In this episode of the Build Hatch Podcast, we had the opportunity to hear from Ben and Dave from Urban Joinery.

In this episode we talk about:

• Ben grew up between Sydney and Newcastle and has called the coast his home for most of his life.
• Dave grew up in Yass, Victoria and after moving to the coast embraced surfing after graduating from high school. After finding himself (or losing himself) in the surf Dave started working for a builder where he discovered that fine workmanship in joinery really appealed to him.
• Ben’s path to construction started as an apprenticeship in grade 10 where he happened to fall into joinery and has loved it ever since.
• Ben and Dave met while Ben was working as a sales rep. When they both had stepped out on their own into the joinery space, they decided to rent a shed together for 18 months.
• Realising that they had the same work ethic and differing strengths, they joined forces to start Urban Joinery and have never looked back.
• Dave gets satisfaction from working on the more challenging architectural projects, and realised he needed more hands-on deck to be able to make a good first impression on builders and their clients.
• Communication is the key when working with deadlines and, as a finishing trade - joinery always has the most time pressure at the critical stages of the construction project.
• Stock levels that are outstanding due to COVID and how they communicate such unavoidable delays with clients.
• The huge expenses involved with joinery and the benefits of a CNC router machine.
• The investment of storage, factory space, tools, technology and the overheads.
• Everything Urban Joinery produces is custom and every job they encounter has its unique set of challenges they need to overcome.
• Quoting materials for jobs is the easiest aspect of joinery - trying to quantify the labour hours of the install and production is the challenge.
• Ben and Dave won’t settle for mediocre and their high standard and attention to the half-millimetres set them apart.
• Asking ‘would I want this result in my own home’ and not settling until the answer is ‘yes’.
• No sweating the small stuff and their process of problem solving.
• Working with architects in the early stages of the design results in a better finish.
• The contrast between working on residential homes in contrast with architects.
• Balancing family, surf and hard work.
• The future for Urban Joinery.

 

Sit back and enjoy this helpful interview with Ben and Dave from Urban Joinery.

 

Links:

Urban Joinery

Follow @urbanjoinery on Instagram

Build Hatch