June 9, 2025 • 49 mins
#144 Discover how to structure your construction business to maximize success and personal fulfillment by intentionally designing every aspect from the ground up. We explore why breaking away from traditional industry models allows you to create a business that truly serves your goals and lifestyle.
Check out Duayne's other projects here...
Live Life Build
livelifebuild.com
D Pearce Constructions
dpearceconstructions.com.au
QuoteEaze
quoteeaze.com/Free-Offer.html
Check out the Duayne Pearce website here...
https://duaynepearce.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
who is your ideal client?
Who do I want to be working forevery single day?
It will make a massivedifference to your life and your
business when you identify whatyour ideal types of projects
are.
How you structure your team isreally, really important.
Identifying the type of workthat suits you and your team
best again is going to help yourbusiness thrive.
(00:21):
I'm a massive fan ofvisualizing.
I write in my journal all thetime.
I can visualize it in my headG'day guys.
Welcome back to another episodeof Level Up.
We are back in the shed thisafternoon for another episode by
myself to give you guys someinsights and information about
(00:44):
things that have got me to whereI am in my life.
And yeah, look, this is goingto be another cracking episode
because today we're going to betalking about setting up your
business structure and figuringout what it is you want to do.
I see now from everything I dothat so many people in the
construction industry are justfollowing the old-fashioned way
(01:04):
that everything has been doneand they don't realize that it's
their business.
You can set your business upand structure it however you
want to.
So we're going to cover quite abit today.
It shouldn't be a real long one, but I want to start right at
the beginning, and that is thename of your business and the
reason I want to talk to at thebeginning.
(01:24):
And that is the name of yourbusiness and the reason I want
to talk to you about this isbecause I had a very like if
you've heard my story, like youknow that I basically jumped in
the deep end, went out, startedsubbing, and so I was in a
position where, basically I wentfrom just invoicing the guy
(01:45):
that I was working for like Ihad one of those duplicate books
that you buy in the bloodynewsagent and I would literally
just write my hours on there,write down the tasks that I'd
been doing, and, yeah, give hima handwritten invoice and it
would just have my name on it.
And when it got to the pointthat I had to to, like he asked
(02:06):
me to start subbing to him, um,I had to change structure.
So, like I reached out to mybookkeeper at the time and
they're like oh, you bet youprobably should do this.
And um, like I can't rememberhow old I was I think at this
point I was only like 21 or 22or something and like no one had
(02:26):
given me any real advice onthis and, to be honest, I wasn't
interested in any advice inthis um.
I'd never even thought aboutthe business side of my job and
I remember it clear as day likeI literally got to a point where
I rung um.
I think I actually rung myfinance broker at the time, who
(02:47):
I've had for a very long time.
We've actually done a podcastwith him and his wife was an
accountant and she's like, ohyeah, no, you're going to have
to set up a company.
And I was like, well, I don'tknow.
And she's like, well, what doyou want to call it?
And I'm like, fuck, I wouldn'thave a clue.
And like, literally, d PierceConstructions was spoken about
within 10 minutes.
(03:07):
And that is what we still callmy business today.
And look, if I had my time again, I would probably put a lot
more thought and effort into thename, but because I think your
name is so valuable.
But the one thing that I'velearned is, if you tie your
(03:27):
personal name to things and youbuild successful businesses, it
can be very hard to sell thosebusinesses if everything is
built around your name and yourpersonality and and and you so
having a name that um turns intoa um, I guess that starts to
add to value and people knowwhat that name reflects and
(03:50):
means.
Gives you more options possiblyin the future with your
business.
But look, there's definitelypeople that are sole businesses
and we've been approached forour business.
Even though it's my personalname doesn't stop you from doing
it, but I just think your nameis the first real important step
and so many people, includingmyself, um, don't take it
(04:11):
seriously enough and I sort ofhave a little giggle to myself
now when I um, like you go to a,if you're out, or you go to a
pub where you're out of hardwareand concrete has seemed to have
the best ones like um.
There's all these names aroundthat when you're young you think
are just awesome.
I'm not going to mention someof the names because people
might crack the shits.
(04:31):
But oh, fuck it.
I probably should.
But like, get hard concretingand I saw one when I was on that
rally recently up at AirlieBeach and look, no offence
against concreters, but I justsee so many trades that have
these names and, like I said,when you're young and you're
just getting in the business andyou're out on the piss all the
time with your mates and likeit's funny and it sounds cool
(04:53):
and it's.
But if you want to be inbusiness for a long time, yeah,
you've got to get more creativewith your name, and your name
has to be more about what youwant to achieve with your
business and your lifestyle,instead of just a name that is
funny when you're on the pisswith your mates and having a
joke around.
So, because your name will alsohave a lot to do with the type
of clients that you attract,with the type of work that you
(05:17):
attract, how you get paid, theamount you can charge, like all
of those things can be affectedby the name that you call your
business.
So, um, yeah, and then, yeah,like I said, I've seen some,
some funny ones around, so thatwould be.
My first thing is is to have athink about your name.
Don't rush into it and, yeah,just take the time.
(05:38):
Look, you might not.
I think a lot of people put toomuch time into things.
Um, don't waste time trying tocome up with a name that you'll
hang on to it forever, cause thereality is you can change your
name if you want to, but I'mknowing what I know now from
having multiple businesses andbeing very successful.
(05:59):
Um, I think your name shouldreflect like you.
For me, you need to think aboutlike, why do you do what you do
?
Like, what gets you out of bedevery day?
What drives you?
Where's your passion come from?
Why are you doing what you'redoing?
And if you can come up with aname that can reflect that, then
it will be very powerful foryou and your business.
(06:21):
The next thing, on from that, isyour structure.
Like, are you a sole trader?
Are you a trust?
Are you a company?
Like?
There is so many different waysyou can set yourself up and
obviously, depending on the wayyou set yourself up, depends on
the amount of tax you pay.
(06:41):
It can change insurancestructures.
It can change um, like lots andlots of things, gst, um, like.
There's so much around thestructure and that's probably
one area where I again I wentwrong in the early days.
I like for a while there I wasum, I was actually trading as d
pierce, building trust and as wegrew, it created a few issues
(07:07):
for me along the way and weactually still have that name
and like, right now as it sits,camille and I have I can't even
tell you.
Off the top of my head, I thinkit's like 12 or 13 different
business structures across allthe investments and businesses
that we have.
So so just because I set thatone up very, very early in my
(07:28):
early 20s and it got to a pointwhere that trust wasn't working
for my carpentry business, Ididn't shut it down.
We kept it and it's ended upturning into quite a valuable
asset because we've been able touse that in the future, turning
into quite a valuable assetbecause we've been able to use
(07:48):
that in the future.
But if I knew what I knew nowthat probably one of the biggest
or most valuable pieces ofadvice that I can give to a
younger person starting out inthis industry and I would I
would suggest I tell myapprentices to do this.
When our apprentices aregetting to a point where they're
about to finish their time andthey're going to be starting to
be on salary or wages orpossibly subcontracting, the
(08:12):
advice that I give to them is goand spend the money and get
advice from a good accountant.
You don't want to be just goinglike paying an accountant that
charges whatever it is 330 bucksor 660 bucks and just does your
tax once a year.
Like, go and spend the moneyand look, it could cost you a
couple of grand, but spend themoney.
(08:32):
Go and talk to someone and talkthem through.
Like you want to go and workwith someone that is interested
in where you want to go.
What do you want to be?
What size business do you wantto have?
What's your goals?
And like across the board, like, do you want to have?
What do you want to be?
What size business do you wantto have?
What's your goals?
And like across the board, like, do you want to have investment
properties?
Do you want to invest in shares?
Like, how do you want to growyour business?
(08:53):
What is your ideal position?
Like you really want someonethat's going to sit with you and
go righto, right now, what'syour 12-month goal?
What's your 3-year goal?
What's your three-year goal?
What's your five-year goal?
What's your 10-year goal?
And look, we all know goalschange constantly and that is
something that you should bereviewing all the time.
But that's the type of peoplethat you want to be dealing with
(09:15):
.
So the best advice I can give toa young person that is just
coming out of their trade, orpossibly young contractors, if
you've just sort of gone withthe flow, ticked and flicked,
some boxes come up with a randomname and just gone with a
structure because that's whatyour mate or your dad or another
(09:37):
person in the industry told you.
I would recommend going andspending their money investing
in, in yourself and getting goodquality advice about your
structure and um, because, likeI said, depending on whether
you're a sole trader, a, a trust, a company, all those types of
things.
It affects how your businessoperates.
It affects insurances and workcovers and all those types of
(10:00):
things that you have to pay.
It affects the tax, it affectsgst, all those types of things.
So, um, and look, as usual,with all my podcasts like this,
these are all all these storiesand all this information I give
is all from my personalexperience, um, and it's
definitely up to you to get yourown financial and legal advice
on all these types of things.
(10:20):
So, all right, so that's um,we've talked about your company
name.
We We've talked about thefinancial structure, um, of your
business.
Um, I guess, to just wrap up onthat, when it comes to the
structure, like your financial,whether you set yourself up as a
trust, a company, sole trader,and those types of things, the
most, the reason it's soimportant to get someone that
(10:41):
wants to know your future goalsis because it can.
If you set yourself up as onething and then you have a goal
to get to somewhere else itcould be investing in property
or shares or whatever the waythat you structure yourself
could affect your borrowingcapacity.
It could affect how your incomegets structured like this.
(11:06):
There's a lot more to this andI didn't know any of this when I
first started and I it took mea long time, like I've been in
this game now since I was 15, sowhatever.
That is 29 years now so, andI've always had a passion for
investing in property, a littlebit in shares, all those types
(11:27):
of things, and in the early days, the way that I structured
myself did cause me to a littlebit of trouble over the time,
and there's been situationswhere I've had to spend money to
get a property out of astructure and put it into a
different structure because thedifferent structure was going to
(11:49):
get me to the next level andwhere I wanted to be.
So, yeah, really, really,really important that you spend
the money you invest in a goodquality accountant or financial
advisor or both, even if you'reyoung and you haven't put a lot
of thought into these things.
Try and put some thought intoyour goals and, yeah, set your
structures up as early as youcan to help you achieve those
(12:13):
goals.
The next thing is like againgoing back to like it's your
business.
So as your business grows, youcan structure it however you
like, and I have theseconversations a lot with members
in my live life build businessnow because to have a successful
business and look, these are mypersonal opinions, but I know
(12:36):
my business have all been verysuccessful because I'm the face
of them.
I'm the real deal.
I've been through shit thatother people shouldn't have to
go through and I've learned alot of lessons and I still run a
very successful buildingbusiness and I'm in the trenches
and everything that I speak andthat I talk about people in our
industry relate to.
(12:57):
So it's really really importantthat you learn to do like,
structure your business the wayyou want to.
And so for me, why I why Ithink it's important for the
business owner to be the face isI know that my clients get a
(13:20):
huge amount of value and andcome to our company because my
face is all over social media.
I'm sitting here doing thesepodcasts and they get so much
value out of me doing the sitemeetings, me doing all the
initial quoting and estimatingand all the design meetings, me
being the one that meets them tosign all the contracts and me
(13:41):
doing the handover.
And look, obviously this um, ifyou like, I've got some mates
that run really large, verysuccessful volume building
businesses and look it's.
It's impossible for them tohave that sort of personal
relationship with every singleclient when you're talking 150,
200, 300 homes a year.
(14:01):
But like one of my mates inparticular, chris from CMA homes
man like he, he's going closeto building 300 homes a year now
and he still makes it very,very personal and I believe
that's a big reason why he, whyhis business is so successful.
So there's a lot of stuff goingon in our industry at the
moment and like a lot of youngergeneration coming in and a lot
(14:26):
of them are going down the pathof like they all want to have
these successful businesses andearn the money, but they want to
sit back behind the scenes andthey want to just live the high
life and have people in theirbusiness doing a lot of these
tasks, like the handing over andthe signing of contracts and
helping out with selections anddoing the site meetings and
those types of things, andpersonally, I think your
(14:49):
business won't be successfullong term.
Doing that because that's whatattracts people like especially
in the custom residentialbuilding market, like and, and
it's the same.
It's not just this, isn't justabout builders, it's about
trades as well.
Like when you you have aplumbing or electrical business
or a carpentry business, likeevery, every single level of my
(15:12):
business is based onrelationships.
It's it's very few times is todo with the price, it the reps
that I deal with for hardwarestores and plumbing supplies and
landscaping yards.
It is completely based on apersonal relationship.
Um, my relationships with mytrades like I will not work with
a trade if they're a dickhead,if I, if I can't shake their
(15:34):
hand, have a beer with them andjust sit down and have a, have a
chat if I could, like I guess,to put it this way like I
couldn't work with anyone that Icouldn't run into at a concert
or an event or camping and sitdown around a fire at a bar and
hold a conversation with.
So for me, relationships acrossthe board are super, super
(15:54):
important.
So, um, and the reason I'mtalking about all this is when I
talk about structuring your umbusiness.
Like we've talked about name,we've talked about all the legal
, financial sort of structures.
A lot of builders feel that togrow their business they need to
(16:15):
step back off the site andtradies, and nine times out of
10, that is our passion.
The passion is being outdoors.
Outdoors, being on the tools,physically doing the work,
having the banter with the teamand cranking the tunes, having a
sing-along and then and likebecause it doesn't feel like
work, like it feels like you'reon site with a bunch of mates
(16:37):
and you're having fun and theylose their passion when the
business grows and they stepback from the site and they get
stuck in the weeds doing all theadministration and phone calls
and all the other shit that goeswith running a business.
And like I use my business as aperfect example I have
(17:00):
structured my business tooperate around what I love doing
, what I enjoy doing, and Ifirmly believe that it doesn't
matter what business you have,whether it's trades,
architectures, designers, likebuilders, like you name it,
(17:21):
anybody in the constructionindustry.
If you structure your businessso that you're always doing the
tasks that you love doing yourbusiness will be successful.
So you can structure yourbusiness however you like.
If you like the administrationside of things, then build your
team to allow you to do that.
If you like being on the tools,then build your team to allow
(17:42):
you to do that.
So to give you a couple ofexamples, like, if you like
doing like in my business, I'lltalk about that first.
But I love the client, I lovemeeting the clients.
I really love design.
Um, like, if I hadn't been abuilder, I probably would have
been a designer or an architect.
I wouldn't have been anarchitect because I wasn't smart
(18:03):
enough at school but, um, Iwould never have got into uni,
but, um, I probably would havegot some sort of design job.
And so now in my business,having the ability to do the
pack process and go to all thedesign meetings, interact with
the clients, interact with thedesigner and the architect and
understand, like, why thingshappen the way they happen, why
(18:24):
things go where they go.
I do the quoting and estimating.
I like numbers, I like workingthings out, I like seeing things
come together.
So my business is completelystructured around me, doing all
the preliminary process throughthe PAC process, all the quoting
and estimating, meeting newclients, and then, once we start
(18:44):
, the jobs get handed over to myteam.
My wife runs the office, doesall the administration.
We've got an incrediblesupervisor.
He keeps the jobs get handedover to my team.
My wife runs the office, doesall the administration.
We've got an incrediblesupervisor.
He keeps the jobs running.
We've got incredible teams withlead carpenters and and site
crews and apprentices, so theytake over and things run like
clockwork most of the time.
But then I still do the weeklysite meeting.
(19:08):
So at our weekly site meetingsI'm still the one there liaising
with the client, doing themeeting minutes.
My supervisor or a leadcarpenter or sometimes both is
always at that meeting.
Then we walk around as a teamso everyone knows what's going
on.
But I know the data in mybusiness, I know my numbers, I
know my overheads and I'vestructured my business and I
price my jobs for me to allow meto have the staff to run my
(19:33):
business like that.
So then, if you go the other way, if you're a builder that wants
to be on the tools, there willbe a period that, as a business
grows, you do need to step backa little bit to spend some time.
You're possibly going to hire aVA or you're going to hire some
admin staff or a bookkeeper,and you will have to step back a
(19:54):
little bit from site to spendtime with them in the office to
make sure things are gettingquoted correctly, to make sure
everyone knows the numbers, tomake sure contracts are getting
done correctly all those typesof things.
And then, once you're confidentthat that's all working,
there's absolutely no reasonthat you can't go back and be on
(20:14):
the site and smashing theworkout with the boys and all
the females on site these daysand and getting shit done and um
, that might mean that one day aweek you're you're not on site.
You're doing like you structurethat.
One day a week you do all yourclient meetings, you do all your
design meetings and you do allyour reviews with your
administration's tasks, and thenthe other four days you go up
(20:34):
to site and you do all the workon site.
So don't believe that you haveto structure your business the
old-fashioned way and as thebusiness grows, you need to get
tied into admin roles or projectmanagement or being the face of
business all those types ofthings.
Like you have the ability tostructure your business however
you want and it all comes backto understanding your numbers
and allowing the business tocover the cost of employing the
(20:59):
people in the roles that youneed to structure the business
the way you want to allow you todo the tasks that you enjoy
doing the most and, like I said,that actually flows right
through your business.
Like, the key to a successfulbusiness is having every member
of your business doing tasksthat they're good at, that they
enjoy doing and they liketurning up to work every day to
(21:20):
do that.
And if you can do that,including yourself, you will
have a very successful business.
So, yeah, that's the third oneStructure your business.
Write down, write it on paper,visualize it.
I'm a massive fan ofvisualizing, like I write in my
journal all the time.
I can visualize it in my headwhat I'm doing, what my goals
are, what it's going to looklike when I achieve them.
(21:42):
So write it down your idealstructure for your team, what
you want to achieve, and, yeah,it will happen.
So, um, we touched on a littlebit then, but the next one is
team.
So, like I just touched on alittle bit, like it's I hear so
many builders and and myself fora very long time.
(22:02):
In my business, the team andlook to be honest, even today,
like team is the hardest thing.
I don't care what anyone says,anyone that hasn't run a
building business or atrades-based business Um, I
don't care if you're.
You're an admin type business,you're an office type business
that's got hundreds of staff.
I don't believe that there isany business that's that is as
(22:23):
hard as managing teams in abuilding business or a
contracting business or atrades-based business because I
talk about this all the timethere's so many different
personalities, your religions,values, opinions, all these
types of things and it's notlike you're sitting in cubicles
or you can walk away from people, like you're physically working
(22:45):
together, you're leaning overeach other, you're sweating on
each other.
Your work and your outcome isdependent on the people you're
working with.
Um, if they, if they're notcutting shit and getting it back
to you in time, then then itmakes you look bad.
If, if you're a plumber and youthere's multiple plumbers
laying a drain, like and you'rein, you're in the trench laying
(23:05):
the drain and the person that'scutting the pipes and giving you
the glue isn't keeping up withyou, like it's, it's hard, like,
and if you haven't worked inour industry.
You, you honestly, you won't,you'll never understand it.
But, um, yeah, you canstructure your team.
Like, how you structure yourteam is really, really important
and I like something that'sreally accelerated.
My business is like not justhiring what I thought I needed.
(23:32):
So, like you have a plumbingbusiness, you're going to put
ads out there and you're goingto advertise that you need a
plumber.
If you're electric, likeelectrical business, you can
advertise that you wantelectricians and look, I do it
all the time.
If, like we're a buildingbusiness, we advertise for
carpenters, you need to findpeople that are good at specific
things, because there's alwaysgoing to be people that just
(23:54):
love their trade and they loveshowing up every day and just
doing their trade.
Then there's going to be peoplethat are really really good at
their trade but they want thenext level, they want to, they
want a little bit more authority, they want to, they want to run
things, they want to be asupervisor or a leading hand, or
that.
(24:14):
They crave that little bithigher um, I guess position in
the business and then it justkeeps growing up there.
Then you're going to get peoplethat want to run the business.
You're going to get people thatwant to manage the business
like.
There's all different levels,and one thing that I've learned
is that we are all so different.
We all have different strengthsand weaknesses.
(24:35):
We all have different thingsthat set us off, whether it's
anxiety, whether it's worryingabout things.
So building your team andallowing your team to thrive in
environments that allow them tobe comfortable is really, really
important, and over the pastfew months, I've spoken about
this on a few podcasts, but ourbuilding business is absolutely
(24:59):
booming at the moment.
We've got enormous amounts ofwork on incredible clients,
great jobs, and so we've reallybeen pushing hard to build our
team again.
And so we've really beenpushing hard to build our team
again and like at the moment, Ithink we're sitting around 14
odd people and so there was aperiod there where we I think we
(25:20):
bought four or five newcarpenters, apprentices and lead
carpenters in like within acouple of weeks.
Within a couple of weeks.
And one thing that I've alwaysbeen very proud of with my
building business, especiallyover like, there was this two or
three year period that we'vejust come out of through COVID,
where we got an incredibleamount of work done with a very
(25:42):
small, efficient team andeverything was just running like
clockwork.
And then all of a sudden, we'reramping things up, we're
growing, we're bringing allthese new staff in, and it was
just like the wheels fell off.
And there was there was a twoor three months period there
where, like I would just leave,so pissed off, I'd be so
(26:03):
frustrated, I'd come back to theoffice, I'd talk to the
supervisor, I'd be whingingabout everybody and I'd be like
what the fuck are they doing?
Like honestly, like they'vedone, like there's seven people
on site and they've done lesswork than like I could do with
an apprentice.
Like what is happening and itwas because everyone was trying
to like fight for authority andthey're all trying to find, like
(26:27):
the new guys that come in withlike without physically fighting
or doing anything, but that itwas.
They're all battling forauthority and trying to find
their positions in the team.
And this ties in so much withwhat I believe in now, like my.
One of my biggest beliefs nowis we.
We have to understand that weare nature, we are no different
(26:49):
to animals.
Like we, we have tribes, welike we thrive with different
groups.
Like it's no different togroups of animals and and those
types of things and I saw it inmy team how they were operating
with each other and it wasn'tuntil I had a chat with um helen
rogerson.
So helen rogerson is ourleadership expert in my um live
(27:09):
life, build business.
Um, she's also been on thispodcast.
She's an incredible human being, a really great friend, and I
just value her, herprofessionalism, her um
experience, her knowledge, so somuch.
So through this period I was Iwas um doing a lot with Helen.
(27:29):
With Helen, we got her in to doa couple of workshops with our
team.
I was personally talking to hera lot, getting a lot of advice,
and it's incredible how, whenshe got me to sort of stand back
and see what was going on andrealize that, yeah, they're all
sort of fighting for theirpositions in the team, they're
(27:52):
all sort of fighting for theirpositions in the team and go to
site and have one-on-onemeetings and figure out where
each person sort of wanted to beand then sort of split them up
into different groups and givethem different roles.
And, honestly, within afour-week period it was chalk
and cheese, like they went fromsix, seven, eight guys on a job
doing very little work to havingthree and four guys on each job
(28:15):
and just absolutely killing itand turning up the site.
The sites are all immaculate.
The lead carpenter knows what'sgoing on, like it's chalk and
cheese.
So yeah, structuring your teamis huge, figuring out your
team's strengths and weaknesses.
Structuring your team is huge,figuring out your team's
strengths and weaknesses and,like I said, if everyone in your
(28:41):
team is able to do, or worktowards doing, what they are
passionate about, what they getout of bed every day to do, your
business will be verysuccessful.
All right, but moving on alittle bit, I thought this was
going to be a short podcast, butthat's all right.
We're getting some goodinformation out here.
So the next one is structuringyour business around the types
of clients that you want.
So I see so many trades,builders and actually like even
(29:03):
architects and buildingdesigners, like so many people
just taking on work becausethey're chasing.
They got no cash flow, theydon't understand the running of
the business and they take onevery single job that comes
across their desk, whetherthey're a shit client, a good
client, a client that's got themoney, a client that hasn't got
the money, and at the end of theday, they're creating all their
(29:25):
own problems.
They're dealing with peoplethat they really shouldn't be
dealing with and then theywhinge about the outcomes.
So a really, really importantthing to understand is, again,
like we said at the beginning,it's your business.
So the saying I say all thetime, like your business is only
(29:45):
as good as what you accept,your life is only as good as
what you accept, ties inperfectly with this one, because
if you just accept any clientthat comes your way, if you're
running a business that isstruggling with cash flow, you
struggle to pay bills, you spendmore like you live beyond your
means, you spend more money thanyou're physically making
(30:06):
because you don't understandyour numbers, you don't
understand how tax works, youdon't understand how GST works
all of those things.
That gets you in a positionwhere you're taking on clients
that you shouldn't be taking on.
And learning this has beenincredibly valuable for my
business, and again, I talkabout woo-woo shit all the time,
(30:28):
but it works, like for everyclient that you knock back, it
empowers you and it sayssomething to the universe that
opens doors and allows the nextclient to be a dream client, and
so I encourage every singlebusiness in the building
(30:49):
industry to find your idealclient Like, sit down, do some
journaling, scribble some notesdown and think to yourself like,
who is your ideal client?
Who do I want to be working forevery single day?
And it can be anything Like youcan be working with.
(31:09):
Like if you really refined it,you could build your business to
.
This is going to be a bit of anout there exaggeration, but
this is how refined you can getit.
Like you could be running abusiness that only works for
professionals, whether it bedoctors, lawyers and architects.
Like if you get thatnitty-gritty on it and you
(31:30):
market yourself and you talkabout it all the time and you
like you will attract thosetypes of clients and that type
of work because that's how,that's how it works.
And like we I know this becausewe've done it so many different
ways in our building businessand we we know it works so well
because we just keep improvingon it now and um to a point
where, like, we're attractingclients that are exactly like us
(31:54):
they love camping, they lovefamily time, they love to go to
the beach, they love chillingout, they love having a few
beers, they like the environment.
So our clients are becomingreally good friends Like we can
actually go out to dinner.
We can go on like I've talkedabout this a few times and
people don't believe me Likewe've been on overseas holidays
(32:16):
with multiple clients.
We've been on camping tripswith multiple clients.
We've been on camping tripswith multiple clients.
We've got clients that havebecome really, really close
friends that we catch up withregularly, and that is because I
figured out the type of peoplethat I want my businesses
dealing with and that it's so,it's so important.
(32:38):
So, yeah, the next part ofstructuring your business is
identifying the perfect clientthat you want to be working with
and, like I said before, it'sit's not woo-woo like for every
client that you dismiss, like, Iguess, to touch on this a
little bit like it's okay foryou to say no to a client like I
(33:03):
think this is a really, reallypowerful message and I know from
all our live life build members, when they do this for the
first time, like they, they geton our friday wins on our, in
our facebook group and they theytalk about it and they feel
energized and empowered.
Businesses in the constructionindustry, just because a client
(33:24):
has been referred to you, hasreached out to you, has followed
you on Instagram, has sent youmessages does not mean that you
have to take them on as a clientand look, it's a whole other
podcast.
But figure out your idealclient.
The best way to manage that isto set up an inquiry form that
(33:48):
has questions that are focusedon finding your ideal client and
knock back the clients thatdon't fill out your inquiry form
, that don't answer all yourquestions, that don't sit well
with you.
If you go to a meeting and yourguts is telling you this isn't
an ideal client.
If they're asking questionsthat are annoying you and
pissing you off, they're notyour ideal client.
If you're doing jobs forclients that are questioning
(34:11):
what you charge, they're notyour ideal client.
If you're taking on work forclients and they're questioning
your payment terms, they're notyour ideal ideal client.
If you're taking on jobs and oryou're doing jobs and the
client's arguing with you about,um, the amount that you've or
how quickly you've done the joband it shouldn't be like they
shouldn't be paying you thatmuch and all those types of
(34:31):
things, they are not your idealclients.
So you need to reflect back onevery single one of those
situations and figure out likewhere did that go wrong?
Why did I take that client on,and nine times out of 10, I
guarantee you that you'll beable to reflect on that and
you'll be able to go back to asituation where your gut said to
(34:52):
you that they were going to bea bad client and you might have
even had conversations withsomeone about it, but you took
them on because of the financialsituation you're in and needing
the cash flow.
And so, again, like my GrantCadone's my favorite saying,
nothing happens to you.
Every single thing happensbecause of you.
So to move on, the next part ofstructuring your business so
(35:16):
we've talked about name.
We've talked about thefinancial setup.
We've talked about ideal team.
We've talked about your idealrole.
We've now talked about yourideal clients.
The next one is the ideal job.
So, just like the ideal client,you don't have to accept every
single job.
(35:37):
This is another really, reallyum thing to knuckle down on and
figure out whether you're um,whether you're any type of
tradie, whether you're adesigner, whether you're an
architect, an engineer, townplanner, builder, like whatever
you are.
You need to figure out thetypes of jobs that you want to
be involved with and, again,knuckled like, get right down
(36:00):
into the nitty-gritty of it like, do you want to only do um
healthier homes?
Do you only want to do energyefficient homes?
Do you only want to dosustainably built homes?
Do you only want to do acertain size home?
Do you only want to doarchitectural homes like, um
like, do you want to be prefab,like there is like dozens and
(36:23):
dozens and dozens of types ofjobs out there.
If you're a tradie, like you'rea plumber, do you want to work
for builders, um, doing theunderslab, the rough ends, the
fit offs and everything thatgoes with building work, or do
you just want to do maintenanceor do you only want to work for
mum and dad's like?
Do you not want to work for anybuilders?
(36:44):
So you only want to do, like,maintenance and and random
plumbing work for existingstructures and those types of
things?
If you're electrician, again,do you want to do work for
builders or do you want to dowork for just mum and dads or
companies doing maintenance orrefits and those types of things
?
So you can like, when you again, when you knuckle down on this
and you figure out your ideal uh, work or job and a lot of this
(37:09):
will come like if you work onall these things we've talked
about today.
Um, it all comes togetherbecause when you, when you're
trying to find your idealprojects or the work you want to
do, it's quite involved,because you need to figure out
the type of work that your teamare at and that could change
(37:33):
over time as your team grows.
And maybe right at the moment,if you're an electrician, your
team is only suited to smashingout rough ends and fit-offs and
working on new builds.
But as your team grows, youmight get some guys that are a
lot better at dealing withclients doing work on their own,
(37:54):
and so maybe over time, yourideal work might, you might
expand and you might actually beable to do some maintenance
work or expand into solarinstalls or something like that.
So your ideal work is likewe've talked about with
everything today.
It will change as your businessgrows and goes to the next
(38:14):
level, and it will change basedon the team members that you
bring into your business.
So, yeah, figuring out theideal work and the team members
that you bring into yourbusiness.
So, yeah, figuring out the idealwork and the type of job you
want to do, like I know, I knowbuilders that will only work on
old, like here in brisbane.
Like they will only work on oldqueenslanders, like their work
is lift and build renovationrefurbs on queenslanders.
(38:37):
That's that's their niche andand they are flat out all the
time because they're specialistsat it.
Um, I know other builders thatjust will not go near a
renovation.
Like their specialty is, um,new homes on flat blocks of land
in new housing estates.
I know other builders that umonly do work on more difficult
sites.
Like their specialty is workswith bulk earthworks and
(39:00):
off-form concrete and all thosetypes of things.
So it's yeah, it's huge.
It will make a massivedifference to your life and your
business when you identify whatyour ideal types of projects
are or the type of work and,like I said it, it works for any
trade it works for, like it canwork for a tree lopper, like
you might be.
(39:21):
Like we have really goodfriends that um have a tree
lopping business and like it'scalled all tree, uh, all tree
and palm removal.
So like they're specialists incoming in and like clearing
sites and removing all the treesand doing stump grinding, like
they don't do trimming hedgesand all little little work.
(39:42):
So they've identified the typeof work that their business
thrives on.
So it doesn't matter what typeof trade or what type of
designer or architect or builderyou are.
Identifying the type of workthat suits you and your team
best again is going to help yourbusiness thrive.
So the last one I want to talkabout, with structuring your
(40:05):
business, because I believe ifyou do all the things that we're
talking about today, you willsee massive, massive differences
in your business, in your cashflow, in your profitability and
all those types of things.
But the last one profitabilityand all those types of things
but the last one which I thinkis very, very important is
structuring your cashflow.
And again, I bang into bed allthe time knowing your numbers.
(40:26):
But we have Katie from ProfitFirst Australia.
She's our Profit First.
She's our accounting expert inmy Live Life Build business.
She's our, our mentor.
Then there's obviously sean vandyke profit first for
contractors in the states.
But the reason I mentioned themis I believe the profit first
(40:48):
structure is the best way tostart understanding how your the
cash that your business needs.
So look, I'm not going to bangon about this one for a long
time because you can go and read.
Like Katie's got a book ProfitFirst.
Go and listen to that book.
Sean Van Dyke's got the ProfitFirst book as well.
(41:09):
Once you get your head aroundProfit First and structuring
your bank accounts, it's anabsolute game changer.
And look you, you're going toget kicked back from your
accountants or your bookkeepersbecause they're going to have to
reconcile multiple accounts andlike it's like like I find it
(41:30):
funny all the time like I um,the more, the better you want to
become and the better you wantto do, the more people you've
got to argue with and butt headswith, because everyone wants to
just fucking go along the samestraight road.
They don't want any whines andbends and they just want to
fucking do what they've alwaysdone, they've always been told
and they've always been taught.
And so, yeah, you'll getkickback from people that will
(41:51):
whinge about having to reconciletoo many bank accounts or
whinge about having to transfermoney around to too many bank
accounts, all those types ofthings.
But if you want to get ahead,you've got to push back on those
people that push back on you.
And so, profit first.
Having those bank accounts too,when the money comes in,
putting the money aside showsyou so quickly and easily what's
(42:17):
left and it really, reallyhelps you identify that you need
to charge more and so settingup your bank accounts for your
GST, for your tax, for yoursalaries, for your supplies, for
your outgoing, like all thosethings and your profit, yeah, it
just.
It is so simple and you see itso quickly and easily why you
(42:40):
don't have good cash flow andwhy you're not making money.
So that's my last tip Check outProfit First.
Katie's is Profit First fortradies.
Sean Endox's is Profit Firstfor contractors.
Highly recommend you listen tothose guys and take their advice
on board.
And look, reach out to Katiefrom Profit First.
She does a really really goodjob here in Australia.
But, yeah, look, reach out tokatie from profit first.
(43:05):
She does a really really goodjob here in australia.
But yeah, look just to recap onthem.
Um, so you'll have to pull meup if I forget any of these, but
it was, uh, spending some timeto figure out the name of your
business.
Don't be afraid to change it.
If you've been operating for 10years, it is what it is.
If you've got to change it, yougot to change it.
Um, your financial structuremassive, whether you're just
starting out or whether you'vebeen in business for 10, 20
years.
Massively important that you goand spend the money with
(43:25):
someone that's going to get youto the next level and set your
structures up correctly, and Icannot recommend highly enough.
You need to go to someone thatwants to know your goals.
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to invest in?
What do you want to do?
What sort of money do you wantforecasting?
You want to make.
What do you want to invest in?
What do you want to do?
What sort of money do you wantto forecast and you want to make
?
Because that makes a bigdifference to how you set your
structures up.
The next one was structuringyour role, like identifying what
(43:50):
you do best in your businessand structuring your business
the way you want to structure it.
Next one was team identifyingyour team structure and
employing the people that aregoing to get your business where
it needs to go.
Next one was clients.
Identifying your perfect clientwill absolutely change the way
your business operates.
Next one was types of projects.
(44:12):
Again, spend the time andidentify this.
It will change your cash flow,it will change your
profitability, it will changeyour team, it'll change your
profitability.
It will change your, your team,your life, everything.
And the last one is the profitfirst.
But, um, I highly recommend yousit down with a journal and you
do these one at a time and youjust go nuts and you write down
(44:33):
as much shit as you can and youget as clear as you can on all
those things and you will havean incredible life and
incredible business.
So, um, look, guys, as usual, Ihope you've loved this podcast.
Um, reach out.
If you've got questions, keepthem coming.
Um, please like subscribe.
Make sure you go and check outthe new website.
Seriously, our merch isabsolutely fantastic and, look,
(44:56):
if we want to keep changing thisindustry, we've all got to be
walking around with the keepsmashing it on the backs of our
on our backs, because that'sgoing to show people that we are
on a mission to create a newbuilding industry.
Yeah, as always, thanks verymuch for listening and watching.
We'll see you on the next one.
Cheers, guys.
Are you ready to build smarter,live better and enjoy life?
(45:17):
Then head on tolivelikebuildcom forward slash
elevate to get started.
Everything discussed during theLevel Up podcast with me,
dwayne Pearce, is based solelyon my own personal experiences
(45:38):
and those experiences of myguests.
The information, opinions andrecommendations presented in
this podcast are for generalinformation only, and any
reliance on the informationprovided in this podcast is done
at your own risk.
We recommend that you obtainyour own professional advice in
respect to the topics discussedduring this podcast.
who is your ideal client?
Who do I want to be working forevery single day?
It will make a massivedifference to your life and your
business when you identify whatyour ideal types of projects
are.
How you structure your team isreally, really important.
Identifying the type of workthat suits you and your team
best again is going to help yourbusiness thrive.
(00:21):
I'm a massive fan ofvisualizing.
I write in my journal all thetime.
I can visualize it in my headG'day guys.
Welcome back to another episodeof Level Up.
We are back in the shed thisafternoon for another episode by
myself to give you guys someinsights and information about
(00:44):
things that have got me to whereI am in my life.
And yeah, look, this is goingto be another cracking episode
because today we're going to betalking about setting up your
business structure and figuringout what it is you want to do.
I see now from everything I dothat so many people in the
construction industry are justfollowing the old-fashioned way
(01:04):
that everything has been doneand they don't realize that it's
their business.
You can set your business upand structure it however you
want to.
So we're going to cover quite abit today.
It shouldn't be a real long one, but I want to start right at
the beginning, and that is thename of your business and the
reason I want to talk to at thebeginning.
(01:24):
And that is the name of yourbusiness and the reason I want
to talk to you about this isbecause I had a very like if
you've heard my story, like youknow that I basically jumped in
the deep end, went out, startedsubbing, and so I was in a
position where, basically I wentfrom just invoicing the guy
(01:45):
that I was working for like Ihad one of those duplicate books
that you buy in the bloodynewsagent and I would literally
just write my hours on there,write down the tasks that I'd
been doing, and, yeah, give hima handwritten invoice and it
would just have my name on it.
And when it got to the pointthat I had to to, like he asked
(02:06):
me to start subbing to him, um,I had to change structure.
So, like I reached out to mybookkeeper at the time and
they're like oh, you bet youprobably should do this.
And um, like I can't rememberhow old I was I think at this
point I was only like 21 or 22or something and like no one had
(02:26):
given me any real advice onthis and, to be honest, I wasn't
interested in any advice inthis um.
I'd never even thought aboutthe business side of my job and
I remember it clear as day likeI literally got to a point where
I rung um.
I think I actually rung myfinance broker at the time, who
(02:47):
I've had for a very long time.
We've actually done a podcastwith him and his wife was an
accountant and she's like, ohyeah, no, you're going to have
to set up a company.
And I was like, well, I don'tknow.
And she's like, well, what doyou want to call it?
And I'm like, fuck, I wouldn'thave a clue.
And like, literally, d PierceConstructions was spoken about
within 10 minutes.
(03:07):
And that is what we still callmy business today.
And look, if I had my time again, I would probably put a lot
more thought and effort into thename, but because I think your
name is so valuable.
But the one thing that I'velearned is, if you tie your
(03:27):
personal name to things and youbuild successful businesses, it
can be very hard to sell thosebusinesses if everything is
built around your name and yourpersonality and and and you so
having a name that um turns intoa um, I guess that starts to
add to value and people knowwhat that name reflects and
(03:50):
means.
Gives you more options possiblyin the future with your
business.
But look, there's definitelypeople that are sole businesses
and we've been approached forour business.
Even though it's my personalname doesn't stop you from doing
it, but I just think your nameis the first real important step
and so many people, includingmyself, um, don't take it
(04:11):
seriously enough and I sort ofhave a little giggle to myself
now when I um, like you go to a,if you're out, or you go to a
pub where you're out of hardwareand concrete has seemed to have
the best ones like um.
There's all these names aroundthat when you're young you think
are just awesome.
I'm not going to mention someof the names because people
might crack the shits.
(04:31):
But oh, fuck it.
I probably should.
But like, get hard concretingand I saw one when I was on that
rally recently up at AirlieBeach and look, no offence
against concreters, but I justsee so many trades that have
these names and, like I said,when you're young and you're
just getting in the business andyou're out on the piss all the
time with your mates and likeit's funny and it sounds cool
(04:53):
and it's.
But if you want to be inbusiness for a long time, yeah,
you've got to get more creativewith your name, and your name
has to be more about what youwant to achieve with your
business and your lifestyle,instead of just a name that is
funny when you're on the pisswith your mates and having a
joke around.
So, because your name will alsohave a lot to do with the type
of clients that you attract,with the type of work that you
(05:17):
attract, how you get paid, theamount you can charge, like all
of those things can be affectedby the name that you call your
business.
So, um, yeah, and then, yeah,like I said, I've seen some,
some funny ones around, so thatwould be.
My first thing is is to have athink about your name.
Don't rush into it and, yeah,just take the time.
(05:38):
Look, you might not.
I think a lot of people put toomuch time into things.
Um, don't waste time trying tocome up with a name that you'll
hang on to it forever, cause thereality is you can change your
name if you want to, but I'mknowing what I know now from
having multiple businesses andbeing very successful.
(05:59):
Um, I think your name shouldreflect like you.
For me, you need to think aboutlike, why do you do what you do
?
Like, what gets you out of bedevery day?
What drives you?
Where's your passion come from?
Why are you doing what you'redoing?
And if you can come up with aname that can reflect that, then
it will be very powerful foryou and your business.
(06:21):
The next thing, on from that, isyour structure.
Like, are you a sole trader?
Are you a trust?
Are you a company?
Like?
There is so many different waysyou can set yourself up and
obviously, depending on the wayyou set yourself up, depends on
the amount of tax you pay.
(06:41):
It can change insurancestructures.
It can change um, like lots andlots of things, gst, um, like.
There's so much around thestructure and that's probably
one area where I again I wentwrong in the early days.
I like for a while there I wasum, I was actually trading as d
pierce, building trust and as wegrew, it created a few issues
(07:07):
for me along the way and weactually still have that name
and like, right now as it sits,camille and I have I can't even
tell you.
Off the top of my head, I thinkit's like 12 or 13 different
business structures across allthe investments and businesses
that we have.
So so just because I set thatone up very, very early in my
(07:28):
early 20s and it got to a pointwhere that trust wasn't working
for my carpentry business, Ididn't shut it down.
We kept it and it's ended upturning into quite a valuable
asset because we've been able touse that in the future, turning
into quite a valuable assetbecause we've been able to use
(07:48):
that in the future.
But if I knew what I knew nowthat probably one of the biggest
or most valuable pieces ofadvice that I can give to a
younger person starting out inthis industry and I would I
would suggest I tell myapprentices to do this.
When our apprentices aregetting to a point where they're
about to finish their time andthey're going to be starting to
be on salary or wages orpossibly subcontracting, the
(08:12):
advice that I give to them is goand spend the money and get
advice from a good accountant.
You don't want to be just goinglike paying an accountant that
charges whatever it is 330 bucksor 660 bucks and just does your
tax once a year.
Like, go and spend the moneyand look, it could cost you a
couple of grand, but spend themoney.
(08:32):
Go and talk to someone and talkthem through.
Like you want to go and workwith someone that is interested
in where you want to go.
What do you want to be?
What size business do you wantto have?
What's your goals?
And like across the board, like, do you want to have?
What do you want to be?
What size business do you wantto have?
What's your goals?
And like across the board, like, do you want to have investment
properties?
Do you want to invest in shares?
Like, how do you want to growyour business?
(08:53):
What is your ideal position?
Like you really want someonethat's going to sit with you and
go righto, right now, what'syour 12-month goal?
What's your 3-year goal?
What's your three-year goal?
What's your five-year goal?
What's your 10-year goal?
And look, we all know goalschange constantly and that is
something that you should bereviewing all the time.
But that's the type of peoplethat you want to be dealing with
(09:15):
.
So the best advice I can give toa young person that is just
coming out of their trade, orpossibly young contractors, if
you've just sort of gone withthe flow, ticked and flicked,
some boxes come up with a randomname and just gone with a
structure because that's whatyour mate or your dad or another
(09:37):
person in the industry told you.
I would recommend going andspending their money investing
in, in yourself and getting goodquality advice about your
structure and um, because, likeI said, depending on whether
you're a sole trader, a, a trust, a company, all those types of
things.
It affects how your businessoperates.
It affects insurances and workcovers and all those types of
(10:00):
things that you have to pay.
It affects the tax, it affectsgst, all those types of things.
So, um, and look, as usual,with all my podcasts like this,
these are all all these storiesand all this information I give
is all from my personalexperience, um, and it's
definitely up to you to get yourown financial and legal advice
on all these types of things.
(10:20):
So, all right, so that's um,we've talked about your company
name.
We We've talked about thefinancial structure, um, of your
business.
Um, I guess, to just wrap up onthat, when it comes to the
structure, like your financial,whether you set yourself up as a
trust, a company, sole trader,and those types of things, the
most, the reason it's soimportant to get someone that
(10:41):
wants to know your future goalsis because it can.
If you set yourself up as onething and then you have a goal
to get to somewhere else itcould be investing in property
or shares or whatever the waythat you structure yourself
could affect your borrowingcapacity.
It could affect how your incomegets structured like this.
(11:06):
There's a lot more to this andI didn't know any of this when I
first started and I it took mea long time, like I've been in
this game now since I was 15, sowhatever.
That is 29 years now so, andI've always had a passion for
investing in property, a littlebit in shares, all those types
(11:27):
of things, and in the early days, the way that I structured
myself did cause me to a littlebit of trouble over the time,
and there's been situationswhere I've had to spend money to
get a property out of astructure and put it into a
different structure because thedifferent structure was going to
(11:49):
get me to the next level andwhere I wanted to be.
So, yeah, really, really,really important that you spend
the money you invest in a goodquality accountant or financial
advisor or both, even if you'reyoung and you haven't put a lot
of thought into these things.
Try and put some thought intoyour goals and, yeah, set your
structures up as early as youcan to help you achieve those
(12:13):
goals.
The next thing is like againgoing back to like it's your
business.
So as your business grows, youcan structure it however you
like, and I have theseconversations a lot with members
in my live life build businessnow because to have a successful
business and look, these are mypersonal opinions, but I know
(12:36):
my business have all been verysuccessful because I'm the face
of them.
I'm the real deal.
I've been through shit thatother people shouldn't have to
go through and I've learned alot of lessons and I still run a
very successful buildingbusiness and I'm in the trenches
and everything that I speak andthat I talk about people in our
industry relate to.
(12:57):
So it's really really importantthat you learn to do like,
structure your business the wayyou want to.
And so for me, why I why Ithink it's important for the
business owner to be the face isI know that my clients get a
(13:20):
huge amount of value and andcome to our company because my
face is all over social media.
I'm sitting here doing thesepodcasts and they get so much
value out of me doing the sitemeetings, me doing all the
initial quoting and estimatingand all the design meetings, me
being the one that meets them tosign all the contracts and me
(13:41):
doing the handover.
And look, obviously this um, ifyou like, I've got some mates
that run really large, verysuccessful volume building
businesses and look it's.
It's impossible for them tohave that sort of personal
relationship with every singleclient when you're talking 150,
200, 300 homes a year.
(14:01):
But like one of my mates inparticular, chris from CMA homes
man like he, he's going closeto building 300 homes a year now
and he still makes it very,very personal and I believe
that's a big reason why he, whyhis business is so successful.
So there's a lot of stuff goingon in our industry at the
moment and like a lot of youngergeneration coming in and a lot
(14:26):
of them are going down the pathof like they all want to have
these successful businesses andearn the money, but they want to
sit back behind the scenes andthey want to just live the high
life and have people in theirbusiness doing a lot of these
tasks, like the handing over andthe signing of contracts and
helping out with selections anddoing the site meetings and
those types of things, andpersonally, I think your
(14:49):
business won't be successfullong term.
Doing that because that's whatattracts people like especially
in the custom residentialbuilding market, like and, and
it's the same.
It's not just this, isn't justabout builders, it's about
trades as well.
Like when you you have aplumbing or electrical business
or a carpentry business, likeevery, every single level of my
(15:12):
business is based onrelationships.
It's it's very few times is todo with the price, it the reps
that I deal with for hardwarestores and plumbing supplies and
landscaping yards.
It is completely based on apersonal relationship.
Um, my relationships with mytrades like I will not work with
a trade if they're a dickhead,if I, if I can't shake their
(15:34):
hand, have a beer with them andjust sit down and have a, have a
chat if I could, like I guess,to put it this way like I
couldn't work with anyone that Icouldn't run into at a concert
or an event or camping and sitdown around a fire at a bar and
hold a conversation with.
So for me, relationships acrossthe board are super, super
(15:54):
important.
So, um, and the reason I'mtalking about all this is when I
talk about structuring your umbusiness.
Like we've talked about name,we've talked about all the legal
, financial sort of structures.
A lot of builders feel that togrow their business they need to
(16:15):
step back off the site andtradies, and nine times out of
10, that is our passion.
The passion is being outdoors.
Outdoors, being on the tools,physically doing the work,
having the banter with the teamand cranking the tunes, having a
sing-along and then and likebecause it doesn't feel like
work, like it feels like you'reon site with a bunch of mates
(16:37):
and you're having fun and theylose their passion when the
business grows and they stepback from the site and they get
stuck in the weeds doing all theadministration and phone calls
and all the other shit that goeswith running a business.
And like I use my business as aperfect example I have
(17:00):
structured my business tooperate around what I love doing
, what I enjoy doing, and Ifirmly believe that it doesn't
matter what business you have,whether it's trades,
architectures, designers, likebuilders, like you name it,
(17:21):
anybody in the constructionindustry.
If you structure your businessso that you're always doing the
tasks that you love doing yourbusiness will be successful.
So you can structure yourbusiness however you like.
If you like the administrationside of things, then build your
team to allow you to do that.
If you like being on the tools,then build your team to allow
(17:42):
you to do that.
So to give you a couple ofexamples, like, if you like
doing like in my business, I'lltalk about that first.
But I love the client, I lovemeeting the clients.
I really love design.
Um, like, if I hadn't been abuilder, I probably would have
been a designer or an architect.
I wouldn't have been anarchitect because I wasn't smart
(18:03):
enough at school but, um, Iwould never have got into uni,
but, um, I probably would havegot some sort of design job.
And so now in my business,having the ability to do the
pack process and go to all thedesign meetings, interact with
the clients, interact with thedesigner and the architect and
understand, like, why thingshappen the way they happen, why
(18:24):
things go where they go.
I do the quoting and estimating.
I like numbers, I like workingthings out, I like seeing things
come together.
So my business is completelystructured around me, doing all
the preliminary process throughthe PAC process, all the quoting
and estimating, meeting newclients, and then, once we start
(18:44):
, the jobs get handed over to myteam.
My wife runs the office, doesall the administration.
We've got an incrediblesupervisor.
He keeps the jobs get handedover to my team.
My wife runs the office, doesall the administration.
We've got an incrediblesupervisor.
He keeps the jobs running.
We've got incredible teams withlead carpenters and and site
crews and apprentices, so theytake over and things run like
clockwork most of the time.
But then I still do the weeklysite meeting.
(19:08):
So at our weekly site meetingsI'm still the one there liaising
with the client, doing themeeting minutes.
My supervisor or a leadcarpenter or sometimes both is
always at that meeting.
Then we walk around as a teamso everyone knows what's going
on.
But I know the data in mybusiness, I know my numbers, I
know my overheads and I'vestructured my business and I
price my jobs for me to allow meto have the staff to run my
(19:33):
business like that.
So then, if you go the other way, if you're a builder that wants
to be on the tools, there willbe a period that, as a business
grows, you do need to step backa little bit to spend some time.
You're possibly going to hire aVA or you're going to hire some
admin staff or a bookkeeper,and you will have to step back a
(19:54):
little bit from site to spendtime with them in the office to
make sure things are gettingquoted correctly, to make sure
everyone knows the numbers, tomake sure contracts are getting
done correctly all those typesof things.
And then, once you're confidentthat that's all working,
there's absolutely no reasonthat you can't go back and be on
(20:14):
the site and smashing theworkout with the boys and all
the females on site these daysand and getting shit done and um
, that might mean that one day aweek you're you're not on site.
You're doing like you structurethat.
One day a week you do all yourclient meetings, you do all your
design meetings and you do allyour reviews with your
administration's tasks, and thenthe other four days you go up
(20:34):
to site and you do all the workon site.
So don't believe that you haveto structure your business the
old-fashioned way and as thebusiness grows, you need to get
tied into admin roles or projectmanagement or being the face of
business all those types ofthings.
Like you have the ability tostructure your business however
you want and it all comes backto understanding your numbers
and allowing the business tocover the cost of employing the
(20:59):
people in the roles that youneed to structure the business
the way you want to allow you todo the tasks that you enjoy
doing the most and, like I said,that actually flows right
through your business.
Like, the key to a successfulbusiness is having every member
of your business doing tasksthat they're good at, that they
enjoy doing and they liketurning up to work every day to
(21:20):
do that.
And if you can do that,including yourself, you will
have a very successful business.
So, yeah, that's the third oneStructure your business.
Write down, write it on paper,visualize it.
I'm a massive fan ofvisualizing, like I write in my
journal all the time.
I can visualize it in my headwhat I'm doing, what my goals
are, what it's going to looklike when I achieve them.
(21:42):
So write it down your idealstructure for your team, what
you want to achieve, and, yeah,it will happen.
So, um, we touched on a littlebit then, but the next one is
team.
So, like I just touched on alittle bit, like it's I hear so
many builders and and myself fora very long time.
(22:02):
In my business, the team andlook to be honest, even today,
like team is the hardest thing.
I don't care what anyone says,anyone that hasn't run a
building business or atrades-based business Um, I
don't care if you're.
You're an admin type business,you're an office type business
that's got hundreds of staff.
I don't believe that there isany business that's that is as
(22:23):
hard as managing teams in abuilding business or a
contracting business or atrades-based business because I
talk about this all the timethere's so many different
personalities, your religions,values, opinions, all these
types of things and it's notlike you're sitting in cubicles
or you can walk away from people, like you're physically working
(22:45):
together, you're leaning overeach other, you're sweating on
each other.
Your work and your outcome isdependent on the people you're
working with.
Um, if they, if they're notcutting shit and getting it back
to you in time, then then itmakes you look bad.
If, if you're a plumber and youthere's multiple plumbers
laying a drain, like and you'rein, you're in the trench laying
(23:05):
the drain and the person that'scutting the pipes and giving you
the glue isn't keeping up withyou, like it's, it's hard, like,
and if you haven't worked inour industry.
You, you honestly, you won't,you'll never understand it.
But, um, yeah, you canstructure your team.
Like, how you structure yourteam is really, really important
and I like something that'sreally accelerated.
My business is like not justhiring what I thought I needed.
(23:32):
So, like you have a plumbingbusiness, you're going to put
ads out there and you're goingto advertise that you need a
plumber.
If you're electric, likeelectrical business, you can
advertise that you wantelectricians and look, I do it
all the time.
If, like we're a buildingbusiness, we advertise for
carpenters, you need to findpeople that are good at specific
things, because there's alwaysgoing to be people that just
(23:54):
love their trade and they loveshowing up every day and just
doing their trade.
Then there's going to be peoplethat are really really good at
their trade but they want thenext level, they want to, they
want a little bit more authority, they want to, they want to run
things, they want to be asupervisor or a leading hand, or
that.
(24:14):
They crave that little bithigher um, I guess position in
the business and then it justkeeps growing up there.
Then you're going to get peoplethat want to run the business.
You're going to get people thatwant to manage the business
like.
There's all different levels,and one thing that I've learned
is that we are all so different.
We all have different strengthsand weaknesses.
(24:35):
We all have different thingsthat set us off, whether it's
anxiety, whether it's worryingabout things.
So building your team andallowing your team to thrive in
environments that allow them tobe comfortable is really, really
important, and over the pastfew months, I've spoken about
this on a few podcasts, but ourbuilding business is absolutely
(24:59):
booming at the moment.
We've got enormous amounts ofwork on incredible clients,
great jobs, and so we've reallybeen pushing hard to build our
team again.
And so we've really beenpushing hard to build our team
again and like at the moment, Ithink we're sitting around 14
odd people and so there was aperiod there where we I think we
(25:20):
bought four or five newcarpenters, apprentices and lead
carpenters in like within acouple of weeks.
Within a couple of weeks.
And one thing that I've alwaysbeen very proud of with my
building business, especiallyover like, there was this two or
three year period that we'vejust come out of through COVID,
where we got an incredibleamount of work done with a very
(25:42):
small, efficient team andeverything was just running like
clockwork.
And then all of a sudden, we'reramping things up, we're
growing, we're bringing allthese new staff in, and it was
just like the wheels fell off.
And there was there was a twoor three months period there
where, like I would just leave,so pissed off, I'd be so
(26:03):
frustrated, I'd come back to theoffice, I'd talk to the
supervisor, I'd be whingingabout everybody and I'd be like
what the fuck are they doing?
Like honestly, like they'vedone, like there's seven people
on site and they've done lesswork than like I could do with
an apprentice.
Like what is happening and itwas because everyone was trying
to like fight for authority andthey're all trying to find, like
(26:27):
the new guys that come in withlike without physically fighting
or doing anything, but that itwas.
They're all battling forauthority and trying to find
their positions in the team.
And this ties in so much withwhat I believe in now, like my.
One of my biggest beliefs nowis we.
We have to understand that weare nature, we are no different
(26:49):
to animals.
Like we, we have tribes, welike we thrive with different
groups.
Like it's no different togroups of animals and and those
types of things and I saw it inmy team how they were operating
with each other and it wasn'tuntil I had a chat with um helen
rogerson.
So helen rogerson is ourleadership expert in my um live
(27:09):
life, build business.
Um, she's also been on thispodcast.
She's an incredible human being, a really great friend, and I
just value her, herprofessionalism, her um
experience, her knowledge, so somuch.
So through this period I was Iwas um doing a lot with Helen.
(27:29):
With Helen, we got her in to doa couple of workshops with our
team.
I was personally talking to hera lot, getting a lot of advice,
and it's incredible how, whenshe got me to sort of stand back
and see what was going on andrealize that, yeah, they're all
sort of fighting for theirpositions in the team, they're
(27:52):
all sort of fighting for theirpositions in the team and go to
site and have one-on-onemeetings and figure out where
each person sort of wanted to beand then sort of split them up
into different groups and givethem different roles.
And, honestly, within afour-week period it was chalk
and cheese, like they went fromsix, seven, eight guys on a job
doing very little work to havingthree and four guys on each job
(28:15):
and just absolutely killing itand turning up the site.
The sites are all immaculate.
The lead carpenter knows what'sgoing on, like it's chalk and
cheese.
So yeah, structuring your teamis huge, figuring out your
team's strengths and weaknesses.
Structuring your team is huge,figuring out your team's
strengths and weaknesses and,like I said, if everyone in your
(28:41):
team is able to do, or worktowards doing, what they are
passionate about, what they getout of bed every day to do, your
business will be verysuccessful.
All right, but moving on alittle bit, I thought this was
going to be a short podcast, butthat's all right.
We're getting some goodinformation out here.
So the next one is structuringyour business around the types
of clients that you want.
So I see so many trades,builders and actually like even
(29:03):
architects and buildingdesigners, like so many people
just taking on work becausethey're chasing.
They got no cash flow, theydon't understand the running of
the business and they take onevery single job that comes
across their desk, whetherthey're a shit client, a good
client, a client that's got themoney, a client that hasn't got
the money, and at the end of theday, they're creating all their
(29:25):
own problems.
They're dealing with peoplethat they really shouldn't be
dealing with and then theywhinge about the outcomes.
So a really, really importantthing to understand is, again,
like we said at the beginning,it's your business.
So the saying I say all thetime, like your business is only
(29:45):
as good as what you accept,your life is only as good as
what you accept, ties inperfectly with this one, because
if you just accept any clientthat comes your way, if you're
running a business that isstruggling with cash flow, you
struggle to pay bills, you spendmore like you live beyond your
means, you spend more money thanyou're physically making
(30:06):
because you don't understandyour numbers, you don't
understand how tax works, youdon't understand how GST works
all of those things.
That gets you in a positionwhere you're taking on clients
that you shouldn't be taking on.
And learning this has beenincredibly valuable for my
business, and again, I talkabout woo-woo shit all the time,
(30:28):
but it works, like for everyclient that you knock back, it
empowers you and it sayssomething to the universe that
opens doors and allows the nextclient to be a dream client, and
so I encourage every singlebusiness in the building
(30:49):
industry to find your idealclient Like, sit down, do some
journaling, scribble some notesdown and think to yourself like,
who is your ideal client?
Who do I want to be working forevery single day?
And it can be anything Like youcan be working with.
(31:09):
Like if you really refined it,you could build your business to
.
This is going to be a bit of anout there exaggeration, but
this is how refined you can getit.
Like you could be running abusiness that only works for
professionals, whether it bedoctors, lawyers and architects.
Like if you get thatnitty-gritty on it and you
(31:30):
market yourself and you talkabout it all the time and you
like you will attract thosetypes of clients and that type
of work because that's how,that's how it works.
And like we I know this becausewe've done it so many different
ways in our building businessand we we know it works so well
because we just keep improvingon it now and um to a point
where, like, we're attractingclients that are exactly like us
(31:54):
they love camping, they lovefamily time, they love to go to
the beach, they love chillingout, they love having a few
beers, they like the environment.
So our clients are becomingreally good friends Like we can
actually go out to dinner.
We can go on like I've talkedabout this a few times and
people don't believe me Likewe've been on overseas holidays
(32:16):
with multiple clients.
We've been on camping tripswith multiple clients.
We've been on camping tripswith multiple clients.
We've got clients that havebecome really, really close
friends that we catch up withregularly, and that is because I
figured out the type of peoplethat I want my businesses
dealing with and that it's so,it's so important.
(32:38):
So, yeah, the next part ofstructuring your business is
identifying the perfect clientthat you want to be working with
and, like I said before, it'sit's not woo-woo like for every
client that you dismiss, like, Iguess, to touch on this a
little bit like it's okay foryou to say no to a client like I
(33:03):
think this is a really, reallypowerful message and I know from
all our live life build members, when they do this for the
first time, like they, they geton our friday wins on our, in
our facebook group and they theytalk about it and they feel
energized and empowered.
Businesses in the constructionindustry, just because a client
(33:24):
has been referred to you, hasreached out to you, has followed
you on Instagram, has sent youmessages does not mean that you
have to take them on as a clientand look, it's a whole other
podcast.
But figure out your idealclient.
The best way to manage that isto set up an inquiry form that
(33:48):
has questions that are focusedon finding your ideal client and
knock back the clients thatdon't fill out your inquiry form
, that don't answer all yourquestions, that don't sit well
with you.
If you go to a meeting and yourguts is telling you this isn't
an ideal client.
If they're asking questionsthat are annoying you and
pissing you off, they're notyour ideal client.
If you're doing jobs forclients that are questioning
(34:11):
what you charge, they're notyour ideal client.
If you're taking on work forclients and they're questioning
your payment terms, they're notyour ideal ideal client.
If you're taking on jobs and oryou're doing jobs and the
client's arguing with you about,um, the amount that you've or
how quickly you've done the joband it shouldn't be like they
shouldn't be paying you thatmuch and all those types of
(34:31):
things, they are not your idealclients.
So you need to reflect back onevery single one of those
situations and figure out likewhere did that go wrong?
Why did I take that client on,and nine times out of 10, I
guarantee you that you'll beable to reflect on that and
you'll be able to go back to asituation where your gut said to
(34:52):
you that they were going to bea bad client and you might have
even had conversations withsomeone about it, but you took
them on because of the financialsituation you're in and needing
the cash flow.
And so, again, like my GrantCadone's my favorite saying,
nothing happens to you.
Every single thing happensbecause of you.
So to move on, the next part ofstructuring your business so
(35:16):
we've talked about name.
We've talked about thefinancial setup.
We've talked about ideal team.
We've talked about your idealrole.
We've now talked about yourideal clients.
The next one is the ideal job.
So, just like the ideal client,you don't have to accept every
single job.
(35:37):
This is another really, reallyum thing to knuckle down on and
figure out whether you're um,whether you're any type of
tradie, whether you're adesigner, whether you're an
architect, an engineer, townplanner, builder, like whatever
you are.
You need to figure out thetypes of jobs that you want to
be involved with and, again,knuckled like, get right down
(36:00):
into the nitty-gritty of it like, do you want to only do um
healthier homes?
Do you only want to do energyefficient homes?
Do you only want to dosustainably built homes?
Do you only want to do acertain size home?
Do you only want to doarchitectural homes like, um
like, do you want to be prefab,like there is like dozens and
(36:23):
dozens and dozens of types ofjobs out there.
If you're a tradie, like you'rea plumber, do you want to work
for builders, um, doing theunderslab, the rough ends, the
fit offs and everything thatgoes with building work, or do
you just want to do maintenanceor do you only want to work for
mum and dad's like?
Do you not want to work for anybuilders?
(36:44):
So you only want to do, like,maintenance and and random
plumbing work for existingstructures and those types of
things?
If you're electrician, again,do you want to do work for
builders or do you want to dowork for just mum and dads or
companies doing maintenance orrefits and those types of things
?
So you can like, when you again, when you knuckle down on this
and you figure out your ideal uh, work or job and a lot of this
(37:09):
will come like if you work onall these things we've talked
about today.
Um, it all comes togetherbecause when you, when you're
trying to find your idealprojects or the work you want to
do, it's quite involved,because you need to figure out
the type of work that your teamare at and that could change
(37:33):
over time as your team grows.
And maybe right at the moment,if you're an electrician, your
team is only suited to smashingout rough ends and fit-offs and
working on new builds.
But as your team grows, youmight get some guys that are a
lot better at dealing withclients doing work on their own,
(37:54):
and so maybe over time, yourideal work might, you might
expand and you might actually beable to do some maintenance
work or expand into solarinstalls or something like that.
So your ideal work is likewe've talked about with
everything today.
It will change as your businessgrows and goes to the next
(38:14):
level, and it will change basedon the team members that you
bring into your business.
So, yeah, figuring out theideal work and the team members
that you bring into yourbusiness.
So, yeah, figuring out the idealwork and the type of job you
want to do, like I know, I knowbuilders that will only work on
old, like here in brisbane.
Like they will only work on oldqueenslanders, like their work
is lift and build renovationrefurbs on queenslanders.
(38:37):
That's that's their niche andand they are flat out all the
time because they're specialistsat it.
Um, I know other builders thatjust will not go near a
renovation.
Like their specialty is, um,new homes on flat blocks of land
in new housing estates.
I know other builders that umonly do work on more difficult
sites.
Like their specialty is workswith bulk earthworks and
(39:00):
off-form concrete and all thosetypes of things.
So it's yeah, it's huge.
It will make a massivedifference to your life and your
business when you identify whatyour ideal types of projects
are or the type of work and,like I said it, it works for any
trade it works for, like it canwork for a tree lopper, like
you might be.
(39:21):
Like we have really goodfriends that um have a tree
lopping business and like it'scalled all tree, uh, all tree
and palm removal.
So like they're specialists incoming in and like clearing
sites and removing all the treesand doing stump grinding, like
they don't do trimming hedgesand all little little work.
(39:42):
So they've identified the typeof work that their business
thrives on.
So it doesn't matter what typeof trade or what type of
designer or architect or builderyou are.
Identifying the type of workthat suits you and your team
best again is going to help yourbusiness thrive.
So the last one I want to talkabout, with structuring your
(40:05):
business, because I believe ifyou do all the things that we're
talking about today, you willsee massive, massive differences
in your business, in your cashflow, in your profitability and
all those types of things.
But the last one profitabilityand all those types of things
but the last one which I thinkis very, very important is
structuring your cashflow.
And again, I bang into bed allthe time knowing your numbers.
(40:26):
But we have Katie from ProfitFirst Australia.
She's our Profit First.
She's our accounting expert inmy Live Life Build business.
She's our, our mentor.
Then there's obviously sean vandyke profit first for
contractors in the states.
But the reason I mentioned themis I believe the profit first
(40:48):
structure is the best way tostart understanding how your the
cash that your business needs.
So look, I'm not going to bangon about this one for a long
time because you can go and read.
Like Katie's got a book ProfitFirst.
Go and listen to that book.
Sean Van Dyke's got the ProfitFirst book as well.
(41:09):
Once you get your head aroundProfit First and structuring
your bank accounts, it's anabsolute game changer.
And look you, you're going toget kicked back from your
accountants or your bookkeepersbecause they're going to have to
reconcile multiple accounts andlike it's like like I find it
(41:30):
funny all the time like I um,the more, the better you want to
become and the better you wantto do, the more people you've
got to argue with and butt headswith, because everyone wants to
just fucking go along the samestraight road.
They don't want any whines andbends and they just want to
fucking do what they've alwaysdone, they've always been told
and they've always been taught.
And so, yeah, you'll getkickback from people that will
(41:51):
whinge about having to reconciletoo many bank accounts or
whinge about having to transfermoney around to too many bank
accounts, all those types ofthings.
But if you want to get ahead,you've got to push back on those
people that push back on you.
And so, profit first.
Having those bank accounts too,when the money comes in,
putting the money aside showsyou so quickly and easily what's
(42:17):
left and it really, reallyhelps you identify that you need
to charge more and so settingup your bank accounts for your
GST, for your tax, for yoursalaries, for your supplies, for
your outgoing, like all thosethings and your profit, yeah, it
just.
It is so simple and you see itso quickly and easily why you
(42:40):
don't have good cash flow andwhy you're not making money.
So that's my last tip Check outProfit First.
Katie's is Profit First fortradies.
Sean Endox's is Profit Firstfor contractors.
Highly recommend you listen tothose guys and take their advice
on board.
And look, reach out to Katiefrom Profit First.
She does a really really goodjob here in Australia.
But, yeah, look, reach out tokatie from profit first.
(43:05):
She does a really really goodjob here in australia.
But yeah, look just to recap onthem.
Um, so you'll have to pull meup if I forget any of these, but
it was, uh, spending some timeto figure out the name of your
business.
Don't be afraid to change it.
If you've been operating for 10years, it is what it is.
If you've got to change it, yougot to change it.
Um, your financial structuremassive, whether you're just
starting out or whether you'vebeen in business for 10, 20
years.
Massively important that you goand spend the money with
(43:25):
someone that's going to get youto the next level and set your
structures up correctly, and Icannot recommend highly enough.
You need to go to someone thatwants to know your goals.
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to invest in?
What do you want to do?
What sort of money do you wantforecasting?
You want to make.
What do you want to invest in?
What do you want to do?
What sort of money do you wantto forecast and you want to make
?
Because that makes a bigdifference to how you set your
structures up.
The next one was structuringyour role, like identifying what
(43:50):
you do best in your businessand structuring your business
the way you want to structure it.
Next one was team identifyingyour team structure and
employing the people that aregoing to get your business where
it needs to go.
Next one was clients.
Identifying your perfect clientwill absolutely change the way
your business operates.
Next one was types of projects.
(44:12):
Again, spend the time andidentify this.
It will change your cash flow,it will change your
profitability, it will changeyour team, it'll change your
profitability.
It will change your, your team,your life, everything.
And the last one is the profitfirst.
But, um, I highly recommend yousit down with a journal and you
do these one at a time and youjust go nuts and you write down
(44:33):
as much shit as you can and youget as clear as you can on all
those things and you will havean incredible life and
incredible business.
So, um, look, guys, as usual, Ihope you've loved this podcast.
Um, reach out.
If you've got questions, keepthem coming.
Um, please like subscribe.
Make sure you go and check outthe new website.
Seriously, our merch isabsolutely fantastic and, look,
(44:56):
if we want to keep changing thisindustry, we've all got to be
walking around with the keepsmashing it on the backs of our
on our backs, because that'sgoing to show people that we are
on a mission to create a newbuilding industry.
Yeah, as always, thanks verymuch for listening and watching.
We'll see you on the next one.
Cheers, guys.
Are you ready to build smarter,live better and enjoy life?
(45:17):
Then head on tolivelikebuildcom forward slash
elevate to get started.
Everything discussed during theLevel Up podcast with me,
dwayne Pearce, is based solelyon my own personal experiences
(45:38):
and those experiences of myguests.
The information, opinions andrecommendations presented in
this podcast are for generalinformation only, and any
reliance on the informationprovided in this podcast is done
at your own risk.
We recommend that you obtainyour own professional advice in
respect to the topics discussedduring this podcast.
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