But as a newcomer, my biggest advice would be not to be too idealistic and bite off more than you can chew and take on a project that’s quite simple to start off. And then see how you go from there, which is a much easier project to manage and cost out.
Samantha: And in looking for project managers, specifically, and contract managers and that kind of stuff, what’s the most important thing that they should be thinking about in terms of acquiring those skills onto their job?
Richard: You mean as in sourcing individuals to do it?
Samantha: Yeah.
Richard: Yeah, it’s extremely important to ensure that. There’s two frames of mind in this. One is that a lot of it’s office-based now. [inaudible 00:29:34] highly paper-based in relation to contracts, liabilities with insurances. If you’re applying for government contracts and the like, it’s a high document process. And they like to employ university students or people with degrees from this area that have got some formal training in construction and computer usage and contract administration and programming and software and all this kind of thing.
And then they like to train these people themselves in-house to ensure that they work according to their processes. So that’s one of kind of individual you can source if you’ve got the time to mold them into somebody that you want them to be. So you get them with the core skills and the skills to learn and problem solve, which is a well-educated university student, and then mold them into what you want.
Then from the other perspective, which is what a lot of builders do, is they get somebody that’s much more astute from the trades. So somebody that’s been around the traps, that’s worked on the tools, that understands the process intimately, and has them work their way through to management positions. And they like those kinds of people all day. Although they may be more stubborn and hard-headed and hard to mold, they definitely bring a whole set of skills that takes a long time to teach somebody else that might be green from the university.
So there are two trains of thought on that. One is getting an experienced guy from the trades or getting a guy from uni. It depends on what you want, what your resources are, and how you want to run your business.
Samantha: And in terms of the experience with the trades, is part of this role about earning respect from the trades on a job? And does it make it easier if someone has had a background in the trades? Or is that a little bit divorced from this role these days?
Richard: Again, there’s two sides to this story like everything. Of course, it’s much easier to get respect from your trades if you’ve worked with them on site. But I think 90% of it is a personality issue, in reality. And if you’re an approachable person that wants to solve people’s problems and wants to help them do their job better and helps them to excel and increase their profits, make their job easier and all the rest of it, you don’t really have to come from a perspective of experience. But you have to have a certain personality that lends itself to that, so that people respect you off the bat.
You can get the most experienced guy on earth. The guys don’t respect him, and he’ll be no use to you. Or you can get somebody with not much experience, but is very good with people, and the guys all respect him. And that person can learn very quickly as well. So you just need the guy that’s got the right personality, I think, more importantly.
Samantha: Yeah. And do you find there are many construction clients that want to do or that attempt to do this work themselves? That think that they can manage the project themselves as well as be the client? And does that cause challenges?
Richard: Yeah, it definitely causes challenges. There’s not many people like that. The only developer-builders that exist are either very small-time, that just build a small block of three units or a house here and there, or very big-time, like Lendlease or Mirvac that do their own subdivisions and then build 200 units at a time. In-between, it’s very difficult, in-between those two extremes because if you’re going to develop and build, then you need the resources to source future projects as well, and look at more opportunities to keep your people employed.
And if you’re bogged down in a building somewhere, then where do you get the time and the resources to do that? So you either have to be extremely well resourced like these large companies that are, the top five, or be very small-time where you just do one at a time and you don’t care if you have a year off. In-between is definitely a split where it’s developer and builder as a separate entity. At the top echelon and low down, there are many developer-builders.
Samantha: Thanks for that. I guess I’m interested now…you’ve also published some materials and have a website in relation to some of your expertise. What’s the best way for construction companies, owners, clients, and other builders to find out more about your expertise and your experience in this industry?
