Richard: Well, I suppose there’s a few ways they can approach it. One important thing is to research the people you’re going to surround yourself with, if you’re going to undertake a project. If you’re doing something small like a house or whatever, obviously, a lot of these people come from word of mouth. So you can have some form of trust there because those are some line of relationship. You can maybe look at what the builder’s been involved with before, and whether that’s come in on time and on budget, and you’re building something similar, so you can be sure of that.
The other thing, if you’re an expert client…because there is two types of clients. There’s an expert client and a client that has no expertise in construction. So both require a different level of understanding of the industry. An expert client, for instance, I would say to them that they have to be open-minded to look at various innovative building methods and construction types and be willing to take on new processes to save money and time.
There’s a great product that we’re using at the moment, which is a prefabricated polymer [SP] concrete wall and that’s taking the industry by storm at the moment. These things take a long time to be accepted by the industry, and not many of them make it through bricks and mortar, which is your basic construction types. But this one has, it’s a great example of a product that a lot of builders are using now because it saves them time and money and it performs just as well as the materials it’s replaced.
Samantha: And are you finding that the greater level of expertise of the client, the greater willingness to try some of those more advanced materials because the client is more sophisticated in that way? What are your experiences with that?
Richard: Well, I think definitely not. A lot of experienced clients have got a formula and they don’t like deviating from that formula. So it takes some time to convince them of other methods of constructions. I know other large builders that still use exactly the same processes, and up until recently, some that were even reluctant to bring computers into their companies because what had worked for them so well for so long was paper-based work, and they like to do everything from basic principles and use a formula that’s tested.
Samantha: I guess it’s the known versus the unknown, isn’t it? It’s a challenge in many industries. Have you, in the past, been brought in to, shall we say, fix up or rectify issues with projects partway through? Have you had to, I guess, inherit other people’s challenges in terms of constructions partway through? Or have you typically gone straight from the outset and the early design stages right all the way through?
Richard: No, we’re definitely involved in both. A lot of times, I’m asked to come and consult on bad construction projects, or projects that have gone bad or where problems are appearing after other people have done construction work. I’m always highly involved in that area and called upon, mainly because of diversity of experience, obviously. But yeah, both ways, I’ll definitely fix up…there’s always fix-up work, at times, does come up. Mainly consultation in that area more than anything.
Samantha: Okay. Has there been a time, for example, something that has just been unrectifiable? I’m just fascinated to know that these things…you’ll drive past, you’ll see the cranes and I’ve often wondered, “Does it ever go horribly wrong or does it usually get resolved?”
Richard: No, everything gets resolved. Money can fix everything. That’s another term that we use in our industry. And if you’ve got an endless checkbook, you can always rectify things. But at the end of the day, it boils down to the experience of your team and how they go about…and that includes engineers and architects, designers, and anybody else involved in the project to form the cheapest, quickest solution to a catastrophe, if you want to call it that. Which does occur sometimes. But you’ve just got to…it makes the project more interesting if you can pull it back and rectify it to the client’s expectations.
Samantha: Yeah, it certainly sounds like a fascinating challenge, and I can imagine many sleepless nights, as you mentioned earlier. What would be your best piece of advice to a construction builder, regardless of the industry, who is considering embarking on one of these projects? It might be someone that has experience in it, or it might be someone that doesn’t, to avoid some of those disasters?
Richard: Well, I think if you’re going to start out, you can’t be too ambitious or idealistic, obviously. The construction industry is a very old industry. It’s very easy to research what people have done before you. If you’re coming into the industry as a newcomer, you don’t have to do anything groundbreaking or amazing or change the world.
The industry’s actually almost impossible to change. It’s very set in its ways. The mindset of all the components and the individuals involved in it, if you were talking about carpenters and plumbers and electricians and tilers and all that. It’s very traditional work. They’ve done things the same way for many years and they’re reluctant to change, obviously. You can embark on those kind of projects once you’re established, you know the landscape, and you’re very confident and competent in the area.
