Your weekly construction industry news wrap. Five stories that matter for builders and trades this week.

This week: The Federal Government appoints Australia's first Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator as diesel supply chains come under pressure. Why the smartest builders are treating everyday site work as high-trust marketing. Goop Guys and the rise of low-risk specialist franchises expanding across Australia. Everyone's Place reaches 200 completed homes in Queensland. And why CPD done properly is one of the best investments you can make in your building business, featuring our Community Directory Member of the Week, PointsBuild.

PointsBuild is offering 20% off all courses for TGB Directory members. Check them out: https://bem.pointsbuild.com.au/bem/welcome or call 1300 892 829.

Powered by MyConstruct. Construction management software built for Australian builders. Visit myconstruct.com.

Join The Good Builder Community Directory: thegoodbuilder.com.au

What We Cover

• Federal Government appoints first Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator

• Why diesel price and supply pressure matters for construction

• How builders are turning everyday site work into powerful content

• Goop Guys and the rise of specialist service franchises in construction

• Everyone's Place housing program hits 200 homes in Queensland

• Why CPD is smart business, not just compliance (feat. PointsBuild)

• PointsBuild: TGB Community Directory Member of the Week

Thanks to this month's Podcast sponsor Pay.com.au, remember our audience gets 20,000 bonus points when you sign up.

USE code: GOOD20

T&C's apply go to pay.com.au/tgb

Most builders think they lose work on price. The reality is, they're losing work before the conversation even starts.

In this episode, Az shares a story from inside the industry, a lead response audit he ran in 2018 while working within a national home building franchise. Real enquiries were submitted to some of Australia's biggest residential builders, and the response times were tracked from the moment of submission.

The fastest response was 25 minutes.

The slowest was almost six days. And multiple national builders never responded at all.

That data is backed by some of the most respected lead management research in the world — including the MIT/InsideSales study, which found that responding within five minutes makes you 21 times more likely to qualify a lead. And a 2024 study showing more than 63% of businesses never respond to a lead at all.

If you're spending money on marketing and leads are coming through, this might be the most important ten minutes you hear this week.

What we cover:

• The 2018 lead response audit — what happened when real enquiries were submitted to major Australian builders
• Why the fastest response in the audit was 25 minutes and the slowest was nearly six days
• The MIT/InsideSales study: responding in 5 minutes makes you 21x more likely to qualify a lead
• Why 78% of customers go with the company that responds first
• The 2024 data showing 63% of businesses never respond at all
• A simple framework for getting your response time under two hours this week
• Why this pairs with last Monday's episode on follow-up

Powered by MyConstruct — construction management software built for Australian builders. Visit myconstruct.com for your 30-day trial.

Everyone is talking about AI right now. Most of them are trying to sell you something.

Drew and Sean from Increase Construction are not. They went quiet, leaned in hard, and built something real. 

A team of AI agents running inside their business. A general manager. A marketing manager. Operations. Sales. Each one with a name, a role, and a job to do.

They deliberately stalled hiring staff for over a year because they had a gut feeling something was coming. They were right.

In this episode, Drew and Sean pull back the curtain on exactly what they've built, what it cost, what went wrong (including the 3am wake-up call from a $2,000 bill), and what it means for builders who are watching all the AI noise and wondering what's actually worth paying attention to.

This is one of the most practical conversations we've had on the podcast. No jargon for the sake of it. No selling a widget. Just two guys who broke the thing 40 times and came out the other side with something that works.

What we cover:

• What AI agents actually are — and why they're different from talking to ChatGPT
• How Drew and Sean built a virtual team that reports, learns, and checks its own performance
• The real cost — $5 to $10 a day to run the whole operation
• The $2,000 mistake at 3am and what it taught them about guardrails
• Why they chose to invest internally instead of hiring three full-time staff
• Practical use cases for builders — NCC compliance, defect manuals, trade sourcing, multi-channel marketing
• How AI removes the admin layer and gets better information to the decision-maker faster
• Why most AI products in construction are just repackaged widgets with a new label
• What "leaning in" actually requires — and why doing it half-hearted will burn you
• Where this is heading for builders over the next 12 months

If you've been sitting on the fence with AI, this episode will help you figure out where to start and who to trust.

Links and resources: Increase Construction — https://www.increaseconstruction.com/about

Bricklaying is a dying breed. That is the reality. But Damian and Tara are doing something about it.

In this episode, Az sits down with the husband and wife team behind DA Bricklaying and DAT Tools, two businesses built from the ground up with no shortcuts, no outside funding, and no corporate playbook.

Damian has been laying bricks for 27 years. Tara has been right beside him through all of it. Together, they turned a sole trader operation into a professional crew, competed on the world stage at the Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 in the United States, and launched a self-funded tools business born from real pain points on the job.

This conversation is raw, honest, and full of lessons for anyone running a trade business or building something with their partner.

What we cover:

• How Damian went from laying bricks at 14 to running a respected crew in Melbourne
• Tara becoming the first female mason tender in the history of the Spec Mix Bricklayer 500
• The real challenges of scaling from sole trader to a full business with overheads, crews, and cash flow pressure
• Practical lessons on tracking your numbers, managing tax, and building a financial buffer
• What it takes to build a reputation through word of mouth alone
• Working as a couple across two businesses while raising two young kids
• The story behind DAT Tools and how on-site frustrations became real products
• What makes a good builder from a bricklayer's perspective

If you are a tradie thinking about starting a business, or you are already in one and wondering how to do it better, this is one to listen to.

🔗 Check out DAT Tools and support an Australian family business doing it the right way.

https://www.dattools.com/
https://www.instagram.com/damianamusobricklaying/

The Good Builder Directory is live. In this episode, Az walks through what it is, why it was built, and what it means for builders, trades, and suppliers who care about who they do business with.

This isn't another listing site. It's a curated space built around reputation, trust, and the same standards The Good Builder has always stood for. Early members get the best positioning, and right now, the categories are wide open.

Az also puts a spotlight on JV Recruitment — a nationwide construction recruitment and labour hire provider — and shares a key piece of content they partnered on called From Apprentices to Supervisor: Building Career Pathways That Keep Talent. If retention is costing you, this one's worth your time.

What We Cover

What the Good Builder Directory is, and what it isn't.
Why curation matters more than reach when it comes to trusted referrals
What directory members get access to (profile, TGB badge, exclusives)

Spotlight: JV Recruitment and the people you need to know

Why retention is the new recruitment....and what builders are getting wrongThe five things builders who keep their best people do consistently

Links mentioned:

Good Builder Directory: thegoodbuilder.com.au/business-directory

JV Recruitment: jvrecruitment.com.au

MyConstruct: myconstruct.com

Four big stories. One theme. Pressure, coming from every direction.

This week on Tuesday Headlines, Aaron breaks down what's happening across the global and local construction landscape, and why builders who aren't paying attention right now could get caught short.

What we cover:

• US-Iran conflict and your build costs — Oil prices have surged 12–20% in a short window. Fuel isn't the only exposure. Freight costs, imported materials, steel, glass, and electrical components are all in the firing line. And if inflation ticks back up, that's a problem for the RBA, interest rates, and buyer confidence.
• WA's fuel security roundtable — Western Australia's Premier Roger Cook called an emergency roundtable with fuel providers, logistics operators, and government officials. Supply is currently uninterrupted — but the fact that the meeting happened tells you something. Regional construction remains the most exposed.
• Concrete, aggregates, and the infrastructure pipeline — The Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia group has flagged that Australia may not have enough supply to deliver its own infrastructure commitments. The Brisbane 2032 Olympic wave and major freight corridors could outstrip local production capacity. If you're tendering on civil or major subdivision work in Southeast Queensland, start talking to your material suppliers now.
• HIA takes aim at the NCC — The Housing Industry Association has lodged a detailed submission calling out the National Construction Code for growing more than eight times longer than when it was first introduced, referencing double the number of Australian standards, many of which builders have to pay for separately just to understand. The HIA is pushing for simplified language, a five-year update cycle, freely available standards, and clearer pathways for modern construction methods.

None of this is sky-falling territory. But the builders who are reviewing their exposure, talking to their supply chain, and pricing properly right now will be the ones best placed when the pressure arrives.

Mentions this episode:

• Rebecca Askin, Adapt Modular (recent guest — NCC and modular construction)
• Damian and Tara (DA Bricklaying) — coming up this week
• Drew from Increase Construction and Sean — AI in construction, dropping this week

Sponsor: MyConstruct — construction management software built for Australian builders. One platform for jobs, communication, and contracts. 30-day free trial at myconstruct.com: https://myconstruct.com/signup/

Most builders say the same thing about content. They don't know what to post, they don't think their work is interesting enough, and they don't have the time.

This episode flips that thinking completely.

Az breaks down why builders aren't short on content — they're short on awareness. If you're on site every day solving problems, holding standards, and making decisions, you're already sitting on more material than you'll ever need. This episode shows you how to see it, capture it, and share it — without a studio, a strategy, or three hours spare.

What's covered:

• Why documenting beats creating for builders
• What you think is boring — and why your clients find it fascinating
• The one-minute daily habit that builds a content bank you can draw from all year
• Three content categories that consistently work for builders

Sponsor: MyConstruct - construction management software built for Australian builders. Scheduling, client communication, and document management in one place. Head to myconstruct.com

Most builders have never thought about putting their frame in a client conversation. Christine Briggs thinks that's a missed opportunity — and she's built a career proving it.

Christine is the driving force behind WoodSolutions' national timber campaign, a consultant with 35 years in the timber and forestry industry, and one of the most genuinely industry-focused people you'll meet. She sits on multiple boards, advocates for sustainability without the greenwashing, and has quietly been one of the most impactful behind-the-scenes voices in Australian residential construction.

In this episode, Az and Christine dig into why timber framing is more than a structural choice, it's a marketing asset, a trust signal, and increasingly, a point of difference builders aren't using.

What we cover:

• Christine's 35-year journey through timber, forestry, and construction
• Why the average Australian home stores the carbon equivalent of 126 Sydney-to-Melbourne flights
• The "150 seconds" stat that stops people cold at dinner parties
• WoodSolutions' new carbon calculator and how builders can use it with clients
• The "What's Behind the Wall" campaign and why it matters right now
• How timber framing fits into the customer journey — from display home to handover
• Why culture and brand are two sides of the same coin
• Gender diversity in construction and why Christine is still pushing hard for change
• What makes a good builder — and why Christine's answer is unlike any we've heard

This episode is proudly brought to you by: myconstruct.com

Bec Askin didn't plan to be in construction. It just became her life. And then she made it her own.

In this episode, I sit down with Bec from Adapt Modular (a division of Campbell Construction Co.) to talk about her 25 years in the industry, studying for her QBCC licence while raising two kids solo during COVID, and why she's now heading up a modular building division doing work that genuinely matters.

We talk about:

• How Bec went from admin to licence holder while doing it all on her own
• The barriers women still face on site (and why it's more about acceptance than it is about progress)
• What Adapt Modular is building and who they're building it for (including a disabled bathroom for a school two hours north of Birdsville)
• Why long service leave for admin workers is broken and needs fixing
• The NCC, modular building codes, and why the industry is fighting with itself over prefab
• What a good builder actually looks like (Bec's answer is one we've never heard before)

Bec is the kind of person who doesn't make a big deal of what she's done. I had to push her to tell the story properly.

Worth the listen.

#constructionindustry #builderlife #womeninconstruction #buildingbusiness

This episode is proudly brought to you by myconstruct.com

You've heard it before...builders burning out, running the business solo, quoting at night and doing payroll on weekends. But when it comes to getting support, most builders don't know what it actually costs. This episode fixes that.

Az is joined again by Anisha and Nayan from Scale Up Smart — and this time, it's all about price. What does it cost to outsource estimating, project management, admin, design and drafting, or marketing coordination? What's the difference between part-time and full-time? Developing level versus mastery? And how does it all stack up against hiring locally in Australia?

Spoiler: the numbers are going to surprise you.

But this episode quickly becomes about more than cost. It's about what builders actually get — vetted staff, three layers of quality assurance, twice-weekly software training, seamless integration into your existing systems, and a structured 90-day onboarding process designed to give you clarity before it gives you results.

From a $330-per-week part-time estimator to a full-time mastery-level project manager at $700 per week, the team walk through every core role and what it delivers. There's also a sneak peek at an upcoming guaranteed marketing package from Scale Up Smart — one Az is very excited about.

What we cover:

• The real cost of outsourced estimating, project management, admin, design and drafting, and marketing coordination
• Part-time vs full-time and how to match the right level to your business size
• How Scale Up Smart vets, trains, and supports every team member before they touch your business
• Why clean books, clear schedules, and consistent marketing all point to the same outcome — peace of mind
• What the first 90 days actually looks like when you bring on a Scale Up Smart resource
• The upcoming guaranteed lead generation package — and why Az nearly started a building company again on the spot