WA COUNTRY BUILDERS - Construction In Focus€¦ · and established its first office in Bunbury....

A S F E A T U R E D I N A U S T R A L I A N C O N S T R U C T I O N F O C U S

IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY

WA COUNTRY BUILDERS

2 WA COUNTRY BUILDERS - IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY

IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY

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3 AS FEATURED IN AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION FOCUS

A composite group of building companies situated in twelve lo-cations, with an even spread between metropolitan and regional

areas, the group is now Australia’s third largest home builder with an annual turnover in excess of $450 million. JWH repre-

sents a collaboration of reputable and successful companies – WA Country Builders among them – coupled with geographical

spread and dedicated staff with many years experience...

IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY WA COUNTRY BUILDERS


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Written By John Boley

Against a background of a depressed market and drought, one company – or group of companies – in the southern half of Western Australia has developed a business model that is an “amazing success story.”

That is the view of Ian Holloway, general manager of WA Country Builders, one of a group of individual companies that has formed the JWH Group. An en-tirely Western Australian, family owned organisation, JWH Group Pty Ltd has grown from employing 120 office staff in its early stages, to currently more than 640 staff and in excess of 2,000 sub-contractors. A composite group of building companies situated in twelve locations, with an even spread between met-ropolitan and regional areas, the group is now Aus-tralia’s third largest home builder with an annual turnover in excess of $450 million. JWH represents a collaboration of reputable and successful compa-nies, coupled with geographical spread and dedicated staff with many years experience.

WA Country Builders is a unique operation, says Ian, made up of five offices across the southern half of WA

including Geraldton, Bunbury and Busselton. Instead of being directed from a Perth head office, “collec-tively we market together and create the product to-gether, but we run our operations independently of each other so we can micromarket, providing to each of those country areas exactly what each of the areas wants, and gaining an understanding of those areas.”

Ian is a well known identity throughout the industry (please see sidebar for further details). Throughout his career, Ian has been heavily involved in the Hous-ing Industry Association (HIA) and has received nu-merous awards and accolades. Most recently, in Au-gust 2011, he won the HIA GreenSmart Professional of the Year award. The HIA-Boral GreenSmart Awards recognise the best in environmentally responsible housing and the GreenSmart Professional award rec-ognises the accredited GreenSmart Professional who best demonstrates the successful application of the GreenSmart approach to all aspects of their company.

Judges said: “With a pragmatic approach to sustain-ability and true to his philosophy, [Ian] works across the team to keep costs down. Tying affordability with sustainability is Ian’s strength, and he has been push-


ing sustainable building practices for more than three decades.” Congratulating Ian and WA Country Builders, HIA managing director Shane Goodwin said the awards represented the pinnacle of sustainable residential con-struction. The programme is “a voluntary initiative and accreditation our members can incorporate into their building practices to respond to consumer demand. The awards recognise the high standards and excellence among these practitioners.”

WA Country Builders started a little over 20 years ago and established its first office in Bunbury. “We have no interest in the metropolitan area. To deliver effectively, we have to think country – not think city.” Some opera-tions serving the area would do their drafting and es-timating in Perth, “but we do it all locally and because of that we get a much better understanding.” The only operations carried out centrally are accounts and IT; everything else is completely self-contained although the five general managers cooperate closely and share decisions – “it’s a sort of franchise operation but not like McDonalds – we make different hamburgers to suit different markets.” The five do not compete with each other because effectively each ‘franchise’ has its own clearly defined territory.

“To deliver effectively, we have to

think country – not think city.”

WA Country Builders is not only about housing. “We will do an office block, a retirement home, we tender on busi-ness and the outlying operations do a lot of work with local government.” The company is equally at home de-signing and building wineries, commercial buildings, cha-lets, offices and retirement villages. It’s a developer in its own right too, with a 60-lot subdivision at Boddington, site of one of the world’s largest goldmines (by output). WA Country is open to joint ventures with other develop-ers and as the economy improves it is expected there will be more development projects coming up.

If approached by a developer with a piece of land, says Ian, WA Country Builders can provide everything, ad-vising on housing type, costings and designs. “We are happy with design and construct – we can provide a one-stop shop and that’s one of the reasons we have been so successful, providing the country areas with a bit of so-phistication you wouldn’t get otherwise from the smaller country operators.” That’s not to denigrate the smaller operators, he stresses. “They do a very good job – but they work on a slightly different level to us.”

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IAN HOLLOWAY

CAREER

• Joined the housing industry in 1976 in sales for a package deal operator in low-end market out of Kelmscott and Armadale.

• Joined Malcolm Bell homes in 1978 and worked there for nine years, seven of them in a senior management role.

• Joined J-Corp Pty Ltd in 1986 with a very direct responsibility for the organisation’s growth. Started as marketing manager for Perceptions the home builder and later the group business development manager for J- Corp Pty Ltd.

• Assisted in the commencement of all the associated building operations of J-Corp.

• Recent job responsibilities include the general manager role for Rural Building Company for nine and a half years.

• Currently general manager at WA Country Builders, Avon & Upper Great Southern.

• Responsible for a unique land and housing sub-division in Boddington, in conjunction with Newmont Boddington.

INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

• Joined the Housing Industry Association (HIA) in 1982 and was elected to the HIA Council in the same year.

• Chaired the HIA Finance and Land Committee (now the Presidents Forum) from 1985 for 12 years.

• Was awarded the Ron Sears Citation for service to the industry in 1995.

• HIA state president 1995 to 1997.

• HIA national director May 1997 to May 1999.

• Past member of HIA Regional Executive.

• Past regional chair of HIA Planning Development and Environment Committee but have remained a member.

• Member of the HIA Presidents Forum.

• Awarded State Greensmart Professional by HIA 2011.

• Awarded National Greensmart Professional by HIA 2011.

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• Served on a number of government committees including:

• R-Codes (six years) prior to 1991 edition

• Liveable neighbourhoods as a practitioner (five years)

• State Planning Commission Sustainability Committee

• WaterCorp Urban Development Advisory Committee

• Serving currently on a number of government committees:

• WaterCorp Urban Development Advisory Committee

• State Planning Commissions Statutory Planning Committee

• bInvolvement with other institutions

• Informal association with the Urban Development Institute and five-time judge of their Awards for Urban Design

PERSONAL

• The best understanding of regional housing issues of anyone in WA from a commercial standpoint.

• An excellent grasp of planning issues and their relationship to housing in WA.

• A proponent of medium density (anti-urban sprawl) and the values that this development can bring to communities.

• Awarded the Ron Sears citation for service to the housing industry in 1995, an award he proudly shares with Jim McCusker, Peter Overman, Ric New and Greg Joyce to name a few.

• A proponent of Environmentally Responsible housing.

• Awarded Life Membership of the Housing Industry Association in 2008.


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WA’s team has been responsible for some exciting projects around the state, including the Fox River Winery complex in Mt Barker; the Kalbarri Golf Club; the Albany Lifestyle Village, a 140-unit retirement vil-lage for the RAAF; the Barry Court Holiday Resort on Middleton Beach; and the Geraldton Mariners Com-mercial Complex to name but a few.

“We can provide a one-stop

shop and that’s one of

the reasons we have

been so successful...”

But most of the business is in residential. “Because we’re a member of the JWH Group, one of WA’s biggest building companies, we have a huge range of homes under the WA Country Builders banner ‘Country Homes Range’.” In fact there are almost 400 designs to choose from. “We will build what is attractive to the consumers in each area. Take the Wheat belt – farmers tend to be quite conservative people and their housing tends to be quite similar to suburban buildings, but if you look at different life-styles, people coming out of metropolitan areas, for example, and buying 20 acres, they want the more architectural type of product. We also do a lot of specialised [one-off] designs too and if people want to spend a million dollars we can build for them too – that’s not a problem. We have our own internal drafting and design service.”

Everyone talks about the mining money sloshing around in WA, but Ian reminds that many more people work in agriculture than in resources, and there has been prolonged and little-publicised drought for several years, dragging down the housing market along with the rest of the local economy. In all honesty, says Ian, it is a difficult marketplace at present, “but we have been doing reasonably well because of what we can provide – we are the largest volume builder in Geraldton, or the Wheat belt.” To the south, virtually every-one has an office “but we are the only ones who can say we are truly local.”

And local is vital. “We are in a position where we can provide a local community with the type of housing they need, cost-effectively for that area, support the local trades, support local busi-nesses and it’s been an amazing success story. No one else does it in Australia.”

WA Country Builders

www.wacountrybuilders.com.au

675 Victoria Street, Abbotsford | Victoria 3067 | Ph: 03 8682 0423 | ABN 93 143 238 126

WA COUNTRY BUILDERS - Construction In Focus€¦ · and established its first office in Bunbury....

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Transcript of WA COUNTRY BUILDERS - Construction In Focus€¦ · and established its first office in Bunbury....