The Melbourne townhome builder has reached a community milestone by linking a meal donation to every home it builds. Head of Sales and Acquisitions Sam Martinez explains why the model is deliberately uncapped, and what he thinks separates a good builder from the rest.
Most builders give something back. A sponsored junior footy team. A charity golf day. A donation when a job goes well. It is part of the culture, and it rarely makes the news.
Maple Living has done something a little different. The Westmeadows based townhome builder has tied a meal donation to every single home it delivers, and it has now passed the equivalent of 107,000 meals donated to food rescue organisation SecondBite. For a business that builds homes across Melbourne’s growth corridors, that is a number worth pausing on.
The model is simple. For every home Maple Living builds, it funds the equivalent of 200 meals through SecondBite’s network of food programs. There is no annual cap and no fixed total. The more homes the business delivers, the more meals it funds. Speaking with The Good Builder, Head of Sales and Acquisitions Sam Martinez said that was the whole point.
“Donating for every home built is more meaningful to us and our clients, as each and every home has an impact, making it more personal.”
“It ensures that there isn’t a capped amount to SecondBite in what we offer them, given we don’t have a cap on the number of homes we sell,” Martinez said. In other words, the giving scales with the business. A good year for Maple Living is a good year for the food programs it supports.
Why food rescue, and why SecondBite
Maple Living has long backed community causes, including Melbourne Victory in football and South East Melbourne Phoenix in basketball. SecondBite came onto the radar through the Melbourne Victory connection, and Martinez said the fit was immediate.
“We immediately resonated with their ultimate goal of giving back to Australians in need,” he said. “Our mission of building affordable homes with heart is our way of providing a pathway for homeownership for every Australian.”
The link between housing and hunger is not as distant as it first sounds. Both come down to the cost of living. SecondBite rescues quality surplus food that would otherwise go to waste and redistributes it through a national network of charities and community groups. With household budgets stretched, demand for that kind of help has climbed.
“With the cost of living being so high at the moment, we know that putting food on the table can be difficult for some, and to be able to help limit that is meaningful to us,” Martinez said.
What 107,000 meals actually represents
Big donation numbers can be hard to picture. For Maple Living, the figure is less an abstract total and more a running tally of homes delivered, each one carrying a small contribution to someone doing it tough.
The business passed 100,000 meals earlier in 2026 and has continued to climb since. As a family run operation with a close knit team, Martinez said the initiative is one the whole business gets behind.
“To have donated this many meals is gratifying, as we know we are helping so many Australians in need. Being a family run business and a close knit team, this initiative is one which we all love to get behind.”
It is a quietly smart piece of culture too. A donation that moves with output gives a team a shared scoreboard that has nothing to do with margin or settlement dates. Everyone who helps deliver a home has helped fund 200 meals. That is a story trades, staff and clients can all feel part of.
Where the commitment goes next
Asked whether there is a next target, Martinez was clear that this is about consistency rather than a single headline number.
“Right now it’s about keeping the commitment long term,” he said. The team is also looking to get hands on, with plans to spend time in the SecondBite garden and learn more about the work behind the scenes.
Maple Living is open to backing other causes as well, particularly those close to the communities it builds in or close to its staff. “We are always open to hearing out organisations, local communities and sporting clubs that we can support in a meaningful way,” Martinez said.
What makes a good builder
It is the question The Good Builder comes back to with everyone we speak to. For Martinez, the answer starts with honesty and ends with delivery.
“A good builder is an honest builder that is open, ethical, transparent and can ultimately be nimble and work in with clients, partners and others associated in the journey.”
“We pride ourselves on all these things, along with being quick and efficient, ensuring that we deliver an end product of the highest quality that we can be proud of, as if we were building it for ourselves,” he said.
It is a familiar theme. Speak to the operators we profile, from Phillip Livingston on building for older Australians to the family business story at Willow Grove Homes, and the same words keep coming up. Trust. Transparency. Doing what you say you will do. The good builders tend to agree on the fundamentals, even when their day to day work looks nothing alike.
| THE GOOD BUILDER TAKE Community giving is easy to announce and hard to sustain. What stands out here is not the size of the number, but the structure behind it. By tying the donation to every home rather than a fixed annual figure, Maple Living has built giving into the business instead of bolting it on. It grows when the business grows, and it does not quietly disappear in a lean year. For other builders, the lesson is not that you need a food rescue partner. It is that the most credible giving is the kind that is wired into how you already operate, so your team, your trades and your clients can all see exactly what their work adds up to. |
Maple Living is one to watch, and a conversation we would like to have on the show. You can learn more about the partnership at SecondBite, and hear more builder stories like this one on The Good Builder Podcast.
This article is based on information provided by Maple Living and publicly available material from Maple Living and SecondBite. Figures, including the meal donation total, are as supplied by Maple Living and current at the time of writing.
Your Questions Answered:
What is Maple Living’s SecondBite partnership?
For every home it builds, Maple Living funds the equivalent of 200 meals through food rescue organisation SecondBite. The donation is uncapped and grows with the number of homes the builder delivers.
How many meals has Maple Living donated to SecondBite?
Maple Living has passed the equivalent of 107,000 meals donated, having reached 100,000 meals earlier in 2026, with the total continuing to climb as more homes are completed.
Why does Maple Living donate meals for every home built?
Head of Sales and Acquisitions Sam Martinez says tying the donation to each home makes it more personal and keeps the giving uncapped, so support scales with the business rather than being limited to a fixed annual amount.
What does SecondBite do?
SecondBite is one of Australia’s largest food rescue organisations. It rescues quality surplus food that would otherwise be wasted and redistributes it through a national network of charities and community food programs.
Who is Maple Living?
Maple Living is a family run townhome builder based in Westmeadows, Victoria, building across Melbourne’s growth corridors under the tagline Homes Built With Heart.
Author: TGB Editorial
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