The Willow Grove Homes director sits down with The Good Builder Podcast to talk about granny flats, growing up in a family business, navigating a male-dominated industry, and what it actually means to be a good builder. Farah Drake does not describe herself as...
When Aaron welcomed Bec Askin onto The Good Builder Podcast, he did not frame it as a typical career interview. He framed it as a deliberate challenge to the way the industry often talks about leadership, construction pathways, and what “success” looks like in...
When Hugh Sheard first picked up a trowel at 14, it was never meant to be a career move. School was not working. His parents thought a stint labouring with his uncle, a bricklayer, might teach him a lesson. Instead, it did the opposite. He found clarity in the...
On the Sunshine Coast, reputations travel fast and they tend to stick. That is why the name Dwyer Quality Homes still carries weight after four decades, and why its next chapter is worth paying attention to. In a recent episode of The Good Builder Podcast, host Az sat...
There are builders who are good on site, builders who are good with clients, and builders who are good at running a business. Jimmy Gray is pushing hard to be all three. He’s the owner of Penelope Homes, a Brisbane based custom builder known for high end renovations...
When Phil Barrett announced he was retiring from Metricon, he did it 15 months early. Not because he wanted fanfare, but because he wanted certainty for the people coming after him. “I made that announcement some 15 months before… we had time to develop, you know,...
In most sports, a second crack at the world title is rare. In bricklaying, it is almost unheard of. That is what makes Team Amuso so compelling. This month, Kilmore bricklayer Damian Amuso and his long-time mason’s tender Scott Law will once again represent Australia...
In an industry often defined by pressure, margins, and timelines, the stories that matter most are rarely about rapid growth or scale. They are about process, discipline, trust, and people. Few journeys illustrate this better than that of Phil Vanderneut, now a...
In an industry where movement between brands is common and longevity is rare, Chris McNeil stands out for a different reason.He stayed. For more than two decades, McNeil built his career inside the G.J. Gardner Homes network. He sold homes, trained sales teams,...
As climate-driven disasters intensify and global housing shortages deepen, an Australian company is quietly becoming one of the world’s most important players in resilient construction. NXT TEC Ltd, headquartered in Perth and operating across international markets,...
When Amanda Bulow speaks, you immediately hear two things: grit and purpose.On today's episode of The Good Builder podcast, she sat down with Az to talk about her journey from a no fuss childhood in Ipswich to founding one of the most influential communities for women...
When Mel and Darran Quade took over Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast, they were not looking for volume, awards, or a quick win. They were looking for a way to build the kind of homes they would be proud to drive past for the rest of their lives. The couple, who run the...
In residential building, most stories about pressure focus on business owners, supervisors, and site schedules. Far fewer look at the people behind the emails, prestarts, and plan changes the “humans behind the build” who quietly hold huge responsibility every day....
When John King talks about JG King Homes, he is not reciting a corporate script. He is describing a life spent inside a family business that has grown from a small steel frame plant in Ballarat to one of Victoria’s most recognised home builders. “We are one of the few...
When Joanna Cassidy picked up a trowel for the first time, she wasn’t just learning to lay bricks, she was rebuilding her life. For years, Joanna had followed a traditional path. She’d studied environmental health and criminology, built a stable career in local and...
What first attracted you to the home building/construction industry? To be honest, I accidently fell into it. But having been in the industry for over 6 years now, I love it so much and find it so rewarding that I couldn't see myself doing anything else. What's one of...
When you listen to today’s podcast episode, you can hear it straight away: this isn’t just a bloke who got lucky with a few insurance jobs. Kurt Saunderson, founder and CEO of Kase Group, has built one of Australia’s fastest-growing insurance and restoration building...
Every now and then you spot a builder who’s not just making nice houses, they're pushing the industry forward. For us, that was Jackson Digney from Enduro Builders in South Australia. He’s open about process, nerdy (in the best way) about membranes and airtightness,...
Every week we ask the same question: what makes a good builder? In this conversation with Anthony Hickey, Director of Two Tone Constructions the answers come thick and fast, not as theory, but as lived experience. Anthony’s a third-generation chippy who’s turned hard...
In Burpengary East, a quiet kind of milestone is about to be reached. On Maitland Road, nestled within a KDL estate, a purpose-built childcare centre is preparing for handover to its new tenant, Happy Hearts, and behind its thoughtful design and quality delivery is a...
When Dream Homes Meet Harsh Reality Imagine spending 12 months with an architect, shaping your perfect home, only to be told by a builder that it is hundreds of thousands over budget. According to Jared, builder and creator of B4UBuild, this is not the exception. It...
When we recently caught up with Aaron Hinkley and Bruce Robb on The Good Builder Podcast, the conversation turned to one of the most pressing, yet often misunderstood; challenges facing Australian builders today: thermal performance and condensation management. It’s a...
The Porsche Carrera Cup returned to South Australia over the weekend, with Round 5 held at The Bend Motorsport Park in Adelaide. For the MyConstruct team, it was a weekend of breakthrough success and hard lessons, with driver Brett Boulton claiming his first-ever...
How a humble electrical business is helping builders move faster, communicate better, and grow stronger teams, without the noise. The spark behind the partnership When The Good Builder launched, one of the first people to back the idea was electrician and business...
When the results landed earlier this year, Creation Homes stood out as one of Queensland’s fastest-growing builders. A 58% lift in growth, multiple award-winning displays, and a Master Builders Award for one of their very first client homes. It’s an impressive record...
In our last feature, Leadership Lessons from Conrad Gardner, the global G.J. Gardner Homes executive reminded builders that culture is the “immune system” of a business. But if there’s one theme that runs even deeper through his story, it’s this: never stop learning....
The many lives of Alex Quirke Some people wear one hat and wear it well. Alex Quirke wears several and each one seems to make him sharper in the others. By day, he’s Business Development Manager at Avia Homes, a builder that’s rocketing through Queensland’s housing...
When you talk to people across the building industry in Australia, New Zealand, or the United States, there’s one name that comes up again and again: Conrad Gardner. For many, Gardner isn’t just a familiar face from G.J. Gardner Homes – the global franchise network...
For Bribie Island local Ryan O’Leary, tiling isn’t just a trade – it’s in the blood. Growing up watching his father work, Ryan was fascinated by the precision and craftsmanship that could turn bare spaces into something special. That early inspiration eventually led...
In our latest Brew With a Builder, we sit down with Kaih Orenshaw, director and hands‑on craftsman at Orenshaw Designer Homes. A Sunshine Coast family‑owned business with over two decades of experience, Kaih’s journey began at just 16 with an apprenticeship under a...
When Jared from RedKem Constructions first stepped onto site as a 15-year-old apprentice, he wasn’t thinking about project margins, workflows, or business systems. He was thinking about learning the trade. “I’ve never had another job,” he says. “I went straight into...
Talking Trades - we sit down with Penny Petridis. Metal fabricator, carpenter, horticulturist, and the force behind Female Tradie. Penny’s journey is anything but linear. From building decks to building confidence in women across Australia, she’s spent the last 15...
Jared from RedKem Constructions isn’t your typical builder. Yes, he’s spent almost two decades in the building industry. Yes, he leads a highly regarded construction company specialising in high-end renovations, extensions, and sustainable homes. But what sets him...
From apprentice to award-winning bricklayer and business owner, Lester Tibbles has built a reputation brick by brick – quite literally. Based in the Southern Highlands and Canberra, Lester leads Tibbles Bricklaying with a focus on quality craftsmanship,...
In an industry where staff turnover is expected and burnout is commonplace, Murphy Group is writing a different story — one built on relationships, loyalty, and genuine leadership. Today, the business boasts 14 team members who’ve been there for over a decade,...
When you’ve been in the building game for more than four decades, you pick up a few sayings. For Craig Stuart—known affectionately as The Godfather—one phrase has become part of the daily language on site: “Is it Craig good?” It started as banter. A playful jab from...
In an industry where hard hats are mandatory and vulnerability is often masked behind bravado, a new campaign is using rugby league to tackle an invisible crisis head-on. From Apprentice to Advocate: Craig Stewart’s 40-Year Journey Through the Trades “If someone asked...
Brew with a Builder - Our Chat with Jayden Martello, Founder of JMAR Building Co. The Good Builder is all about shining a spotlight on builders who are raising the bar, so we love to chat with some of the best in the business to find out what makes them tick. This...
We recently caught up with Tom Egan, founder of Avia Homes. If you haven’t listened to the podcast with Tom yet, head over to Spotify and check it out. In less than three years, Tom took Avia from an idea to a $100 million construction company. How? He did it by...
What actually makes a good builder? It’s one of those questions that can spark a bit of healthy debate on site and it came up in a podcast we released today with Greg McGee from Ryse Constructions. Greg’s been around the traps for decades, worked through the GFC,...
Not everyone wants to talk about women in construction, but maybe we should. Especially when someone like Kim Allen joins the conversation, a plasterer-turned-CEO who’s shaking things up, speaking out, and refusing to be boxed in. We recently had Kim on The Good...
Aletha Walters is the co-owner of Stroud Homes Wide Bay, the biggest individual franchise in Queensland across any home builder brand. Alongside her husband Slade, she’s built a powerhouse business that now sells over 40 homes a month across a vast regional footprint...
In 2009, Homes By CMA started with just one build. Sixteen years later, they’ve delivered nearly 2,000 homes and grown into a serious force in Queensland’s building scene. But behind the sales figures, impeccable branding, and growth charts is something you won’t...
Brew with a Builder - Our Chat with Tanya King, General Manager of Cross Constructions The Good Builder is all about shining a spotlight on builders who are raising the bar, and every week, we have an informal chat with one of the best in the business to find out what...
Avia Homes Managing Director Tom Egan turned a near empty bank account and a new laptop into one of Queensland’s biggest building companies, delivering over 300 homes in their second financial year. With this impressive number of homes, they have managed a...
A new name has entered Australia’s home-building industry, but its leadership is anything but new. Wattle Court, spearheaded by Matt Hope, former NSW / WA / ACT Master Franchise of G.J. Gardner Homes, is making its mark by blending experience with a fresh approach to...
This week in our series of casual chats in Brew with a Builder we sit down with Stephan Van Der Walt from Walt Construction in Noosa, and he talks about some of the secrets which make his business a success, and reveals something about himself that even his work mates...
From a mechanical engineer for BHP to the General Manager for G.J. Gardner Homes in Queensland / NT and now with his own building and development companies under G.J. Gardner Homes Noosa, Eddie Kimmerely has seen and experienced a lot in the industry. We asked...
The Good Builder by definition is all about good builders, so every week we are going to have an informal chat with one of the best in the business to find out what makes them tick, and reveal a few secrets that even their workmates don’t know. And who better to start...
Sometimes there’s a story from your childhood that gives a hint about how you are going to live your life. Sunshine Coast builder Wojtek Stainwald has one of those stories and it’s better than most. He was a small boy growing up in Communist Poland in the 1980s…...
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Why more builders are moving procurement out of the inbox and into the system they already run their jobs from. There is a moment most builders know well. The job is mapped out, the costs are still moving, and the plan for the week is clear enough. Then you open your...
A chipped benchtop or a scratched pane of glass rarely stops a job. But across a build, that kind of damage quietly costs both the builder and the trades real time and real money. Here is why it happens, and how Goop Guys' surface protection removes the cost before it...
The Good Builder’s Top 100 report found one franchise network added builds in a year the market lost them. On the podcast this week, James Stroud gives an explanation that has almost nothing to do with the market. Queensland’s hundred largest residential builders...
A single date now sits between a gas-connected design and a knockback at permit stage. The number that decides it is not the contract date. Last updated: July 2026 From 1 January 2027, a building surveyor in Victoria will not be able to issue a building permit...