn't swing the hammer, he didn't think. Now you've got to know is he doing it right? Is that tie-down proper? You know, and that's the thing. You when you take that leap from being a chippy or whatever your trade is to being a builder, but a chippy, you've got to know your rules. You've got to know how many nails to put in that strap and you know, the spacing on that plywood. All of a sudden, you you have to know everybody's rules, everything's everybody's rule books, you've got to know them all, right? And that's why I knew like if I'm gonna be a builder, I just gotta keep learning, keep learning, keep learning. Um, and that's you know, that's why I do appreciate about live life build is it's not just about how to run your business. We do talk about how to build well too. And um, and so that yeah, that's what I appreciate there.
SPEAKER_03:But you you um like you took off once you broke that mindset and you broke through those barriers, you've you've like the last 12 months you've had big success. Yeah. The um and it was good to see you set some goals too, and you like you were able to tick them off and achieve them, which uh which is huge. Like, yeah, yeah. Um so what what's next for Kingfisher Homes? Like what's on the what's on the plans for the future?
SPEAKER_00:Um my goal this year is I wanted um six starts, six slabs on the ground. Um we've got three so far, I've just signed number four. So I've got two more if I want to hit my goal for this year. Um that's 2025. That's yeah, this calendar year. Yeah, yeah. So I've got a couple more, and uh it's possible.
SPEAKER_03:Definitely, mate. It's possible. So, what are you what are you doing to make that happen?
SPEAKER_00:Um, well, tomorrow when I get back to town, there's some people with pre-approval and they know the plan they want, and I'm going out to see their block of land. And so we keep marketing, keep putting ourselves out there. Um, and um, you know, just practical things like the back end, like setting up in the CRM like email trail, like writing emails, just well, because I would get phone calls, yeah, yeah, have a good chat, no worries. Yeah, that'd be great. And never talk, I'm thinking, why am I spending money on marketing or anything else if I'm not even following these people through? At least like get some email and put them in a lineup to say, okay, we'll send you an email, an email, at least just sort of might try and keep them warm, um, and things like that. So, yeah, so just putting ourselves out there. Um talking, I've actually we've signed options on two blocks in probably Rocky's favorite state. Um, a big thing is land at the moment, and getting land is a big part for us.
SPEAKER_03:Because you do your couple of your own developments as well, don't you?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, look, we sold a house and land yeah, the start of this year, so I bought bought a block of land and went developed that, and so it's it's sold, it's still under construction, but we've got it, we've got a buy for that. Yeah. Uh yeah, and that's that's a whole nother conversation about funding on those things, um, which is a trick. But yeah, so now yeah, learning a trick of like we can sign an option with the development, we can come up with a plan, market that, sell it, and we don't have to fund it.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and you agree on a certain time period.
SPEAKER_00:That's right, yeah. And you know, but I think the biggest thing a lot of our customers were um is like the the biggest question I think they want to answer in the first is is like how much, like, can I afford it? How much is it actually gonna cost me? Can I afford to do what I want to do? Of course, everyone's budget's here and what they can afford. But can you build a house with that much money? Well, the answer is generally if they come to me with 400, can you build a home for 400,000? Yes, you can. Is it the home you want? No, it's not. Is that big enough to fit in the estates? Covenants, probably not, too. But in the general sense, most people, I just try to align it. Can you build a home? Is their budget reasonable? Is that a good starting point? Can we work with that? Yes, you can. And like you've seen that one we did, which was a nice big one. But mostly I think Kingfisher homes is just trying to find that happy medium between like the project builders and bang, bang, bang, and get it out there, and not necessarily this big, beautiful custom homes. So what's find a happy medium in there? Yeah, um at the moment, the three we've got on one's about 500, 600, and 700,000. For the they low set, high set, low set, brick, yeah, or not brick, but low set slab on ground. Um uh they're actually all cladded like weatherboard style. Um, not that that's all we do, but that's just that these three turned out to be. Um, yeah, so as I said, we did that split level. Would I do that again? Yes, I can. Again, as long as people got the budget. But generally, like value for money is like I said, generally where we target is that um that mid-range with trying to give someone a custom experience to be able to customize and make it their home. Um without just being a number for a project builder, without feeling you've got to build a you know, million, two million dollar home to to get that experience, and know that you can have something that's well crafted, like thought about. We're putting in the best efforts that we can um inside that budget. Obviously it's all inside of a budget, but you know that the guys are thinking about that. We are doing the best practice as far as flashing and thinking about the paper we're putting on and all these sorts of things. There is a difference, um, even though that difference is not seen most of the time after it's been painted, yeah. It definitely is, and that's why being that handyman and starting at that, and that's why I said to the young fellows who work for me, like being a handyman, doing this will make you a better builder, and that's what I like about my guys have done maintenance and that. Now we're just trying to push into just doing the new homes and and not doing the maintenance. But the fact you guys have worked for me have done the maintenance, I say that makes you a better builder because you see what goes wrong. You go back in five or ten or fifteen years, you see what if he had a prime the end of that balustrade, we wouldn't be here replacing it. If he had to use some hardwood instead of pink pine, we wouldn't be here replacing this today. Yeah, and so you see that you've you know that whole progression of where I've come from. So I've seen what goes wrong, so let's think about how we can do it a bit better.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and that's where a lot of time needs to be spent, I think, doesn't it, with your team? Like you've got to explain, like they've got to know why they're doing what they're doing, yeah. Because if they don't, they just they don't understand why you're so such a perfectionist and why you want something prime before it goes up against something else, or yeah, yeah. And that's that's um like ultimately that's a that is a a true sustainable home is a home that's not gonna have to be being repaired bloody every yeah 10, 12 years. Yeah. Like doing things properly the first time, using the right materials, doing installing the materials the correct way, like that's a massive.
SPEAKER_00:Even just that, yeah, that's right. You can put the same, you could have two houses built of exactly the same materials, but how they're put together can make a big difference of how long that thing's gonna last.
SPEAKER_03:So, mate, how like you personally, what what do you get up to to maintain yourself? Because uh everyone knows I I bang on about if you're not right, nothing around you can be right.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yeah, to me it's it's work and family in church, that's my life. Like I said, um I go from seven to six every day at work, um, so Monday to Friday, and so that's all work after that. I love my family, and um involved I play guitar and sing with my church too Sunday morning, so I love doing that, and that's that's my thing there. So again, good community around you, that sort of thing. And that's where like I said, when when life throws you um you it's too late to build partnerships when you need it, and that's that's a crucial lesson I've learned in life. Like when things go wrong, it's too late to build a partnership. Oh, I need help, I need a friend. Like sorry, man, you gotta be building that when life's good, and then when something happens, you've got those relationships, you've got that support, and um, so that's it there. Yeah, pretty much just hanging out with the fam.
SPEAKER_03:And and uh you'd be a busy boy, mate, with the family, do I sound like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it.
SPEAKER_00:Like I said, you got little kids. I mean, 20 2020, 2021, that's when I I started the building business, decided to rent a major renovation on my home. My eldest daughter left high school and got married, and um we had our youngest daughter. So one of those things by itself is a major event. We decided to throw all four in at the same time. And uh but it's fun, it's just it's life, it's enjoyable. I love it, I love what I do. Yeah, um, to me, anyone who gets up and whinges about oh, I don't like my job, it's Monday morning. Um, I don't even like hump day Wednesday. Like every day's the same. If you don't love what you do, guarantee there's something out there. There's there's people all over Australia who's looking for employee with whatever job that you could possibly want. If you set yourself a goal and work towards it, okay, maybe you can't be a doctor tomorrow, but you can start the process to be a doctor or whatever it's gonna be. If you don't like being what you're doing now, go find something that you can like, yeah, but enjoy your life.
SPEAKER_03:Like life's too short to muck around, isn't it? Like you've got it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're gonna have hard days, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But like, how much better is life if every day is happy and exciting? Yeah, like it doesn't take much to get that. Like, just yeah, you're 100%, mate. Like, you just gotta find doing something you like. That's it. And it and whether it's something you're doing in your life, or maybe the person that you're doing it with isn't the right person to be teaching you. Like, well, leave, go and find someone that you do get on with and you can work with. That's it.
SPEAKER_00:You find a mission, like to me, it's a mission. Like, um, like the Blue Brothers, mate. I'm on a mission from God. Like, to me, that's what kept me going, even though I wanted to quit before things like now, okay. I got money in the bank, we got projects, you know, like but and but you still got to have like that thing, what gets me out of bed in the morning? Every morning that alarm goes off at 5 30. I get up right. Here we go. Sometimes you're like, I don't want to get up. You know what? I'm doing it because I got something to do, and I want to get to the end of my life and say, I did what I could, I did what I could with the time I had. Yeah. I made some sort of impact. What impact did I make on this world?
SPEAKER_03:And you're always putting your hardest.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:No well, mate. Look, really appreciate you coming on today. Before we wrap it up, um, for people out there that are making excuses and telling themselves that the world's too hard and they're never going to achieve their job, what advice do you got for them?
SPEAKER_01:Suck it up, princess.
SPEAKER_00:No, look, just have a go. You you don't have to be, you don't have to start at the top. You can't start at the top, but have a go. Do what you can with what you've got. Um, take a step in the right direction. You might have to keep like when I got my carpentry license, I made the mistake of going, right, I'm a carpenter now. I'm not one of these dodgy little handymans, right? I don't need that. I went around to all the real estates and said, We're just taking carpentry work. I don't want that handyman stuff, right? Don't send me that anymore. Uh that worked for the first month because we had work banked up, and then all of a sudden I was like, I got nothing to do. And cap in hand went back to the reels. Actually, we are gonna take some handyman work now. Um, if you don't mind, sorry. Um just like okay, we we maintained that business. It kept on going, we kept on doing those little bits and pieces, and and started doing bigger ones on top of that. And same when we transitioned into the bigger building business, we still kept maintaining those smaller bits and pieces there until these ones here, and like we've still kept on doing the renovations and the smaller bits. Now I'm at the point now where I'm saying, okay, now we just want to do new homes. That's the goal I've been working to all these years, and so this is this is what we're gonna do. Um, but we worked up to a position that now we can confidently say I've got a market, we know that people know who we are, we know we've got some rungs on the board to be able to do that, but it took step by step by step. But make a start, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:The journey is as important as a goal that you've got to take on everything you can along the way to make it happen.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just keep going with what you can do, but make steps, but it it's having a decision, it's the direction where you go. If you read Napoleon Hill's Um You know, Think and Grow Rich, in the in the in the preface at the start, the introduction of the book, he says, inside of this, in every chapter, hundreds of times, there's a secret. He says, and the first time I read that whole book through never picked what the secret was. And then the second time I read, I just read there's a secret, and I knew what it was. And the secret in that book is just know what you want.
SPEAKER_03:Know what you want, and so just don't it's it well, it's know what you want, but don't chase what others want.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, even better.
SPEAKER_03:But that's that's what he's what he says through that old book, basically. Yeah, like you've got to figure out what's important to you and and chase your goals. Don't worry, don't try to live other people's lives.
SPEAKER_00:No, what is it for you? What do you want? What's your calling? What's your goal? Know what that is, make that decision. And and I know, like I said, you we're talking about you know what's been your breakthrough and things. When I've made a clear decision to say, that's what I want, that's what we're going for. Always you get a breakthrough. Always you get a next thing. Like I said, it doesn't mean that tomorrow you're doing that thing, but there's there's a little opportunity, or you see a step, or there's a pathway if I just do this, you at least see the next step that's going to get you towards it. Yeah, and so make the decision on what you actually want, and it doesn't have to be what someone else is, it doesn't have to be a f 50 million dollar business, it could be you and two apprentices just doing what you like to do, and that's great. If that's your that's your job, you do that, you do it well. Yeah, but make a step in that direction.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, mate. Thanks for coming down from Rocky. Uh, I'll definitely be calling in next time I'm up there again. Um, I'd love to come up to the bloody big cattle sales I have up there. It's it's uh or cattle week, isn't it? They have a whole week. We have beef week, yeah. Beef week, that's it. Every three years, beef week. Make sure you get your accommodation book well in advance. I'll definitely uh be making the trip up there for that at once some stage and we'll catch up. But mate, appreciate your time and love your story. I think it's uh going to inspire a lot of people. So um, yeah, who knows? We might have to get you back for round two in a in a little while. But um look, guys, thanks for uh listening and watching. Um make sure you like, subscribe so we can continue to make this Australia's number one construction podcast. Make sure you go to the DuanePece.com website to grab your level up merchandise, and we'll see you on the next one. Alright, guys, I want to introduce you to a really exciting new product that I believe is going to play a massive role in Australia building healthier homes. As you all know, I am extremely passionate about healthy homes and I'm doing a lot of research and putting a lot of time and effort into making sure my construction business is leading the way when it comes to building healthy homes here in Australia. We've teamed up with the guys from Highwood Timber. Highwood Timber are pioneering condensation management with their high flow ventilated LVL baton system. High flow battons give builders a stronger, straighter, and smarter way to create a ventilated cavity behind cladding and underneath roofs without compromising on structural performance. While tackling condensation to improve building health and ease of insulation, highwood battons are built to perform. When it comes to dealing with condensation and ventilation, high flow battons will help you create continuous ventilated cavities behind all your cladding and underneath your roof sheeting. They reduce condensation risk and support healthier, longer lasting buildings. Highwood timber battons are also in alignment with the proposed NCC condensation management requirements as well as passive house ventilation requirements. Being an engineered LVL product, they are stronger, straighter, and more dimensionally stable than a solid material such as pine. This helps resist warping, twisting, and shrinkage, ensuring more consistent installs less prone to splitting than solid timber. Howard timber battens are precisely manufactured, meaning that your installation will be faster and easier than other products on the market. The part that I like the most about these battons are they are H3 treated for long-term protection against decay and turmoiles. They use a waterborne H3 treatment which reduces reactivity with membranes and adhesives when compared to LOSP. These are the exact battens that you want to be using on your homes and your builds if you are considering building healthier homes or passive homes. Check them out.