How Choosing the RIGHT PATH Can Lead to HUGE PROFITS.

ep. #122 This week we chat with Luke Callery from Callery Building. Luke's story is a testament to resilience and passion, as he shares the hurdles he overcame and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. From leaving school early to forge his path in construction, to finding the right balance between quality craftsmanship and profitability, his experiences offer an authentic look into the highs and lows of building a business from the ground up.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would come home and again she was getting what was
left.
At the end of the day, I wasthat burnt out.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Your confidence mate has just exploded as well.
Look, is that confidence comefrom knowing the business is in
a better place?

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Being able to have that time to understand how it
all actually works.
That has totally changed myperspective on how everything
runs, Because if you're notright, nothing else is around
you.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Jeez, mate, you're still in all my sayings now.
Hey guys, Welcome back toanother cracking episode of
Level Up.
We are back on Zoom to doanother one today because we've
got Luke Callery from CalleryBuilding.
I'd like to say Luke's become abit of a mate over the last few
years since becoming a memberof Live Life Build, so Luke's

(00:44):
also got bit of a mate over thelast few years since becoming a
member of Live Life Build.
So Luke's also got some otherreally interesting and exciting
things going on that he's alsohelping the industry out with at
the moment, which we'll getthrough during the podcast.
But yeah, welcome Luke.
How are you mate?
Awesome mate.
Thanks so much for having me on.
Really appreciate it.
No, mate, thanks for taking thetime out.
I know you're very busy, busybusiness owner at the moment.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, yeah, definitely plenty going on at
the moment, mate.
We've um, yeah, well, I meanI'm sure we'll touch on it
throughout the podcast, butwe're sort of what we've managed
to implement through live lifebuild.
We've yeah, we're sort of inprobably the best position we've
ever had awesome pipeline ofwork, good current project, so
plenty happening mate, we're uh,I got, I got a lot I want to
talk to you about.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's up to you how far you want to go with it, but
I know a fair bit about you now.
You've been with Live LifeBuild for I think it's three
years around three years, prettyclose, I think it was.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
You're coming up to it.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, probably two and a half, nearly three years,
I think so, um, can you tell us,can we go back before that,
like tell us a little bit aboutyour background before you come
on board and before we metthrough, live like build yeah,
mate, we can go right back tothe start if you want, because I
was sort of um got thrown inthe deep end very, very early.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
I um, obviously like most builders, started out doing
a carpentry apprenticeship.
Um grew up, grew up out in thecountry.
Um wasn't a wasn't a huge arrayof builders out there.
It was sort of pretty, prettycompetitive with um sort of
obviously not a huge population.
Um, once I finished myapprenticeship, we sort of the
my current boss back.
Well, at the time my boss hewas.

(02:17):
Things were a bit quiet and Igot put on as a casual straight
away and basically left with nowork.
Um, no one else sort of aroundthe area wanted to employ anyone
as a full-time employee.
They all sort of wanted to goout and get an ABN and just work
as a contractor so they couldsort of just have you on board
when they needed you for a fewdays here or there and try and
cheat the system and not have toworry about paying your super

(02:38):
and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
That's our industry, mate, that's how it operates?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, it is.
It's horrible.
So I really got thrown in thedeep end straight away.
I didn't really.
I haven't been an employeesince my apprenticeship,
basically from day one I think Iworked two days as a casual
carpenter and then, yeah,basically been I'll call it
self-employed since then.
So, yeah, it was a bit of ayeah thrown right in the deep
end that I really had to startthinking outside the box and

(03:04):
learn, I guess, how to run abusiness as early as I could.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
So how old were you then, mate?
Did you finish year 12 or didyou do any uni or anything?

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Nah, so I didn't.
I did about, I think I did thefirst term of year 12.
I had my year level coordinatorand the principal pulled me
aside for a meeting pretty wellat the end of the first term and
said look, I think it's abouttime you find a job, because
you're not really achieving muchbeing here.
So I, yeah, completed all ofyear 11.
And then one of my good matesthrough high school at the time

(03:34):
his dad was a builder, so I'vedone a few rounds of work
experience with him and it sortof got to that time.
He sort of offered me at thestart of the year to do a
school-based apprenticeship.
I didn't really want to havethat sort of half at school,
half full-time or whatever, andI wasn't sure whether I wanted
to commit to it then.
So after that first term andthey sort of as politely as they
could tell me to leave school,yeah, jumped on board with them

(03:56):
full-time.
So I would have been well, Ithink I was still 16 when I
started my apprenticeship.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
So did that?
Um, like how did that affectyou moving forward?
Or like, is that something thatyou maybe didn't realize
affected you for a while?
Like being told that you youwere failing at school and you
needed to do something else no,not really, because I wasn't.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
It wasn't that I was failing at school.
It was just that some ofbecause what I wanted to, I
always knew from a really,really early age that I wanted
to do something to do withbuilding.
Every opportunity I got mom anddad and dad would be cracking
the shits because I'd be rippingeverything out of the shed,
cutting everything up, nailingit together.
It didn't matter whether dadhad put it aside for something
special or not, but I alwaysknew that I wanted to do

(04:34):
something to do with building.
So it was kind of when I got toyear 12, the lessons that I was
doing in year 12, it was a lotof them were almost repeats that
I'd done in year 11 already,because I didn't need the extra
education to go off to do a unidegree or anything like that.
I was sort of just goingthrough the motions, just
ticking off time basically.
So I was pretty well ready togo as well.

(04:55):
I just didn't really see itcoming that I'd sort of get
asked to go find something to do.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah Well, look, it's probably a good thing they did
mate, because you got ahead ofthe game a little bit.
But like were you prepared togo into the working world?
Like did you?
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I was because I had a before that.
I had a part-time job beforethat as well.
I started out my first job.
I worked at a dairy farm, so Ido every second weekend and the
odd after school as well.
So I I was pretty well ready togo already and I just, you know
, like I said, just goingthrough school just to pass the
time, basically.
So that, um, that taught me alot about, uh, I guess, the the

(05:36):
work ethic early, because therewas no excuses with working on a
dairy farm, like that was 4 amat the dairy but not 4 am up out
of bed, that was 4 am.
You had to be there for firstmilking, then you go home for a
while during the day, chill out,go play footy or whatever, and
then go back in the afternoonfor a 3.30 milking and didn't
finish until like 7, 7.30 atnight.
So they were phenomenal daysand I'll take my hat off to

(05:56):
everyone that does that as afull time job, because there's
no bloody hell I could do.
No way I could do that now.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Mate, my.
So I spent a lot of time on thedairy.
So my mum's family had a largedairy farm up at Mother Mountain
in Gympie, actually very closeto Craig Stewart, who everyone's
heard on the podcast, and sogrowing up that was where, like
every long weekend, holidays,like we spent a lot of time
there and I loved it.
But yeah, like you just said,it is an insanely hard life.

(06:24):
Like the cows don't wait, soyou're up early every day.
It's seven days a week.
There's no excuses, yeah.
So, yeah, definitely take myhat off to the people that do
that.
So you made it through yourtime and you basically got
thrown in the deep end andstraight into self-employment
and subcontracting.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, so yeah, subcontracted for I wouldn't
even have a clue how many yearsnow I started on my own, like
just ticked away, justessentially laboring for other
builders for probably about twoor three years, just, um, by
myself, just providing them whenthey needed it, um, and then
finally sort of bit the bulletafter that sort of time and had
a another young bloke that Igrew up with back in our country

(07:02):
town that I grew up in.
What was he doing?
He'd just been on overseastravel, I think, and was looking
for something to do.
So I took him on as a labourerfor a little while, ended up
signing him up as my apprenticeFirst, got him signed up through
Master Builders, just reallywanted to make sure, in case
shit hit the fan and I failed,that he still was able to be

(07:23):
positioned with another employer.
But, yeah, got about two yearsin and ended up just taking him
on full time and, yeah, I thinkit was, yeah, progressed forward
a big jump from there, did myCert IV studies and got my
builder's licence back in 2017.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Oh right, so you yeah , I thought you'd had it a bit
longer than that so what youwere building for what?
Four, four years, four, four,four and a half years, and then,
um, come across the blood billyeah, it would have been about
that, I reckon.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Whatever now, 2024, yeah, probably five, five years
or so.
I've lost track now it's latein the arvo now so, mate, what
um like in that period?

Speaker 2 (08:01):
what?
What are some of the strugglesyou had not trying to get your
business up and running and stayprofitable and those types of
things.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
As in before I joined Live Life Build.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, like in that first five years of your
business.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
That was, if there's one bit of advice.
I can give people that, becausewhat I found in talking to a
lot of young guys that are justcoming out of their carpentry
apprenticeship now and I can saythis open-heartedly because I
was in the same boat all Iwanted to do.
Well, I thought, I thought Iwas going to solve the world's
problems by going out and justbuilding frames.
Go and work for a volumebuilder and just knock up frames
, because it was so easy to getcontracts to go and do it and it

(08:38):
just it was very, very.
I very quickly realized why itwas so easy because the amount
that they would go through themoney was just horrendous.
The first big job that I did onmy own.
We had these.
There was two two-storeytownhouses alongside of each
other and we did both of those.
We had to do all of the framing.
We did all the hebel and therest of the cladding for those

(09:00):
as well.
There was another crew that didthe house on the corner.
Basically the same size, samesize house, if anything it was a
little bit bigger.
I reckon they did the wholehouse in about three or four
days and we took about threeweeks.
It was just I just I can't workout how I my pride in wanting to
do a good job got in the way ofdoing it to be able to make

(09:21):
money.
So there was a couple of thingsthat I looked over, like one
lunch break I went over once I'dgone and a bit of a look over
and just yeah, some of thequality of what it was.
You just those type of jobs youcan't afford to do a good job
to be able to actually make anymoney out of it.
So that was probably my biggeststruggle was realising that I
would have been able to savemore money sitting at home with

(09:42):
the aircon flat out, all thelights on and all the doors open
.
I would have been able to savemore money that way than going
to work it's a different, it'svery like.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
I think it's a different set of skills, but
it's a very important set ofskills to know.
Like.
I think, like my apprenticeshipI was very lucky like the first
two years was with a custombuilder that took pride and did
everything perfectly, uh, andthen the second half was doing,
uh, volume work, yeah.
So I got the skills and thecraftsmanship and the, the

(10:11):
quality there, but then I alsogot to pick up the speed, um,
but yeah, and then and then Ireckon I've managed to land in
the middle, but, like you say,it's, it's yeah, some of those
stuff that gets, some of thatstuff that gets thrown up, like
it is impossible.
But you and it's not justcarpentry, like I feel for the
plumbers, the sparkies, the yeah, some of that stuff that gets
thrown up, it is impossible.
And it's not just carpentry, Ifeel for the plumbers, the

(10:31):
sparkies, the concreters,everybody has to cut corners to
be able to make.
They either have to cut cornersor they need to do huge volume.
You've got to have a big crew.
If you're concrete, you've gotto be smashing out four slabs a
day.
If you're a plumbing business,you've got to be doing.
If you're concrete, you've gotto be smashing out four slabs a
day.
If you're you're a plumbingbusiness, you've got to be doing
four under slabs a day, likeyou've just.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
You've got to just head down, bum up, smash the
shit out yeah, it is a goodpoint that you touched on there
as well, though, like abouttrying to find that fine line,
that middle ground of beingbeing efficient enough, uh, to
be able to make money out of it,because it doesn't matter
whether, if you've got acontract that you've priced it
well, if you're still taking toobloody long to do it, well,
what's the point?

Speaker 2 (11:08):
right it is, it is that, um, I guess, yeah, that
that skill of trying to findthat fine line of where is the
middle ground, where's how neatcan I be and how long can I take
to do it yeah, so like in that,so that first five years
between um getting yourbuilder's license and uh, and
then figuring out, you'regetting to a point where you

(11:28):
wanted to do some personaldevelopment, get some help and
things like that.
Besides that problem, what sortof business problems did you
have?

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Well, cash flow was always the best one.
I'm trying to work out how thehell to price anything, what's
been really good to look back on.
Actually, we had an inquirycame through from a job that I
priced back in I think it was2018.
They reached out only a coupleof weeks ago.
I thought they actually wentwith someone else I thought I
was too expensive or whatever,but they'd reached out, sent an

(11:59):
email through to our admin emailsaying that the timing wasn't
right.
Back then they really liked theway that we went about it.
They're finally in a positionto actually move forward with it
.
Now I look back through oursystem on how I priced it, how I
saved everything, like theproject file that I created, and
are we allowed to swear on here?
Yeah, mate, go for it.
It was a fucking shit show.

(12:20):
I could not work out how Imanaged to actually price any of
it.
It was.
I found an old, an old excelspreadsheet that I don't reckon.
I genuinely don't even know howthe hell I made any money out
of it.
I think it was only because wewere doing so much of the labor
component ourselves I was on thetools full-time as well that
anything that I'd made any anyprofit on was only on the

(12:40):
carpentry component, because Ithink I'd stuffed it up that bad
that the 10% that I was addingon it all that was for was
actually just to cover the GST.
It wasn't even 10% to try andmake any profit on it, so that
was.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Mate, I think that's a really important point.
What you just made there, thatyou only made money because
you're on the tools doing thework and doing.
Another conversation I have nowwith not just builders, with
trades in the industry.
That's where they're makingtheir money.
Like if they actually steppedback to run the business they
would go broke.
Like they're actually onlymaking money because they're

(13:13):
working like.
So I don't know, this is a.
It's a bit of a tricky one toum to try and get across in a in
a podcast, but, like so manypeople in our industry are just
earning the same as what theiremployees are yeah like if
you're a plumber, you're earningnot much more or the same as as
what you're paying yourplumbers to work for you.

(13:33):
If you're an electrician, thesame thing if you're a plasterer
, like it's.
It's a big move to and and toget your head around, like you
have to be.
You have to figure out the roleyou play in your business and
you have to treat yourself as anemployee to the business and
you need to get paid for thatrole.
That and that needs to be partof your overheads or part of
your supervision, or however.
You got your businessstructured but your business

(13:54):
needs to be making 10 profit ontop of you top off, yeah, like
on top of you getting paid yoursalary, not not, uh, you just
taking what's left at the end ofthe job, yep.
So how have things changed?
Like what oh sorry to go back alittle bit like what was the
turning point for you, because Iknow when I first met you, you

(14:16):
were struggling with things,like you didn't sort of really
know where to turn.
Like what made you realize youneeded to do something.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
I can't really pinpoint it to like one exact
time because I reckon before weactually finally met in person,
I'd been a part of Live LifeBuild for probably a good six
months, so I knew I'd startedreading a few books.
I came across another buildermate of mine had said that he'd
listened to the book MillionDollar Builder like an audio
book.
So I started listening to thatlike an audio book.

(14:51):
So I started listening to thatand then at that time I'd had a
few marketing calls from anotherbuilders coaching group that
I'm not going to name because Iwasn't too fond of those.
Stupidly, I joined them and Iwas part of them for 12 months.
But at the same time I startedactually seeing your marketing
pop up and it was just the waythat your message got put across
.
It was so much more relatable.
It wasn't uh because, like Isaid, I'm not gonna name names
but the other coaching platform,it was people that hadn't

(15:13):
actually been a builderthemselves and I sort of just
made me start wondering, likehow the hell does someone that's
never actually done this before, how can you know everything
and start telling these peoplehow to run a business if you've
never actually done thatproperly yourself.
I get you can go off everybodyelse's data, but how accurate
could that possibly be?
So once your message startedcoming across, I really started
to connect with that and then Ijust I made the commitment to.

(15:37):
I think I still had about sixmonths to go with them and I
wasn't really doing much in theplatform because I went to a
live event for it and it wasmore.
To me personally, it felt likemore of a competition.
No one was really encouragingeach other.
Someone would would saysomething on what they were
struggling with or somethingthat they'd done well, and
someone else would talk over topof them and basically almost
like put them down.

(15:57):
It was like a competition.
There was no encouragement, itwas, it was just.
It was really frustrating.
So I made made the choice.
Then I thought something's gotto change here.
So I jumped on with live lifebuild as well, and so I had the,
the financial commitment toboth of them at the same time.
Um, and I can, I can openly saythis and and you know this, this

(16:18):
too well, that I'm not sayingit just because I'm on your
podcast and I'm, and you're, youknow, the owner of live life
build as well.
It has genuinely changed mylife.
Like it.
What, what something like thatcan do is just fuck.
It's indescribable and it is Idon't know how.
How do you describe that tosomeone, what, what it can
really do, without experiencingit yourself?
I really struggle to try andexplain to someone how much it

(16:39):
can benefit you well, mate, I'mnot sure.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
And look, I don't, as most people would know that
listen, like I, really Istruggle to sell myself like I
do.
I do everything I do becauseI'm genuinely on a mission.
I've been there, I've beenthrough shit that I wouldn't
wish on my worst enemy.
So my purpose is just simply tohelp people, just say it how it
is.
Be real, some people like it,some people won't, but I do
believe that you will not find acommunity or a program anywhere

(17:04):
in our industry half as good asLive Locked Build.
It's a pretty special place,yeah, but it is hard to get that
across.
And look, so many people, Iguess, are looking for that
quick fix.
But I feel, like Luke, probablyone of the other reasons we've
connected and like we alwayshave a good chat when we catch
up in person, like I believeLive Like Build is like it's a

(17:26):
community of like.
When we get, get together,everyone's walking around in
pluggers and boardies.
Like it's chilled out, you havea few beers.
Like it's.
It's very relatable, there's noum and it's interesting.
You said about that otherprogram that it felt like a
competition, because I I knowfrom what I was involved with
before, uh, in the years that Iwas trying to get help and from

(17:46):
what I even see now on socialmedia, that's what it sort of
comes across as.
Like it's a lot of justsmashing the marketing,
increasing your turnover, likethis competition to be the best,
like I even see a lot of themhave.
Like I don't think it's, Iwouldn't call it a competition.
But you see, they put thesestats out about their members
that have reached a certainturnover level and all this type

(18:08):
of shit and like to me, likeyeah, turnover is nothing,
obviously, if you're not makingprofit, but it's also nothing if
you're not living the life youwant to live.
Like what's the point of havingmaking good money if you're
still stuck in the business andyou can't get away from it and
you don't get to enjoy your life?

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, you're dead right, like you know.
You say to a young bloke comingout of their time that you turn
.
You know I'm turning over 10million bucks.
I'm not, I can tell you that.
But, um, maybe one day.
But if you're turning over thatsort of money and you're still
working 40, 50, 60 hours a week,not ever going on a holiday,
and you're either half on thetools or full-time on the tools,
like what the hell's the point,that's not a a lie.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, you bought yourself a job.
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
But if we can dig deep into it,luke, like you were, like you
said, we didn't catch up inperson for maybe six months
after you signed up and I knowwe had some conversations on the
phone and you're in like for awhile there.
You're in a pretty bad way.

(19:06):
And then we caught up at one ofone of the I think it was a
kingscliff event.
Yeah, yep, and yourself and yourpartner, like your beautiful
partner, like we had some goodconversations and like you guys,
you guys could have gone eitherway.
Like you got.
You got to a point there whereyou basically were had to just
walk away and and shut it alldown, or you got stuck in, put

(19:30):
in the effort, put in the timeand focused on what you needed
to focus on.
And look, honestly, when I leftthat Kingscliff event after you
and I had had some pretty deepconversations, I didn't know
which way you were going to turn.
And I think, when we left thatevent correct me if I'm wrong,
but I don't think you reallyknew then which way you were
going to go either.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, it was a bit up in arms.
It was to go back probably amonth or two before that, like
we, the position we got to, wewere making bugger all money to
start with anyway, and I'd sortof not guaranteed that I was
winning some projects.
I was leaving it sort of a bitlate to try and get these
projects over the line and getsigned up, and they weren't far
away from when we thought wewere going to be signing

(20:10):
contracts.
It was pretty much sign acontract and within about two or
three weeks the project wouldactually start.
So we were.
We were basically needing thesejobs to be able to stay alive
and one fell through over thechristmas break.
They had a change of heart.
They decided that it was moremoney than they wanted to spend
and they wanted to look aroundto try and buy another house, um
, and another one same thingthey wanted to show it for for

(20:32):
12, 18 months or whatever, justto see whether they could save
more funds and end up doing thewhole project.
So we, within the space ofabout two weeks, we'd lost nine
months of our project schedulefor the start of the year.
So it kind of went from thepoint of we had no cash flow
already and were needing thesetwo projects to start to.
All of a sudden it was like well, fuck, you lose one job.

(20:53):
That really puts the pressureon you.
Start to think what are wegoing to do?
You lose both of them.
Then you really go.
Holy shit, what now?
How do I?
So?
We'd had a pretty good Christmasholidays, we'd gone away, we
were interstate done, somefour-wheel driving and camping,
having the time of my life, butended up having to cut that
holiday short because it waschewing away at me so much that

(21:15):
I'm thinking the whole time Ican't afford to do this anymore.
How am I going to go home nowand tell my current employees
that, sorry, I can't employ youanymore.
I need to fold this up.
How do I go to a homeowner andsay I'm halfway through your job
, sorry, I don't know how tofinish this.
I've got no money.
I can't afford to keep going.
So that was probably one of well, it was definitely the worst

(21:38):
time in business that I've everhad.
That was terrifying.
And then the timing of it.
Somehow we still managed tocommit to going to the first
Live Life, build live event,which was that was my turning
point when I caught up with thecommunity that was there, met
yourself and Amelia and everyother builder that was there
going through I don't knowwhether anyone else was in quite
that bad a position as well.
But being able to actuallycommunicate with other builders

(22:01):
that are going through the sameshit day to day, the same
struggles, and everybodyactually encourage each other,
provide a little bit of advice,check in on you, that was my
turning point, that I realized,fuck, I've invested too much of
this just to let go.
I've got to find a way to makethis work, and that's, I guess,
one thing I've always.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
But how do you, how do you like?
How do you do that, mate?
Like this is something I'd liketo dive into, and it's because
it's hard, because one you cannever, it's hard to pinpoint
exactly what it is.
But, like, how do you keeppushing forward?
Because a lot of people thatare listening to this podcast
will be in that position rightnow.
Yeah, how do you keep pushingwhen you have no funds?

(22:39):
You can't see a job in front ofyou, you don't know where the
money is coming from, you don'tknow what the answers are and
you're focusing on all theanswers are and and, like you're
focusing on all the negativeshit all the time, like, what?
What made you keep?

Speaker 1 (22:53):
pushing forward.
I wish I had an easy answer forthat.
Honestly, I really do.
I've, I've always had pride inmyself to I don't know somehow
just make it work and just keep,keep working, always explore,
sort of.
I guess you you say it quitewell always focus on what is in
your control.
If there's stuff that's out ofyour control, there's no point

(23:14):
stressing on it because youcan't change that.
No matter how much it consumesyou, there is nothing that you
can do about it.
So what can you focus on thatis in your control to try and
make it a little bit better?
And it says one little onepercenters that you can take out
of that.
That will slowly add up and, Idon't know, somehow find you a
solution.
So in that example we actuallyhad another one.
We weren't quite as bad as that, but we had another project

(23:37):
fall over, I think it was eitherlate last year or early this
year as well.
We had a big gap to fill, so Iwent shit, okay, I'm in this.
I don't want to be in this sameposition where we're really,
really scraping the barrel.
And I went back through everysingle lead that I could
possibly think of over anine-month period to try and
even if they'd said no and theyweren't interested, because at

(24:00):
that point was when we starteddoing the pack process and we
had a few inquiries that theydidn't want to do the pack
process, they just wanted tobuild it, acquire it for free
and come and build their project.
They didn't want to do the packprocess, they just wanted to
build it, acquire it for freeand come and build their project
.
I reached out to every singleone that I could find, even if
they'd said no, to try and comeup with something.
You never know whether they'dthe project had fallen over,
they'd gone with someone elseand the project was finished and
they had even like a littlemaintenance job that they needed

(24:22):
done and stuff like that.
You never know.
Like one door closes, anotherone opens, stuff like that, so
that job shut.
And by reaching out to all theseprevious leads, we had a lead
that originally reached outthree years ago that had come up
late last year.
That went for architecturaltender that I didn't want
anything to do with that, but wehad a little bit of a personal
connection with the homeownerthat we ended up then winning

(24:43):
that job.
It is the longest or thebiggest project we've ever done.
Contract wise is in time frame,but it's also the biggest value
project we've ever done.
Contract-wise is in time frame,but it's also the biggest value
project we've ever done, aswell With the most incredible
client.
When you sit down with peopleand tell them your story about
what you want to achieve out ofbusiness and they align with

(25:03):
your values as well.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Like it's just I don't know, it's magic mate.
It's where the magic happensit's where the magic happens,
but it's just to just keepfocusing on what's in your
control, basically, is probablythe simplest way you can put it
and and look, I'm gonna keepdrilling you on this, mate,
because I uh, I just I want tohelp people and like people that
are in that situation need tohear from people that have been

(25:26):
there, like that's why, that'swhy I told more story, like so,
obviously that's one reason, but, like you, you were investing
money in to be in, live, lifebuild, and like I know myself
back in the day when I was uhneeding help, like it it's so
hard to commit to spend moneythat you are telling yourself

(25:48):
you might not get anything outof or get something back for and
your bank account's dry and youknow you've got more important.
Well, at the time, you thinkyou've got more important bills
to pay because you underestimatehow valuable you are.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
It's not even the financial commitment.
That's the big thing as well.
Obviously, yes, it does costmoney to be involved in
something like that, but it'sthe commitment of time as well,
as you would know, and everyother single builder that's
walking around at the momentgoes no, I haven't got enough
time.
I haven't got time for that,I've got to be on site, I've got
to build this.
It sounds so simple about usinga schedule.

(26:24):
More so a personal schedule aswell, as you know you, obviously
you have to have your projectscheduled.
If you're not doing that, well,I can, you know you're going in
the day mate, I know, I know,but as simple as like a personal
schedule, because I was in thatboat.
Like I said, I was a part oflive life build for six months
before I really startedinvesting into it and it's it's

(26:44):
that instant fix.
I think when you first sign upto something like that, you take
a deep breath and you go right,I've signed up to coaching.
I think that's that's helped me.
But if you don't actuallyschedule a time, just schedule
the time to actually dive intothe platform and do anything
with it, what's the fuckingpoint of being involved in it?
So that that was me for thefirst six months.
So anyone else that islistening, that's the huge

(27:05):
amount of encouragement I cangive.
You is just because you sign up,it doesn't mean it's going to
change your life.
You actually need to commit toit.
Schedule aside, I think Istarted I was doing maybe I
think it was an hour a week, oneafternoon, whether it was a
wednesday or thursday afternoon,I would make sure I went in.
If I'd missed the zoom callduring the week, I would go home
that night, I'd um have dinner,then I'd go sit on the sit on

(27:26):
the couch or go in the spareroom or whatever, and I'd make
sure I watched back that Zoomcall myself.
So it's just starting with that, because you've got all this
incredible resource that's rightin front of you, it's right at
your fingertips, but if youchoose to do nothing with it
still, well, what's the point?

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, 100%, mate.
We'll definitely get on toLuke's having incredible success
now, which we'll'll get toshortly.
But I think it's like it's asecret, like no one, and whether
it's Live, life, build oranything.
But I know again myself, likepeople go to these one-day
events or these workshops, andit doesn't matter what it is.

(28:00):
It could be an unheard of name,or it could be Tony Robbins or
Grant Cardone, like there'shundreds of thousands of them
around now, or it could just bea local person well, it could be
someone like myself, or itcould be a real estate expert or
something that's putting on aseminar, and people go to these
things and I used to do this aswell.
And you expect to walk out ofthat and just have this rule

(28:24):
book and this recipe to just allof a sudden make millions of
dollars and the other thing thathappens and I'm guilty of this
as well.
Like you sit at these eventsand you just tell yourself, oh,
it's fucking, it can't be thateasy.
Like, fuck, like he's full ofshit.
Like, fuck, that's not going tohappen.
Like, oh, fuck, he's, I haven'tgot the time to do that.
Like you're telling yourselfall these excuses, but reality

(28:47):
is, I've learned now like you goto these events, you pay money.
It doesn't matter whether youbuy a 180 ticket or you buy a 10
000 ticket, like if youactually take notes and take the
stuff away and then take thetime to reread those notes and
implement those things, it willchange your life because it is
that I'm going to touch on thatas well because you go to the

(29:09):
event, you take the notesbecause I was guilty of this as
well.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
I've been to a few of these.
One days you go to the event,you take all the notes, you feel
G'd up, you feel on top of theworld, I'm going to kill it.
And then that notebook thatgoes in the top drawer of your
desk or in your glove box andyou never look at it again.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, but it literally is.
There is down the people aroundthe world now that are telling
you the secrets to success andpeople don't implement it
because they think it just can'tbe that easy.
Yeah, but, mate, I take my hatoff to you.
I'll definitely put it out tothe people listening to this
podcast now.

(29:44):
I am incredibly proud of you,to go from the conversations
that we had.
So Kingscliff was two years ortwo and a half years ago.
Yeah, march 2022, um, I think.
And so just to give like I'mnot going to talk numbers and
things, because that's privatestuff but like you've just had
your most profitable year by ahuge amount.

(30:08):
Like it's life-changing, isn'tit?

Speaker 1 (30:10):
like you've put in the effort, you've been
consistent, you've shown up andthe results are now speaking for
themselves it is and it's beengood to actually reflect on it,
because most financial years youcatch up with your accountant
at the end of the financial yearand they try and make you feel
better and they say, oh look,you've made money because we've
allocated that there and you'vegot this, and they make it sound

(30:30):
like you've made a little bitof money.
I remember go back a couple ofyears ago, the accountant I had
at the time.
We got to the end of the yearand I had nothing in the bank
account and he's going oh look,you made 100 grand for the year.
I went really, where's, where'sthe money?
I haven't got anything I don'thave bills to pay, the yes, I've
got bills to pay.
I got no money, but you'retelling me I've, I've got, I've
made an accounting profitsomehow.

(30:50):
So the biggest difference thisfinancial year is to get to the
end of it, and it is by far itis the most profitable financial
year that we've ever had.
But to look in the bank accountat the end of the financial
year as well and see that moneyactually physically in there,
that's life-changing.
That was like holy shit.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
This is actually working yeah, yeah, and it's
working incredibly well and look, it's, it's not.
It's not just by accident.
Like you have put in a lot ofwork.
You've really shown up in thelast two years.
But can we touch on?
There's a few other things thatare going on with that.
We talk about it all the time.
You've got to have a good teamaround you, and I know you're

(31:29):
having some conversations withyour accounting team at the
moment.
You've got to surround yourselfwith people that are up at the
level you want to get to, or atleast working towards that as
well, aren't you?
Because now that you've hadthis incredible year and look,
it's not just one year thatLuke's had.
The previous year, you had agood win as well, but you've

(31:52):
just kept pushing and pushingand this year is just absolutely
fucking 10x it, which isunbelievable.
But now you're at a point whereyou need to be working with an
accountant.
That's like what's your goals?
What are you aiming for?
What's your predicted profitfor next year?
Because you are.
How have you been?
We haven't had muchconversation, but did you know?

Speaker 1 (32:12):
No, it's actually been really good and I
appreciate the conversation wehad at the last live event and I
lied about that actuallybecause I knew that I had to ask
more questions but I didn'tknow how to ask and exactly what
to ask.
So that's been the differenceon.
I actually thought to startwith I thought, shit, maybe my
accountant doesn't understandthis completely.
But now that I've actuallyrealised the questions to ask,

(32:36):
I'm getting the answers backthat I actually wanted to hear
and getting a bit more directionso we catch up.
Used to be every quarter thatwe would catch up.
We'd just do a little bit ofplanning before each bash was
due or something like that, butI reckon I can't remember how
many times we caught up thisfinancial year already.
It's been a lot.
It feels like almost just aboutevery fortnight Hasn't quite
been that regularly, but it'sbeen really good actually to to

(32:59):
sit down some of the othersystems that we're sort of
putting in place at the momentwe're trying to work on as well,
just to to project things andpredict things a little bit
differently.
So it definitely it is a bit ofa scary one if, if those
numbers are ticking over and youdon't understand what or where,
where it's come from or what todo with it.
Um, you, you definitely put thewind up me about that.
It can get you in a lot offucking trouble really quickly

(33:19):
if you don't know.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Well, it's a whole different ballgame, isn't it?
At the end of the day, taxisn't a dirty word.
If you're paying tax, you'reactually running a good show,
you're making money, and then itjust becomes another ballgame.
Then you've got to figure outtax-reducing strategies and have
a team around you to figure outinvestments or whatever it is.

(33:42):
But the last thing you want todo is just push like shit,
improve all your systems andprocesses, make heaps of money
and then get to the end offinancial year and go fuck,
you've made a substantial amountof money and now a big chunk of
that's all going to go to thetax man.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
That you weren't budgeting for and all of a
sudden, yeah, that you weren'tbudgeting for that.
Yeah, yeah.
But, um, mate, I take my hatoff to you.
Like you guys deserveeverything that's come your way,
like you've really smashed itout, um, because, um, like
caitlin helps, helps a lot, likeshe's been a big part of it,
like your partner mate, she's myrock for sure, definitely,
definitely my biggest supporter.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Um, I reckon that probably that was that was
probably my, my biggest turningpoint as well.
I reckon well, I mean, I saythat she's she's always been my
biggest supporter.
But at that live event as well,what she took out of that first
live event that we had up inkingscliff, um, for her
personally as well, it was just.
It was bizarre because it weboth went to that not really
knowing what, like we've neverbeen to something like that

(34:39):
before, not knowing what we'regoing to get out of it.
And she almost didn't want tocome.
Um, she thought I'm not in thebusiness.
Well, at the time she wasn't inthe business, she's, she's come
on board in the last littlewhile now doing some, um,
photography and videographystuff with us now, but before
that she had nothing to do withit.
So she's going why am I comingto this event?
Like I'll just go sit in thehotel room or I'll go by the
pool or or whatever.
Like what do I need to be there?
Um, but she, what, what shetook out of that event as well

(35:03):
to then be able to continue toencourage me because I would
come home.
And again she was getting whatwas left at the end of the day.
I was that burnt out fromslaving away during the day and
coming home and just feeling allgrumpy and exhausted and
whatever, and her just alsohaving that encouragement in the
background for me to keep going.
That, I reckon, is probably oneof the biggest reasons why I've
gotten to where I am definitely.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yeah, it's hard, eh, and it's definitely something
Amelia and I are proud of.
Like we've created anenvironment where it's both
sides, like people can bringtheir partners and, let's face
it, like a lot of partners arethe ones that are running the
business and sitting behind thescenes, so, um, but um and I see
a lot of that as well, like inour industry like a lot of these
coaching, mentoring sort ofprograms out there, like they're

(35:45):
all focused at the blokes, likethey're like they're like a
blokes club, but you've got toour industry would fall over if
it wasn't for wives and partners, so like they need to be
involved and and uh, feelcomfortable to be vulnerable and
help out.
You would have seen lately,live Life Builds now got the
wives and partners group as well.

(36:06):
That's been a big influence.
Besides knowing your numbersand overheads and financials and
things, what are some of theother big things you've put in
place in your business over thelast couple of years that are
now proving and adding to thissuccess?

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Probably one of the biggest changes we've had is
actually finding a team thattreat it as a like they're
actually like personally.
Well, sorry, let me reword thatFinding a team that is actually
dedicated and gives a shitabout what they do.
That trying to find because wehad previous employees have

(36:44):
always just gone to work becauseit's a job Trying to actually
find and I don't know whetherthere's a perfect solution to
actually try and, you know, ropein anyone that has a genuine
interest in what you do toactually be able to properly
help you as well.
But we've been lucky enough tofind a couple of in what you do
to actually be able to properlyhelp you as well.
But we've been lucky enough tofind a couple of in-house team
members.
We've got an incredible sitesupervisor.
We've got an awesome projectmanager that started out as an

(37:06):
admin and within the space of 12months, we've actually
transferred our over 10, nowbasically a full-time project
manager, and we're looking for apart-time admin to fill that
role now as well.
Having that team in place in thebackground as well has allowed
me to spend so much more time onfocusing on how to continually
build the business, work on afew more things in the
background and set up sort ofthe systems and processes that
are a bit more bulletproof,working on a pretty detailed

(37:29):
company manual.
It's taken a bit of a back shelflately just with spending a
fair bit of time on site myselfas well, just with a bit of a
carpentry shortage at the moment, but trying to build that out
so that essentially any new teammember that did have to come
into the business would be ableto go to that company manual, to
the library and be able towatch whether they're loom
videos, screen recordings, flowchart systems, anything like

(37:51):
that that they would essentiallybe able to, as best as possible
, teach themselves how to dotheir own role.
We would have to have veryminimal input.
So it takes a lot of time,that's for sure.
You're definitely going to makesure you schedule that aside.
Having input from other teammembers I think has been a
valuable one, because it's notjust about how I interpret it
and how I want to lay out thesystem that I understand it.

(38:12):
It has to be able to beinterpreted by the other members
of the team as well.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
So yeah, input, team input's massive, isn't it?
Like, if you'll just turn upall the time, it's like my way
or the highway, like it's justgoing to piss everybody off and
everyone's going to feel likethey're not part of a team and
things.
But, like, your confidence,mate, has just exploded as well.
Like, has that confidence comefrom?
From knowing the businesses ina better place, or is it

(38:40):
something that you've had topush yourself to to be more
confident in how you run thebusiness?

Speaker 1 (38:46):
I don't know.
I've always just liked withoutsounding like a wanker, I've
always liked putting myself outthere and trying to.
I like showing people what I dothrough video and stuff like
that, rather than if you'retrying to explain to someone at
a barbecue on the weekend orwhatever, what you've been
building.
It just it doesn't make sense,like they can't visualize it.
I'm visualizing in my head andit sounds amazing and they're

(39:08):
just kind of looking at you witha blank face, as you know.
What's this bloke you'retalking about?

Speaker 2 (39:12):
so it's a bloody natural on the video, guys, you
he's got a youtube channel.
I'll have to go and check itout.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
No, we're getting there.
So it's yeah, I don't know,it's just the confidence has
been from putting myself outthere in the early days and
getting that early engagementback from potential clients, um,
family, friends, other otherpeople that have seen it.
Just, I think I started doingit in the early days.
I think it it's become a pointin the industry now where I
think if you're not on socialmedia and if you're not doing it

(39:39):
, you're getting left behind.
I started doing it reallyreally early that it kind of
felt like a new thing and it wasbeing acknowledged quite early
and that was boosting myconfidence a little bit.
Everyone was going mate, that'sawesome.
We saw your video you put upthe other day.
What you've been building,that's awesome.
I didn't need to explain it tothem because they'd already seen
it on a video.
So I don't know, it justboosted my confidence early.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
And I think definitely.
But business, like just evenjust the times that we've caught
up now in person, like yourconfidence in general,
especially about havingconversations around business,
is chalk and cheese to what itwas when we first met.
Yeah, that's true, that'sprobably a and cheese to what it
was when we first met.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, that's true, that's probably a better way to
put it, and I mean I've got tothank Live Life Build for it.
I don't want to make this soundlike it's just a plug for Live
Life Build the whole time, butthem being able to have those
resources available to implementit, actually have confidence in
my business, allows me, then,to like I don't know everything,
and I'm sure you don't knoweverything, and there's probably
no one out there that does knoweverything.

(40:39):
But if the little bits ofknowledge, the little gold
nuggets that I've got, ifthere's another guy that's just
down the road or I'm catching upwith someone, the little bits
that I know, if they'restruggling with it and I can
provide that advice as well,well, fuck them, why not?

Speaker 2 (41:02):
It doesn't have to, you don't know.
So even if you've been doingsomething for 10 years, just
always take the time to listento somebody else and how they're
doing something and theirthoughts on what you're doing
are doing, and like nine timesout of ten, you'll finish that
conversation and it'll be acombination of maybe both inputs
or you might even say, oh fuck,like I need to change the way

(41:24):
I'm doing something like that's,that's a lot better way to do
that.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
like, yeah, take ownership and just uh, drop your
pride and if someone's got abetter way of doing things and
fucking listen to them and havea crack at it yep, yep, yeah, um
, it might be a question thatyou want to ask someone,
thinking that they'll give youthe advice for it and maybe
you've actually got the betterway of doing it.
They'll tell you how they'redoing it and you go well, hang
on, maybe the way I do it isactually better.

(41:47):
It's a little bit ofreassurance.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah yeah.
It's powerful stuff just havingconversations with people and I
and even taking the time tolisten to what's being said.
Definitely so, mate.
What's going on with LukeCallery?
Like, you're kicking goals.
The business is cranking along.
You're in a good position now.
Like, are you using all thetools that you've learned and

(42:11):
that you've implemented?
Like, what's the forecast?
Like, is it all lookingpositive?
You're staying on top of things.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yeah, it's looking really good.
Actually that has been superpowerful is the tools to be able
to forecast.
That has actually helped usvery recently as well.
We're going through because ofthe style of projects that we're
doing.
We're increasing our turnoverThankfully it's a profitable
increase in turnover Goingthrough, like indemnity,
insurance increases, that sortof stuff.
Being able to use some of ourforecasting tools to be able to

(42:40):
show them that this is the workthat we've got in the pipeline,
this is the likelihood of itgoing ahead or this is where
it's at as far as a contract orwhatever.
Showing them how we've workedout, using the OBEZ calculator,
what our profit margin is, andshowing them that this is the
work we've got coming up.
This is the percentage ofprofit that we're going to make
on it, guaranteed.

(43:01):
That's our bare minimum.
It's been a it's been a hell ofan eye opener for some of the
people that we're speaking to inthe in those sorts of
industries as well, they go holyshit, that's bloody cool.
We've never seen that before.
No-transcript.

(43:24):
With what we've got, we've gotsome incredible projects coming
up.
We've got the most work on atthe moment that we've ever had
and the biggest value projectsthat we've got.
There's a couple of them, thatone in particular.
The first one that we put allthe way through the pack process
.
We actually worked with theseclients from initial
consultation to day one startingon site.
It was nearly 17 months that weworked with these people before

(43:47):
we got it over the line, soit's a very satisfying stage.
At the moment.
Um, we're just at timberframing stage, so it's a bit of
a wow factor.
You know what it's like when aclient sees that go up it.
Just it changes their wholeperspective on what it's going
to look like.
So it's it's um, yeah, the hardyards are definitely,
definitely reaping the benefitsat the moment.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
It's really cool that's awesome, and you and
you've got a big pipeline ofwork in front of you.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, we have.
We have actually We've yeahagain like forecasted that sort
of what we've done in theprevious financial year.
We're probably at bare minimum.
It'll be the same as what wedid, but it's looking like we
could probably sneak in an extracouple of projects as well, and
it'll just be just top it off,just to be a little bit better,
and each year just get a bitbetter and better.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
So that's awesome so, mate, how do you, how are you
keeping?
Like what?
What's your role?
How's that change?
Like, how are you keeping ontop of everything?
Now that all this is happening?
The business is growing, theyou've got this huge pipeline of
work in front of you.
Like what?
What does Luke Callery dodifferently now to what you did
two years ago?

Speaker 1 (44:45):
I've got to bite my tongue a little bit at the
moment because I am actuallyback on the tools because we've
got it.
Like I said, we had a hugecarpentry shortage at the moment
, but as that's only been likethe last couple of weeks, we've
got a new chippy starting nextweek and got a few that's that.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
That.
That's just a leader.
You've got to do what you'vegot to do.
You're gonna do what you doexactly that.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
But before that, like I basically my, my job is
full-time off the tools, I doprobably a little bit of project
management.
I help out with Hannah, ourproject manager.
Just guide her a little bit,because she's still learning as
well.
But otherwise I've been able tospend quite a bit more time
actually just working in thebackground on the business,
researching other stuff.

(45:21):
I've got a huge personalinvestment now for just wanting
to build a lot more sustainable,energy efficient, healthy homes
, so researching better products, different building methods,
that sort of stuff as well.
That I go back.
You know, even probably 18months ago I wouldn't have the
time to do that.
I would have been so focused oneach project that I didn't have

(45:42):
the time to actually sort ofwork on this stuff in the
background, because at that timewhen you're doing that sort of
stuff, you're not making anymoney if you're just looking for
alternate products.
So you've got to get the rightteam and those sort of
strategies implemented so thatyou can spend the time on it as
well as go back just a littlebit in conversation to the
accounting.
Then I'm really really enjoyingactually getting stuck into the

(46:03):
numbers, and that's somethingthat I've never had the time for
before either is to actuallyevery meeting I used to go to
with the accountant go back 18months ago, two years ago.
They'd be sitting on the otherside of the table talking
numbers and this is the strategy, this is how we got to that, or
whatever, and my eyes would beglazing over.
I'd be just about fallingasleep there, or whatever, but
now my eyes are wide open.
I'm going just explain that tome again.

(46:23):
How does that work?
And it's being able to havethat time to understand how it
all actually works.
That has totally changed myperspective on how everything
runs yeah, yeah, no, mate, it's.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
It's unreal and the um like your confidence, um in
all that too, and like obviouslyyour team's doing really well,
so you've got that confidence tospend the time so like you're
working on the business now,you're not stuck in the weeds,
uh, trying to just keep thatcash flow coming in and keep
paid the bloody bills.
So matt, how do you chill out,like, how do you get away from
all this?
What's your go-to like?

Speaker 1 (46:56):
my go-to, uh, probably my, my biggest out.
That's sort of my most frequentmountain biking.
I bloody love mountain biking.
I get a get a little bit, alittle bit consumed, or whatever
.
I'll go out in the forest andI'll put them a little hard out.
That's that's.
Um, that's definitely mybiggest out at the moment.
Um, I had some pretty majormotocross injuries back in my
early days so I can't, I can't,do a hell of a lot physically

(47:19):
anymore.
I'm not you know, I'm not abloody vegetable.
Um, I'll probably actually toelaborate on it, I'm probably
actually I feel like I'm in the,the, the, uh, the prime
physical condition of my life atthe moment, even though I've
had these phenomenal injuries,that being able to, to channel
in on what I can do and notstress out on I can't run or I

(47:40):
can't, buddy, can't do thatsuper physical task anymore,
being able to focus on what Ican actually do and do really
well at it, that has definitelyit.
It's it's changing my life atthe moment.
So my biggest doubt is gettingout on the mountain bike.
I'm doing a fair bit of um,like just other exercise, some
light weight training and stuffnow as well, getting a bit of
upper body strength and somecore strength back and I'm
feeling freaking awesome, but uhimportant, isn't it to um

(48:04):
you've got to work on yourself,you've got to constantly be
working on yourself yeah,because if you're not right,
nothing else is around you.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Jeez, mate, you're stealing all my sayings there.
Yeah, that's freaking awesome.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Outside of that, probably one of my other biggest
outs I quite enjoy going Likecamping is definitely that's our
holidays.
I'm not interested in going toa city staying in a flashy hotel
or going overseas or anythinglike that, but in going to a
city staying in a flashy hotelor going overseas or anything
like that, but the most overseastravel I've ever done, I've
been to kangaroo island.
That's it.
Um, I know we, um, we've beenroped into.
We're gonna go in 2026.
My mother-in-law's turning 60.

(48:37):
We're gonna go to new zealand,so I've got to get a passport
for that.
I don't have a passport yet, soholy shit um yeah but yeah,
other than that, mate, we justwe load up the caravan, chuck
the dogs in the back seat and wejust go somewhere where there's
either very limited or no phoneservice.
That's my ultimate piece, Ireckon.
Just get out and chill.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yeah, that's freaking awesome, mate.
So is there a couple of tipsfor people that are in the
industry right now builderstradies that might not be in
their best position.
What's just one or two thingsthat you'd recommend they get
stuck into?

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Ask for help.
That's probably the simplestone you can do.
You never know anybody that's.
They could be in a pretty closecircle around you that they
might have.
You know just the simplestlittle answers to a few things
for you.
So ask for help.
Networking is incrediblypowerful.
So get out there, ask questions, do your own research.
I'll say this on a few of thebuild insight podcasts as well.

(49:30):
I bloody hate plugging socialmedia, but instagram can
actually be one of your bestfriends.
There's so much resource outthere, or so many resources out
there for other people that areputting out the information,
that you don't even necessarilyhave to ask the questions
because the information is ontheir videos or on their photos
or whatever.
So that's probably that's oneof the one of the first things I
suggest.
Make sure you are looking afteryourself like work's not
everything.
There's so much more to lifethan work.

(49:51):
Um, it can definitely feel likework is everything if you have
got cash flow issues or whateverand you're solely on the tools.
But just take a little bit ofchill out time for yourself.
Um, even if it is an hour aweek, go for, go for a run, go
for a bike ride, do whatever.
Go walk the dogs, play with thekids, whatever.
Um, yeah, it's definitely yeah.
If you're not right, nothingelse can't be around you, so
look after yourself yeah, that's, it's important.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Hey, and that, um, yeah, you want to.
You want to be looking out topeople that are where you want
to be, like yep, reach out tothem, ask questions.
But, um, and mate, just tell usa little bit before we wrap it
up like what's?
You've got some pretty excitingstuff going on as well, like
you've managed to branch out.
Now you've teamed up with someother really good um, people in
the industry and, and tell us alittle bit about that, what
you're doing we have mate, so Ium, I've got another little

(50:35):
project build insight.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Anyone wants to look that up?
I'm going to give it a plug,dwayne, even if you like it or
not, um yeah, no, go for godbuild insight.
Inside is spelled i-n-s-i-t-e,if you're looking it up, um, so
I guess very relatable with whatyou're doing, mate.
I like sharing what I'velearned.
I don't think there is enougheducation out there for wanting
to build better, or even justthe simplest stuff on the simple

(50:58):
how-tos.
So myself and another builder,dean Backman, backing Builders
over in Victoria as well we'veteamed up and created this
online platform, build insight.
Go to podcasts I won't saysimilar to yours, but kind of
similar.
It's to do with building, Isuppose.
But yeah, just getting ondifferent guests in in all, all

(51:18):
parts of the industry as well assort of putting out videos on
sort of like, better buildingproducts, better building
methods, different materials,that sort of stuff.
Just trying products, betterbuilding methods, different
materials, that sort of stuff.
Just trying to provide a littlebit more education onto what is
out there, showing the behindthe scenes on what actually goes
into construction.
I guess it's kind of aimed at afew different platforms.

(51:39):
It's, I guess, to help builderssee what else is out there, but
also hoping that maybe ahomeowner might come across that
and get a bit more ofappreciation on what actually
goes into the construction oftheir home.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Tyrone, you've got a couple of other blokes as well.
Haven't you that help withcontent and stuff there?

Speaker 1 (51:56):
It's scaled back a little bit.
At the moment it's just myselfand Dean now, but yeah, we had
in the early days there was afew other contributors that
unfortunately business stuff gotin the way, so they've sort of
had to focus a bit more on that.
So it's.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah, and you like, because you do on your Instagram
page, like you said, somepretty good tips, don't you
about like whatever toolsinstalls.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
Yeah, like, yeah, whatever it is, different types
of things materials.
Yep, yep, so we were luckyenough.
Actually only, it was probablymaybe about three weeks ago, um,
so those that don't know,bowens is a victorian hardware
supplier.
Sorry, victorian hardwaresupplier, unfortunately only in
victoria.
I wish they were in sa as well,because I think what they're
doing for the industry isphenomenal.

(52:36):
They, I would say, are by farthe most innovative hardware
chain in the country.
Um, even though they are onlyin victoria, I think they're
planning maybe in the nearfuture to expand, but not really
sure where yet.
If anyone from Bowens islistening, definitely come to SA
.
But yeah, so they had a biannualevent they have at the Bowens
Building and Innovation Expowhere they were kind enough to

(52:59):
invite us to have a stand thereat the expo, get up on the main
stage, have a bit of a talkabout what our mission is.
With Build Insight, we jumpedup, recorded one of the podcasts
with another builder on thestage and we just they gave us,
they gave us the stall, um toactually set up our banners and
talk to people.
But I reckon we set the bannersup.
We didn't.
I reckon we spent about 30seconds at the store for the
whole event.
We were mostly other time wewere going around taking turns,

(53:22):
interviewing um differentsuppliers and and materials and
all this extra stuff.
They're just trying to get somemore content to put out to
people saying that you know,here's a different type of
window, here's a differentcladding, that maybe it's a bit
more sustainable, it's more of acarbon neutral footprint.
Just trying to provide a littlebit more insight onto what is
available.
It's not just your stuff thatyou go to Bunnings or Mitre 10

(53:45):
or whatever and see on the shelf.
There is actually more to theindustry than just what you can
see on the shelf there.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
Awesome, mate.
Well, look, really appreciateyour time this afternoon to chat
and talk about especially beinga bit vulnerable, mate, about
where you were for those coupleof years and struggling through
those times, and obviouslyyou're kicking it out of the
park now, mate.
So, yeah, I take my hat off toyou and, um, look, I I am really
excited just to continue to seeyour growth, um, and where you

(54:12):
keep going, because, uh, if youkeep on the same trajectory as
you have been for the last 18months, mate, who knows where
you're gonna end up?
So, um, yeah, congratulations,uh, look forward to giving you a
big, big hug, mate, next timewe catch up.
It's always good to catch up inperson, but um.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Thanks, mate.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
I appreciate the continued support uh, all good,
mate, all good.
Well, um, look, guys, if youlike this podcast, make sure you
subscribe.
Uh, look, go, check out the newwebsite.
Get on board with the merch.
Um, it's going nuts.
We want everyone australiawearing the merch keep smashing
it on the back, because that'swhat we're doing.
And, um, yeah, help us tocreate this new building
industry.
Cheers, guys.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
We'll see you on the next one are you ready to build
smarter, live better and enjoylife?

Speaker 2 (54:51):
then head over to live like buildcom forward,
slash, elevate to get startedeverything discussed during the
level up podcast with me, dwaynePearce, is based solely on my
own personal experiences andthose experiences of my guests.

(55:14):
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.