The Competitive Contractor

We all are familiar with made in Australia, buy Australian made and so on. But we often don’t realise that such terms extend beyond manufactured products. Construction is one such example where 80% of major infrastructure projects are delivered by multinational firms. While local contractors are involved indirectly, there is the common question of – if we are constructing the project indirectly, why can’t we involved directly? There is so much potential in the local construction industry. Our history of building the world renowned Snowy Hydro Scheme back in the day, and also being the birthplace local construction firms who are now owned by multinationals with a global footprint.

It’s potential that’s idling – and the question I have today is how do we fire up Australia’s construction potential!

In this podcast, I am joined by the CEO of the Australian Owned Contractors and a very passionate advocate of Australian Contractors, Brent Crockford. Brent has been in engaged in the public service sector since the early 2000’s and has worked with Governments and policy makers for most of his career. Earlier this year, Brent was appointed to lead Australian Owned Contractors, an industry association representing 16 mid-Tier construction companies.

The Competitive Contractor Podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co - www.shivendra.com

This episode of the Competitive Contractor Podcast is different as I challenged myself to put out a solo cast. 

There are a lot of discussions taking place on how the construction industry, particularly at the contractor and sub-contractor level would be post-COVID (now!). These are great conversations but not as much if the context isn’t correct. And this is solo cast is about clarifying some of these things. 

Some say investing in technology is the answer. But is it really the answer, or a tool?

Others say digital marketing is the silver bullet to grow your construction business. But is that where all our focus needs to be?

Here’s my perspective on traits clients and main contractors will be looking for in their contractors and where your efforts need to be directed now to be ready for 2021.

The Competitive Contractor Podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co. Find out how you too can win more work and grow profitably - www.shivendra.com

Traditionally data in construction has been used as more of a reporting tool by business analysts, however, data can serve as a crucial informant of strategic decision making. Due to the inherently complex nature of construction projects, managing and processing vast amount of data from multiple sources, is a weighty task, and one, which results in the underutilization of much of the available data. Data is an asset we cannot continue to ignore. Realizing its value early enough gives us an edge to become more competitive to discuss data as a tool for constructors.

In this podcast, I discuss the use of data analytics in construction with Neil Patel. Neil is the General Manager of Concerto Analytics. He has a strong passion for solving large, complex problems facing organizations. over the years. Neil can be reached via https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilpatel-/ or [email protected].

And here is a special offer for our listeners - Concerto Free Trial for up 3 colleagues for 3 months if use "Competitive Contractor” in the response to "How did you hear about us?" description https://concertoanalytics.com/sign-up/

The Competitive Contractor podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co - www.shivendra.com

Communication plays a massive part in our lives. It is the glue that keeps things rolling and the construction industry, in particular, is one that is based on interactions between people.  From discussions with employees, subcontractors, the clients,  and the external stakeholders, which not only includes the community, but also the future workforce and investors. 

But despite it being such a crucial part of the industry, there is probably not enough focus, no attention given to communication is a powerful tool for marketing for advocacy for capturing and transferring learnings, as well as to engage the community in building Australia.

What's changing in the way the construction industry communicates? What are some unexplored areas?

I discuss this further with Michael Parker, Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Praxis Communications. Michael has spent many years developing communication strategies to position brands set agendas, improve marketing and manage issues, and the media.

The Competitive Contractor Podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co. 

Why don’t solutions to business problems stick? Why does it feel businesses operate on a treadmill when it comes to solving problems?

These questions keep coming up in conversations with many executives, business owners and project managers.

Interestingly, these questions have been discussed over the many years - constantly and rightfully so given the old line that change is a constant. But more seriously, solving problems and implementing change swiftly and sustainably is critical for businesses intending to grow, succeed and thrive in the current climate. So what do we miss when it comes to solving problems and changing? What is the missing ingredient in the recipe for successful change?

We discuss this topic with Indi Ray, a senior manager at nbn responsible for customer-led transformation. Indi is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt in Operational Excellence, Lean Coach and Change Manager. Over the past 16 years', Indi has been mobilising, leading and managing organisational transformation programs to optimise systems and processes to deliver efficiencies and improved user and customer experiences. Indi has led Business maturity programs that drive E2E value stream improvement across many industries such as oil & gas, defence, utilities, telco and retail.

The Competitive Contractor Podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co (www.shivendra.com)

The construction industry has a poor track record of insolvencies. There are various reasons for this and the commonly talked about one is biased risk allocation, which is pushing risk downward in the value chain along with poor payment practices. When compared to other industries, construction also has a higher capital requirement due to investments in plant and equipment.

Insolvency is a topic we avoid talking about, but the challenge is real. With COVID-19 and with some specialised construction projects such as NBN coming to an end, the threat is real for businesses. And while challenges faced by larger organisations make headlines in mainstream media, the realities and stresses of small to medium-sized contractors only remain front of mind for the owners, unknown to many of us.

In this episode, I am with Andrew Spring, a Partner in the National Insolvency Firm, Jirsch Sutherland. Andrew’s career in the specialist recovery and insolvency practise commenced in 1999. Having worked internationally for a number of years, Andrew joined Jirsch Sutherland as a partner in 2011 and with his experience and expertise helped many local businesses, including many in the construction industry ride through difficult and challenging periods.

We discuss Australia's insolvency regime, duties of directors, dive deep into the voluntary administration process and discuss recent changes to illegal phoenix activities. We made sure jargons and legal terms are minimised.

The Competitive Contractor Podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co (www.shivendra.com). 

A lot has changed and is changing in the construction industry. A transformation of the local infrastructure construction industry has been talked about for a long time. The good news is that with the jolt from COVID-19, there are now more conversations on changes needed in the construction industry. But not all changes can be initiated and implemented by businesses as they require collective effort at the industry level.

So how do we move the construction industry from here to there!

In this episode, Jon Davies, the recently appointed CEO of the Australian Constructors Association (ACA) discusses his vision for the ACA, how the ACA is helping address the challenges the industry faces and why he is excited to be a part of the construction industry.

More information about ACA can be found via https://www.constructors.com.au/. You can also follow Australian Contractors Association and John Davies on LinkedIn.

The Competitive Contractor podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co.

Resilience will be the dominant word for organisations, boards and CEO’s going forwards. A lot has been said and written about resilience at the individual and business level recently and this podcast extends it to an industry level.

The construction industry has been struggling with issues such as low profitability, skills shortage and mental health for a while. Industry resilience, therefore, becomes an important topic and we need to act to ensure the industry that builds Australia remains strong enough to construct the bridge between now and our future economic aspirations.

In this podcast, we hear from Le Tilahun, Associate Partner of McKinsey & Company.  He shares his thoughts on how the construction industry in Australia is doing currently and presents areas the industry needs to focus on first.

Your action list to think about resilience in the construction industry starts here.

The Competitive Contractor podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co.

In this podcast, Robin Miles provides insights on decision making in a crisis. Robin Miles is the co-founder of Inspireme consulting. Robin assists companies, organisations and individuals to discover the power of inner leadership and the potential of united teams. In this podcast, Robin discusses the Harvard Negotiation project theory on collaboration and negotiation and benefits organisations have seen applying decision-making methodologies. He emphasises how businesses, during times of crisis, need to go hard on the problem and go easy on people. Robin provides advice that will help every contractor, beyond doubt, to navigate successfully the current crisis.

The Competitive Contractor podcast is brought to you by Shivendra & Co

In this podcast, Kate Burrows provides insights on successful tenders. Kate Burrows is the founder and managing director of The Tender Training College. Kate helps small and large contractors with tender submissions. In this podcast, Kate discusses the Go/No Go process contractors need to apply for tenders, important considerations when writing tenders, mistakes to avoid and the elements of a tender submission that decides who wins a tender in tight situations.