The Australian building industry is shifting fast, and in this episode, we discuss what that really looks like on the ground. From economic pressure and labour shortages to changing technology and AI-driven disruption, this is an honest conversation about the reality of running a building business in a market that feels increasingly uncertain. If you are a builder in Australia, a construction business owner, or part of the wider residential construction industry, this episode will likely hit close to home.

A big focus in this discussion is pre-construction and the hidden work that happens long before a project starts on site. We talk about planning, pricing, quoting, revisions, and the challenge of helping clients understand the real value of that early-stage work. In an industry where construction margins, project costs, and builder pricing are under pressure, these conversations matter. Better outcomes in the Australian construction industry start with clearer expectations and a more honest understanding of what good building actually takes.

We also get into the mental and emotional side of staying in the game. When projects fall over, confidence drops, and the market feels shaky, builders need more than technical skill to keep moving forward. This episode explores builder resilience, construction industry challenges, and the importance of protecting your health, your mindset, and your business through difficult seasons. It is a grounded conversation for anyone navigating the pressure of running a building company in Australia right now.

We also talk about why industry events and communities still matter, including the Passive Haus Conference, the Sustainable Builders Alliance, and the value of learning from other builders, designers, and architects who want to lift the standard.

👇 CHAPTER MARKERS 👇

00:00 Introduction | The Mindful Builder Podcast

01:34 Building Industry Events and Podcast Updates

02:12 Builder Reality Check in the Australian Construction Industry

03:26 Pre-Construction Costs, Delays and Client Expectations

05:09 What Is Changing in the Building Industry?

07:37 Builder Margins, Profit and Construction Business Pressure

09:48 Construction Insurance, Retention and Builder Risk

11:30 Sustainable House Day for Builders and Homeowners

15:00 Passive House Conference Australia 2026

20:29 Sustainable Builders Alliance Webinars and Industry Education

24:02 SBA Growth, Industry Partnerships and Builder Support

25:30 Why Builders, Designers and Architects Should Join SBA

26:49 Designer Education, CPD and Demand for Better Building Knowledge

28:09 Beer and BS Webinar for Builders and Construction Professionals

31:11 Construction Sponsorship, Industry Support and Transparency

33:09 Building Industry Newsletter and Education Mission

34:23 Adelaide Building Event and Passive House Learning Opportunities

37:06 Why Builders Need Ongoing Education and Training

37:33 Pro Clima Resources, Building Science and Industry Support

38:41 Wrap Up | What’s Next for Builders and Sustainable Construction

LINKS:

Connect with Sustainable Builders Alliance:

https://www.thesba.com.au/

Passive Haus Conference

https://www.passivhausassociation.com.au/thrive-2025-passivhaus-conference-2-1

Pro Clima Upcoming Events:

https://proclima.com.au/schedule/

Our Sponsors:

Pro Clima - https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm/proclima

MEGT - https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm/megt

Connect with us on Instagram: @themindfulbuilderpod

Connect with Hamish:

Instagram: @sanctumhomes

Website: www.yoursanctum.com.au/

Connect with Matt:

Instagram: @carlandconstructions

Website: www.carlandconstructions.com/

Mentioned in this episode:

Proclima Sponsor

Hey team, things are going to look a little different coming

up, but this is a good thing.

Sometimes change is hard and it's something that we have been working on

in the background for a little while now.

Honestly, change is good.

It's a whole reason Hamish and I started the podcast and we've filled the building.

Industry needs it.

Oh, and by the way, I'm Matt Amy's co-host who loves to poke the bear.

But what's cool is we are now recording from the pro climber Australia Studios,

who are our major sponsor of our podcast.

It's like the perfect combination.

They're kind of like Batman and Robin fighting the crime against an

outdated, crappy building industry.

With a perfect combination of pushing boundaries, sharing our knowledge,

and starting real conversation about how we can improve the industry.

Of course, I'm Batman and really Hamish is a little bit more like Alfred.

Anyway, enjoy today's episode, which is coming directly from the

pro climber built to last studio.

Hey, ish.

We're a bit of a different podcast maybe today.

Um.

We are final day recording at the Pro Climber Studio, our portable

studio at Kais, um, office.

So

Bill Coat.

Thank you, Kyle.

Shout out to wildness.

Cool office here.

That, um, I think it's both motivated, motivated us to get one of these

things, like they're quite cool.

Can

get an office just to, just to, just a cheeky 200 square

meters in the middle of Fitzroy.

Yeah.

So, um, massive shout out.

Kai's been on.

One of the few people that's been on twice.

Um,

he has been on twice, hasn't

he?

Yeah.

But also good friend, so

he's a ripper.

Um, bit of, not a housekeeping episode, but there's a lot coming up.

Um,

there's a lot going on too.

Yeah.

So a few things I want to sort of go through off the top of their head.

Sustainable House day.

Uh, we had Helen on a few weeks ago, uh, talking about that also.

While we're on topic, we've got the passive house conference

coming up in June that we wanna encourage people to sign up to.

I know SBA doing some awesome stuff.

I know that we're doing some different things, uh, coming

up with, uh, pro climber.

We're gonna be in Adelaide coming up and there's gonna be a night event,

so we're gonna encourage people to come, but I'm gonna get to all that.

Mm-hmm.

Um, how are you, how are you being.

Uh oh.

Honestly, thanks for checking in.

Um, been a bit up and down lately.

It's a tricky environment to be operating in.

This is probably not on script, but, um, had a couple of,

Jo, I had a job fall away.

Mm.

Uh, because the client lost his job due to ai.

Wow.

Actually, my architect, I share an office with similar thing

so.

I mean, I don't wanna be the doom and gloom here, but I, I reckon just everyone

sort of steal yourself with this kind of stuff when you're, when you're,

when you're chatting with clients now,

I mean, I don't know if I should say this, but this particular client

listens to the podcast and I'm sure he won't mind me talking about this.

Um, real disappointed because I actually was really excited about doing

the project, but, um, it's a thing.

Um, it's obviously unfortunate for, for them that this has happened,

but he seems reasonably, uh, buoyant about the whole scenario and, uh,

doesn't seem too bothered by it.

Uh, and he actually said he's quite excited about, um, just

getting stuck in and doing the Reno himself, so that's pretty cool.

Um, Aaron's involved in that one, so I, whatever up, whatever

they end up coming with is gonna be an awesome, awesome thing.

Um,

it feels like things are taking a lot longer to get to site.

Yeah, and I mean, same.

I know a lot of people kind.

Oh, maybe not a lot of people do, but I think people are used to paying

for pre-construction these days.

But what I kind of wanna shine a light on is it doesn't come anywhere

near to cover the costs that we are investing in pre-construction.

Like I'm talking 30, $40,000 worth of energy goes in to get a project to site.

Oh, as much as I'd love to charge that, we don't charge that.

And I'd say probably the estimation phase is covered pretty well.

The precon, the pre pricing.

Yep.

Quick build.

Parts covered.

It's the part that is outside that scope of works.

Yeah.

Which we can't charge for.

It's a value management.

It's the multiple drafts of, um, contract and changes and then it's the building or

cancel or anything we need to be involved.

And we just, uh, yeah, it's, and then on, and then it's like, is the project going?

You get a bit nervous.

I've got two that we exactly the same.

It's, I thought we'd be on site.

At latest, I always like to my team 2nd of March.

Yeah, we're still not on site recording today and they should

be, so they, I pretty much getting the contracts okay today.

But yeah,

it's, um, and, and look on it for me, it's been something that's kind of,

I feel a bit beaten up at the moment.

Yeah.

Uh, luckily I'm heading away for the weekend today, so I'm really

excited about, um, you know, just recharging with the family and

having a bit of a sleep in, but.

Uh, you know, this whole podcast was, we started it to talk

about our lives as builders.

Yeah.

And I think this is one of the things that I wanna bring up,

that it is challenging out there.

And if you are also feeling like this, you're not alone.

This kind of feels a bit normal at the moment.

I think we just need to adapt to this, to this new environment.

I think, yeah, I think the next 12 months are probably gonna

be the hardest for builders.

I reckon.

24

months reckon.

I reckon sit in, I reckon it's gonna be 24 months.

Yeah.

I think if you survive the next 24 months, good job.

Well done.

We're gonna see people that you know.

That won't be operating.

Yep.

You know what?

Let, I mean, let's hope that that doesn't happen.

But, but just, just strap in, stay resilient.

Stay talking, stay fit, stay healthy.

Look after yourself.

'cause I feel like the next little bit is gonna be challenging

and it's not that building prices are going up or it's just, there's so much

legislation, insurance changes that it is just gonna be border lining possible

to not operate, but your as, as Dave said, we had him on a few weeks ago.

Uh.

He talked about that you've got a certain amount and you can

only do that amount per year.

So you might see builders not being able to build as much as they used to.

'cause their limits are capped due to their insurance and um, they sit

around twiddling their thumbs and staff get laid off 'cause they're waiting.

So I think we're gonna see this whole shift We.

And I think long term for the good,

I think it will be long term for the good, but I also just wanna put

some confidence around the things that you are saying now, Matt.

Yeah.

The good builders.

I think we fine.

I don't, I don't think this is gonna affect us the good builders.

No,

no

it's not.

And, and I'm, and I'm putting us in the good builder category.

Yeah.

I think it's the, unfortunately, well fortunately it's the builders not

running their, their businesses well I think are gonna get caught out.

But I think the unfortunate.

Side of the new changes are that there's gonna be a lot of young, new builders.

They're not gonna be able to get a foothold in the industry.

Yeah.

Which is a challenge.

Yeah.

Which is a shame.

Yeah.

I think that's, I you a hundred percent agree.

Try to start a construction company.

That would be borderline impossible.

Unless you've got amazing funding behind you.

I don't, it's borderline impossible, but I think you gotta have a thick skin.

Yeah.

Um, look.

I see why they do it.

We've gotta get confidence back into the industry to some point.

Um, it's an easy way to do it and people feel more secure if they've got money

behind them or the, it's sounds like from a accounting perspective, it sounds good.

We all know accountants can quickly.

Move and change numbers and make it look pretty.

We all know that and understand

I'm

gonna,

I'm not gonna agree or disagree with

that business, that that's how it can be done.

Um, but the reality is it's gonna, I would say those competitive tender

builders who are trying to scrape every dollar and cut their margin, they're

gonna get quickly, quickly found out, and that will just not be a thing.

Yep.

I think that's gone.

Um, because you need to show profit and you need to show ongoing profit or the.

BPC, just we will remove your license.

So, you know, and builders now like, you know, look at some of the, those

platforms out there, like Future Builder, like where they're training you to

actually understand your numbers well.

Like you need to have a profitable business.

And I'm gonna talk to the architects listening.

It's not up to you to decide what someone's markup is.

Yeah.

Because the builder should understand where their numbers are and understand

what they should be charging.

So if they come to you and they're marking up 20%, 25, 30%, they, you know,

by all means, ask them how they got to that number, but don't say that it needs

to be 10 or 15%.

And it's a great thing because look, we can spin this a million different ways.

I could run at a 25% mark up margin, whatever we wanna call it.

And again, a whole different conversation.

But if we say 25%, that's.

That's, we might not be hiding costs and might being transparent,

or I could run it 10% and hide my cost for the whole build cost.

So the margin margin looks pretty.

Yeah.

But I also have 300 K of overheads hidden within the project.

So

I guess

we're all the same number at the end of the day.

Yeah.

That's the thing.

And I think the num that the, don't focus so much on that and, and, and.

I would be asking your builder how they got to the number

rather than question the number.

Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing.

If you can get confidence around that, they're gonna be

there at their end of the job.

'cause at the end of the day, you want your project built.

The homeowners want the project built and the builder wants

to go in there and make money.

And if we're not showing profit, we literally won't be able to build.

So Exactly I I would see potentially there might be a slight increase

coming up because builders are gonna have to increase.

Potentially a percentage.

I don't wanna

say that,

but No, but like, don't wanna say that, but if they, if they, if they, it,

it, it might not be us, but if some builder's been running at a tighter

margin to get the project across the line's, they, they've got no choice but

to increase their margins because, or they've gotta really cut cost, which

they're probably already doing like crazy to get the project across the line.

It's the reality of it.

So it's not, you're, you're potentially gonna see some changes there.

Uh, and that's, that will play itself out.

That's going through Parliament right now, Biden now, it could be.

Enacted, uh, but in Victoria, definitely, definitely, definitely

expect some changes in Yeah.

Around that.

Uh, I, the other question that I would love to have a conversation

with someone about is, uh, insurance as of July becomes consumer first.

We have retention.

Do we need both?

No, we don't need any of it.

Yeah, I, I know, but like, it's gonna be interesting to see if architects are still

gonna require Oh, or want, want retention.

I get, I get what?

Because now the insurance is consumer first.

I get what you're saying.

The retention is a dot on the map compared to

Yeah, so you're, you're talking about two different things there.

So you're talking about new changes in insurance, which are consumer

first, and then you're talking about retention, which in my mind.

Is there, and we're talking primarily an abit contract here.

Retention is there so the builder doesn't run away for liability for for defects.

Now trust me as a builder, we are fucking on the hook for liability.

Yeah.

More than

ever.

You don't need that damn retention.

So if you wanna wave a retention in front of me personally,

I'm not gonna not entertain.

I'm sorry.

We'll

be double like we can't double dip on our margin.

And it's like everyone double dipping on retention.

That's how I look at it.

Yeah.

Well, someone's gonna increase their price by five, 2.5%.

Yeah.

Well, that's, yeah.

Well you have to, that's, that's probably good con quick conversation is if when a

builder has retention, our price goes up because we've got a. We're not the bank.

Yeah.

And we've gotta, most likely, unless you've got cash, which no builder

has cash, just laying around that you've gotta go take out some

form of overdraft and you've gotta offset that percentage against the

contract so you're not losing money.

And that that becomes a overhead cost that again.

We talk about at the start of the margin market.

Well it becomes a cogs.

Yeah.

It becomes quite a cost of goods sold.

So, you know, it's a line item in there thing.

Now I wanna just qui quickly Yeah.

Sort of sidestep away from this for a second.

'cause there's a couple of things you wanna talk about.

When this podcast has come out, we probably have had Sustainable

House Day already passed.

So.

Uh, you have probably heard Helen on, uh, the podcast.

She is a CEO of Renew Magazine.

Now, I'm really excited about the idea around Sustainable House Day because if

you are a builder and you want to get into this space and you've got a home that you

wanna showcase, what better way to get eyeballs on your product than actually

getting someone through with the homeowner who is arguably a raving fan for you?

Showing people through their own home.

It's been beneficial for me in the pro the past doing open days.

Yeah.

Uh, I don't wanna let anyone in

on some of our marketing secrets, but yeah, you, you, you're getting yourself in

front of everyone at once and you can have set, have some really strong conversations

and showcase what you're doing.

I just also think, like, I don't know about you, but I really

enjoyed the conversation, Helen, and I'm always a people person

first and I really warm to her.

Yeah.

So I. Really wanna support that industry.

We're already members of the

organization.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So as my own business, we are members, um, we subscribe to their magazines and

their brilliant pieces of information.

Yeah.

Actually that's an interesting point.

So for those who don't know, sustainable House Day is buy the organization,

renew, renew, have two publications.

They've got renew the magazine.

And then I've got, um, sanctuary Magazine.

In fact, sanctuary, the magazine.

Was a big motivation or a big inspiration for Sanctum Homes?

The name

Ah,

so that we, we, we were, we were sort of kicking around.

I remember when Lucy and I were driving home from Canberra one day and we're

just waxing lyrical about names and I really love the idea of like, habitat

and home and sanctuary and like, we're kind of sanctuary, kind of a habitat

because, um, a buddy of mine's got a building company called Habitat,

and I'm like, what about sanctum?

Like inner sanctum?

So, uh.

Renew, thank you for the inspiration for the business name, and now everyone

knows where that's come from, but these guys have got some really great, not

only some great products that they, that they sell, so Sustainable House stay.

Do I let their cat out the bag and maybe they're gonna have a podcast.

Who knows?

That might be there.

We

like Jackie Felgate breaking news.

They,

they, they might have had it there, but yeah.

Look, great organization to support.

So if you don't already do that, uh, jump onto their socials, their,

um, their website and either join or subscribe to their publication.

Yeah.

And I, as a business, it's a tax write off if you sign up from

membership, let's be honest.

Yeah.

Um, I would encourage everyone.

That's this thing that has a business to do.

So support them.

Uh, at the end of the day, they're a non-for-profit and funding is essential.

Yep.

So,

and do you know what, what a great way to unplug from this.

Yeah, I thought you were gonna say from the podcast.

No, from the podcast, but unplug from the podcast.

Yeah.

Unless you read the digital version on your phone.

Well, yeah, well just fuck off.

But I, I like.

They're some really good people are doing good things.

Yep.

Um, look, we're big on passive house.

Yep.

It provides a really wide knowledge base on things like solar, on heat

pumps and batteries to certain materials, to, uh, commercial projects.

Yep.

To residential.

Honestly, it's a wide variety of information and I think it's

important for what we do to not just be on top of what we do, but learn.

Other things, what other industries might be doing.

They might be ahead of us at certain times and it's eventually coming to residential.

So if you're a nerd, buy the Renew magazine, if you want Pretty pictures.

Sanctuary Magazine.

Yeah.

Or just buy both.

Or just get both.

Yeah.

So,

um, speaking of passive house now, Matthew, do we announce it

here?

Yeah, I, so this podcast will come out, so I'm already speaking at the passive house

conference with our Dr. Evil friend Cam.

Um, I don't know anyone that's ever been to a passive house conference.

Cam's.

Speeches are usually very informative, always informative,

very technical, very measured.

And he picked me to do it with him this year,

which is fucking hilarious.

Which

is, isn't isn't your client joining

too?

Yeah.

So Sarah, my client who's been on this podcast is gonna join too.

Um, I don't know what Cam was thinking.

The guy that's got an opinion on everything that's unfiltered with

the really smart guy on stage.

We'll see how that goes.

Matthew Matthew's not the smart guy on stage.

There's a reason why they didn't let us do the mc.

Ah.

So, but so you

are, so you

are talking.

Yeah.

But we have also, we wanna encourage people to sign up to this conference.

Now, passive assets is a. Big part of our business, we're very passionate about it.

Um, and again, like Sustainable House, they renew, they are a

non-for-profit and they need help.

And one of the pieces of income for them is getting to this conference.

It's also a double-edged sword.

Yeah.

It's gonna cost you some money, but you are gonna learn a lot.

Not only that, you're gonna network with people.

Yeah.

So you are gonna get that a thousand dollars back to you so fast.

If you're a builder Totally.

You're most likely going to meet an architect or building designer or interior

designer that might feed your project.

And I tell you what, like if you just look at it purely from you're paying a thousand

dollars to be in a room with some people that you wanna work with, like the rest

that comes on top of that is a bonus.

Yeah.

Like you'll quickly wipe a thousand dollars if you need

to get the job across the line.

Yeah.

Think of this as a cheap investment.

Vice versa.

If you're an architect, yeah.

You might be building one of these for the first time.

You are getting to surround yourself with builders that you might be

able to potentially work with.

Yeah.

In your state.

People fly from all over the country to this and.

To our audience,

we actually have a discount code, 10% discount code.

So we're gonna put a

link in our, in the, in the comments down below.

I think it's five 10.

Can't

remember.

That's 10%.

Is it 10?

Yeah.

Well, I'm 10% now 'cause I just said it.

So sorry.

Stalin.

If it's not 10%, it's 10%.

Um, but cherry on the top.

Matthew and I have managed to strong arm ourselves into having a breakout room.

So we have a pretty exciting, uh, agenda that we're gonna be rolling out.

And we're basically gonna be talking about.

The moment someone calls to the moment we hand over keys.

So predominantly build a focus.

But um, if you're a homeowner, if you're a designer or an architect, we are gonna

talk you through how we see that process.

Yeah.

From detailing on site to what we do at Handover and the information

that we, that we give away, uh, at handover and all the problems that we

try and solve during pre-construction.

I personally feel it's gold 'cause you are leaning on seven

years of experience from me.

Seven years of experience from Matt and we'll probably rope

in a couple of other experience builders to come and have a chat

as well.

Yeah.

And we're gonna have, part of that will be 30 minutes of question answer.

Plus we're gonna be there for the rest of the day that you can ask us questions.

But if you're a builder, especially like.

I can tell you what, you're gonna save yourself more than a thousand

dollars in that session by learning something that's might be some costing

advice or a hundred percent advice on a contract or something like that.

I think that will come to you back

10. Your ROI will be

more than I, honestly, we can't tell you how much we'll save you from that.

Um, we, we we're gonna be very open.

Uh, if you guys have listened to us before, I definitely

have no filter, but we we're.

We are gonna tell it how it is.

We're not gonna make it unicorns and rainbows.

We are gonna tell you there's a reason why we've done what, maybe eight to 10

passive houses between the two of us.

Mm-hmm.

And there's a reason why and we've made the mistakes.

Yeah.

It's, it, it, I, I always, I think of it like when we both bought the pro crimer

wrap for the first time and started using it, we learn by mistakes and

then now there's so much information.

This is no difference.

Yeah, totally.

Like we will literally be feeding and not just the builders, like the architects,

engineers, uh, energy consultants.

You might learn something about the way we operate.

Um, it might help you guys with your job.

It might help you understand it from our perspective, an element

on the contract or why we wanna do certain things a certain way on site.

Uh, we we're probably, there's probably not much we're not willing to talk about.

Um, but we really wanna encourage people to do that.

It's two days, 25th, 26th of June.

Uh, I won't be there first day.

It's actually my daughter's first birthday, so thanks for organizing

that on her birthday, guys.

Mm-hmm.

Um, but we the, as well, the night event.

Awesome.

Event to network.

Again.

You're gonna meet people.

Uh, it, I honestly can't under, under,

you know what, like, I feel like, just to cut you off there, Matt.

My take on the passive house conference is just the energy that's around there.

Yeah.

Because you have three or 400 passionate people.

Yeah.

And that energy, you can feel it in the breakout, in, in the breaks.

You can feel it at the um, at the, the mixer events and the social events.

Oh, and we also forgot to talk about that.

Um.

Air Boss Dan is gonna be doing day before the training day, the day before.

Uh,

are we helping, I don't know,

just SBAs jumping in and giving him a hand.

Yeah, I I do believe that's gonna be held out, uh, at circa in Bowens.

Um, but yeah, so definitely if you want to actually have some hands on

practical experience, go some performance membranes, you're gonna be there as well.

So definitely check it out.

Um, before I'm gonna wrap out the passive house stuff.

Um, sustainable Bills Alliance.

Yeah.

What's happening?

Oh, that's my, that's my part's.

Your part.

That's right.

That's my part.

Yeah.

Cool.

Um, so we would've, uh, already had our April event By the time

you are, uh, listening to this.

Uh, it's gonna be a ripper or I'm just gonna say in past tense.

It was a ripper.

It was about, uh, retrofitting.

We have, um, our monthly webinars all planned out for the rest of the year.

And May is gonna be talking about bushfire detailing and

building in bushfire prone areas.

Cavity close are getting a run

cavity.

Closes is gonna be getting a run, that's for sure.

Um, and it's, um, gonna be delivered by someone who I feel is.

Probably the most versed when it comes to building a bushfire

areas, and that's Daniel Perham.

Who is based in South Coast, new South Wales and very often builds in ba, FZ.

Yeah.

And he's a designer and a builder, so that one's gonna be an absolute cracker.

So definitely check that one out.

Yeah.

Well, so what else do you, what?

What's, I don't know if you're able to speak too much.

I know that you gotta keep some of the information to yourself.

You guys have a pretty good plan.

Like what, what can we expect from SBA say over the next year?

I'd love to get back on.

Because I know sometimes I press these things on you.

Yeah,

I'd love to just like, like we did with Helen, I wanna know what's next.

I want, like, I, I'm excited.

I think you guys are doing awesome.

So I, I'm gonna, by the time this comes out, I reckon some, there would be some,

um, some things that have come to life.

Let

as soon as it coming out in the next three weeks just to be safe.

Okay.

So current, we've just had a planning.

A couple of planning days where we are kind of mapping out the rest of the year.

So we have some really exciting things coming up.

We, even though I feel we've been kicking some goals over the last two

or three years, I feel like last week was where everything came together.

Everyone was on the same page.

We actually had some really clear direction of why we exist

and what we're gonna be doing.

Why

do you exist?

I

can't talk about that just yet.

Uh, because I, I, I, I, I, I'm

not at

risk, at risk of, um, at risk of, uh, being

told off by back.

I've being told off by someone, um,

who's most likely in that group to tell you off?

Uh, probably Simon.

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So calm.

Yeah.

No, no, no.

I get in trouble with Simon a lot.

Thanks.

In,

in the nor in the naughty corner.

Go, go look in the corner.

Hammish.

I'm, I'm the Naugh.

No, actually no, I'm totally joking.

Brian's a hundred percent the Naugh one, isn't he?

You know what I love about that group?

Um.

So there's been a couple of occasions, and I remember Beck, when we had our first

planning day, Simon and I were like really robust conversation across the table.

Like we were disagreeing about something like really emo like we, we were really

passionate about it and I could see Beck's like, oh, is this gonna be a problem?

And Simon and I looked at each other and goes, no, we this, we're

just, we can just working shit out.

And the fact that we can just really have these really amazingly robust

conversations with each other.

Not to say me and Simon saying, same goal, same team.

I'm just saying the team, you know, we've got this level of trust amongst all of us.

'cause let's face it.

We're volunteers in this organization.

I mean, no, you're not volunteers.

You're actually paying to be the volunteer.

We're paying to be the volunteers in this organization and we want the success.

We, we want this organization to be successful, so we need to get to

the outcomes as quick as possible.

Yeah.

And we can't do that without robust conversations and the professionalism

around that table last week.

I'll tell you now, it is a different organization than

what it was even a year before.

And I'm assuming, uh, Beck's had a huge,

massive, yeah, massive, massive.

And you know what?

Standby, she's going full time soon.

Just like get outta the bag.

Be could be awesome.

No, I be, could be full-time soon.

Like, so I, I don't know if even I've on the SBA podcast just stand

builders yak with Brian and Simon.

If you don't listen to it, you should.

So I had a good chat with him on theirs the other day.

Um, I said it at the end like, and.

When you first started, I was really skeptical because I thought the passive

house association was just taking off.

Um, I couldn't have been more wrong in the fact that like,

you guys are killing it to me.

You are the industry leaders in.

This, you are the only association from my perspective that is

representing builders to build better.

Um, you are, and it's not like you are getting paid for it.

Mm. You, you do this off your, your own back.

Um, you've had, what is it, nearly seven years that you've been around six years to

late, late 2019.

Yeah.

So that's a lot of time to, to really put in.

Um, so

the sugar, the sugar hits gone, the sugar hit of that, it's a real

thing now.

It's real.

It's not a hobby, it's a, it's not, it ain't no hobby.

And it's, it is a real organization now.

And you know, there are gonna be a lot of structural changes coming up and I, again,

can't cater it to outta the bag too much.

Uh, where.

We're partnering with some really great, you know, organizations.

One I can talk about, um, Trent from Melbourne Polytech.

We're doing a lot of work with him at the moment.

Um, Jeremy's investing a lot of his energy into that one and, you know, there's gonna

be some pretty cool things, you know.

Lots more membership based stuff.

Lots, a lot more incentive around becoming a member.

Um,

lot's Membership cost.

'cause this is my next thing and I haven't, I haven't

got this on our own anymore.

This 600

bucks.

Yeah.

So, okay.

Can I, this is my opinion.

Yep.

My only opinion, this is not Hamish's opinion.

Yep.

Scrap your HAA membership or your master builders and go sign up for SBA

straight out like you were gonna get.

Way more outta that.

Than you are anything else?

If multiple people come to me and ask me how to build better, where do I start?

That is where you start.

Yeah, I know.

That's, that's my own opinion.

I, I, I

would like to, I would like to think that we all have enough money in our

kitty to be members of all of it.

If you can be one, that's where you start.

But thank you, Matt.

I,

I, I honestly think that because there's really no excuse now

and the information is there.

There's so much resources that you have and people are, they're hungry for more.

Yeah.

You're providing that and you're providing it at an entry level costing.

Mm-hmm.

You're providing that in a, in a way that works around the builders

and tradies time being on site.

Because at the end of the day, if they're not on site, then they don't earn money.

They can't sit on a webinar at, at 1130 and participate because

that doesn't suit their timing.

Um, unlike US bills we can jump on and work at the same time.

So for me.

I If you're listening, please sign up.

Um, I'm not just saying that 'cause Hamish is here and get along with a lot of the

guys.

Well, I'm, I'm, I'm saying it 'cause I'm here.

You

should sign up.

No, but like, this actually is a genuine thing.

Like, I actually want you guys to sign up.

Um,

which, and do you know what though?

And I know CPD points is not a thing for builders in Victoria right now.

Yes, yes.

However, we do offer CPD points and for architects as well.

Probably.

Yeah.

Yeah, we do.

We do it now.

So what's really interesting, and this is probably a little bit of a, another

bit of insight as to where we're kind of seeing the organization go is.

We have a huge amount of interest from the design community.

We've got.

We've consistently got the same architects and designers coming to our events.

Not only that, we've recently had Breathe architecture sign up as members.

Kaba has been amazing.

He literally jumped on and did all his badges in like a night.

So he's like, breathe.

Architecture is now up there on our builders directory or our directory as

like one of the top badge, uh, badge earners, that's what you wanna call it.

But we feel like hearing feedback from the design communities that they're like,

you guys are like the only people that are actually giving us stuff that is tangible.

Like,

yeah.

You, you're taking us to, to see these new products where you, you're

bringing in guests to talk about the things that we wanna know more about.

And not only that we're ticking off our CPD points, so we're not just doing

like, and we actually had an architect say to me, I originally came for the

CPD, I'm coming back for the content.

They're coming back all the time.

Yeah.

Because it's actually a good content

and that probably flows onto content.

Next conversation, beer and bf, which is sort of a bit of a Yep.

Part arm of what we're doing now.

So once a month.

We have a awesome list of people.

It's an online webinar.

It's usually the last Thursday of each month from memory.

Yep.

Uh, it's online.

You get your tickets for Humana Human.

Uh, you jump on.

It's free.

It's free.

You jump on the, um.

Our mindful website, I'll link you to that.

Now we have an awesome guest panel, like, so it's two sections.

It's myself,

we, we've got two.

We've got two.

We've got two groups.

We, we split up, we started with one group.

We thought it was a little bit clunky.

11 people too much.

Yeah.

So now we've, now we've split it off into panel A, panel B.

Yeah.

So we've got Brad from.

Sanford BuildCo, you're all familiar with him?

Yep.

Myself and Hamish Dylan from Allman Projects specializing in

retrofits retrofit renovations

retrofits.

Yep.

Got our good friend Cam Monroe, who find me another smarter person

in building science in Australia.

Um, we've got Jesse Allen.

From our Good Friend climate show, but also building theology podcasts.

Yeah.

So if you're not following wrong to her, have a listen.

Uh, we have Matt O'Grady, who works at PHCP down in Tazzie, who's a very good

resource of education and putting some time into educating people about the.

Importance of durability and structures.

Sean from Haven Homes, who just loves going down any rabbit hole he can find,

he is a Captain Rabbit hole.

Yeah.

J uh, Justin O'Connor, who performance membranes, but

also extremely smart building.

He's smarter

than Cameron.

Oh.

Um, to keep Justin on edge for say, Cam's just got him.

But the moment, yeah, I reckon.

But Justin has one of the smartest people in this passive house industry.

He's been doing it long before Hamish and I have.

Um, we also have Air Boss Dan.

Yep.

He's, uh, always a character and provides a great conversation.

There's one more.

I know who it is.

I'm just trying to think.

There's one more.

That fucker.

Anyone else?

No, I think

got Drew.

Uh, so Drew, sorry.

Drew, finally.

Drew.

Fine.

Sorry Drew.

I was leaving the best of luck 'cause Drew's finally

agreed to come on our podcast.

Um, but Drew mechanical ventilation.

Find me anyone that is more passionate about this stuff than

him and you'll get a golden ticket.

Yep.

Uh, due to the Willy Wonka factory.

So, um.

I don't think I've missed anyone.

No,

that's it.

So, so this came off the back.

Let's give credit where credit serious.

So this came off the back of Brad coming to us and saying, Hey, you know what?

I really think we should do this.

We're in a great, um, position to do it.

You know, we've got a bunch of super passionate people, uh,

who wanna share their knowledge.

And this is what it's all about, sharing knowledge, like

on a specific topic each week that's nerdy.

Yep.

So I've had treated pine, or not treated pine battens, cold versus warm roof.

Um,

Dylan.

Dylan was, um, retro in insulating existing subfloors.

Yeah.

And Matt was, Matt was just construction details.

Yeah.

And I'm doing mine on the details from my house, which has already come out, and

these will all be ventured on YouTube.

So if you are, can't make it for some reason, about a month later,

the next one will be on YouTube.

Yep.

I wanna encourage people to come to live one for questions.

I'm, I'm gonna do a quick shout out here.

Now, if anyone, anyone listening.

Wants to sponsor the beer and BS po.

Uh, the beer and bs, um,

webinar

webinars get in touch.

We are looking for one sponsor and one sponsor only.

Uh, and the whole reason we want to bring a sponsor on is so we can give everybody

in the beer and bs, uh, expert panel.

Some really good recording equipment so we can, and a really good webinar,

uh, um, webcam so we can start bringing really good visual content.

So,

and it will also be on YouTube with your logo.

Yep.

So there's a like huge opportunity there.

Yep.

There's a big opportunity and yeah.

I guarantee we're not asking for a huge amount.

I think the opportunity's great.

So, uh, yeah, we are looking for a sponsor for beer and

beans.

Yeah.

That is purely just to cover costs for us.

Like we don't make any money off this.

Yeah.

So.

Um, we've had amazing feedback from that actually.

Mainly I find, I think a lot of our people are listening actually,

architects and they're, I, I've actually gone through the, the list of people

who sign up and what the feedback I've had is they just wish every,

this is by far their best learning.

They don't get anything close to this with CPD training because

they said it's real advice.

Yep.

It's real situation that they have to, to deal with and they're.

Um, sick and tired have just been presented a product where

Complete agnostic, is that the word or have I just made that up?

Yeah, no, agnostic.

Good to products.

Yep.

Um, even though we are, this podcast is sponsored by pro Climber, but

this is not a, that is not a pro climber part, but we are very

honest on what the products we use.

We have.

Ultimately Dan works for pro climber.

Justin sells pro climber products and Matt works with Justin so

well hang on.

Jess.

Jess CL shop.

Yep.

Yes, pro climber.

So yeah, it, it, but we are totally open on the products.

We'll be very honest on what we think.

Um, it just happens that pro climber have the best products in everything.

Yep.

There's a whole different story.

Just

full disclosure.

Um, it is unlikely if you are another building or a company

that will accept your sponsorship.

No, no, we won't.

Or a training provider.

'cause you've also got MEGT.

Now Matt, we give a huge amount of information away, and I know it's

something that's been kind of, I'm gonna throw this on you today actually.

Uh, 'cause I've just written this down.

We have a, a growing database Yeah.

Of emails, uh, which we wanna start utilizing.

Not just use and abuse, we actually wanna start giving you

really good information Yeah.

In your inbox every month.

So we are gonna be starting a newsletter soon and we would love,

if you want to be on that newsletter mailing list, get in touch.

You can get in touch via the Mindful Builder, uh, um, Instagram page,

or you can jump on a website or you can give Matt or me a Matt a

call and just drop your email in.

Um, or by signing up to beer and bs, you automatically go onto that

uh, mailing list for our newsletter.

Again, we're not handing that list out to anyone.

We just want to, we just want to use, we just want to continue giving.

We see, you know, a lot of the reason why Matt and I started this podcast in the

podcast specifically is to help educate and all of these other things that we're

offering are purely about education.

Yep.

A hundred percent.

And.

We want to get that out there.

We ultimately want the industry to be better.

Yeah.

So it, it honestly, if we don't, we, well, we, while we do this for fun, but we also,

uh, passionate about building better.

Now, last thing, uh, we're actually going to Adelaide.

Uh, we are gonna be up there, the ni uh, 20th and.

Yeah, for the ninth of the 20th, the 20th and 21st recording at the

Climber Shore Endura Building offices.

Now we had,

is it, is it CL Shore?

Endur Building offices.

Oh yeah, we're doing there.

Yeah.

And then, and then we're having the open day.

Yeah.

At Jackson's um,

passive house certified South Australia's first certified

passive house display home.

Yeah.

Now it's a two hour live q and a event.

You are gonna myself, Hamish, Ja, Hamish, Jackson, and Jess.

Jess Kismet, not Alan.

Sorry.

Yes.

I should get that right.

That's all right.

Interchangeable.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it is, if you're offering sa, I highly encourage you to come.

You can ask us whatever you want about passive house construction,

the membranes that we use, anything.

So that is, didn't

ask us anything about anything

really.

Yeah.

Honestly.

Yeah.

What did you have for dinner last night?

Hamish, but Mount Barker, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM 20th of April.

You can jump on the pro climber website.

Head to their event section.

Sign up.

Uh, we really, really encourage you to do it.

Um, it'll give you a chance to explore the space, ask questions, learn about

high performance homes, and there are some light snacks and drinks provided.

Um,

and a big shout out to Enduro Builders and Climb Shore for

helping us put on this event.

Yeah.

Um, you know,

and it's a pro, it's ultimately a pro climb event.

Yep.

So it's run by pro climber.

You've gotta sign up to the pro climber.

That's website.

That's a, that's a duh.

Yeah.

But, uh, Jackson doesn't know this yet, but there'd be one lucky

giveaway that gets to grab a coffee with Jackson when you're up there.

Oh, what about a free night in his, um,

oh yeah.

They haven't even done even better.

You know what,

Jack Jackson we're raffling off, uh, a free night in your, um.

Actually, that's not, that's not true at all.

But maybe you get to share

the bear with j with Jackson.

Jackson.

He'd be a good cuddler.

I reckon.

He's probably listened to.

He's been like, fuck you two.

Oh, no, no.

You know what?

It's funny, Jackson, I, I've known Jackson since 2018.

We actually did the passive house course together.

Really?

Yep.

Um, I've never actually met him.

Great guy.

Super excited.

But yeah, in Mount Barker, Enduro building display home in Spring Lake to Gro Place.

So please sign up, register.

It is free.

It doesn't cost you any money.

Uh, we are, we will probably, we be, I'm unfiltered.

Ham should be unfiltered.

But yeah.

Jess, technical manager at Climate Shore.

Jack Jackson, who has a wealth of business knowledge, uh, for those

young builders and anyone, you don't have to know the product.

The whole idea is you've someone, we all started somewhere and I

actually had a kid reach out today and he is like, I'm at level one.

You're at level 100.

What about what do I do?

I was like, I was at level one once too.

Yep,

that's it.

Like we, I was in your place at one point.

It is just how much effort you put in.

So.

Mindful moment today I'm gonna do, this is a real quick one.

We have just given you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ways to learn.

Yep.

There are no excuses.

If you're an apprentice, all of them are free.

Whilst that event is in Adelaide, we do them in Melbourne.

We're doing 'em in New South Wales.

Later in this year, we're going to Brisbane.

Uh, we are going to WA as well.

Yep.

These events are gonna be through every state.

Ch pro climber also always have events on their website.

So yeah, I dunno if there's even a way that they can sign up to.

Yep.

Um, whilst we're on the list of, uh, pro climber, I'm actually just want to give,

I think Gus has sent me a message here.

One, one thing that I have, uh, really, I, I kind of get a lot, the

question I get is like, who's, who's the pro climber rep in my, in my area?

So what I wanna do, I, if I've got this here, I mean, we should, we should

speak to her, maybe put it on our.

Website or something, but he gave me a list of each state, um, who to con

contact so we can quickly put a resource.

We might even do an, an, um, Instagram post to point people in the right way.

Um.

It's actually not loading.

So what, what we're gonna do, we'll do Instagram post Yeah.

Each day on who your Proclama distributors are.

Some might have multiple.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

That way we have a resource and when someone asks, we

can just send them that page.

Yeah.

And do you know what we'll put in the show notes?

Yeah.

In your region, who the best

person to contact?

Um, and, and this is a starting point, you might not know how to use the pro climber

products, but if you're an apprentice.

Reach younger.

I wanna learn.

Yeah, I know, I know in Victoria, performance membranes do it.

Um, pretty Jess does.

It just does it?

Brian, that will show you.

They'll talk through it.

Yeah.

No, great.

He does

it.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, exactly.

Like every state there's someone.

So please.

But bit of a housekeeping episode.

Um, probably a bit different to usual.

Hope you've learned something a bit more of what's happening.

We've got some really cool stuff coming up this year.

Um, we're super pumped.

This is also on YouTube.

If you didn't know, you can watch it on YouTube.

The videos are there.

Uh, and that is where we're gonna be going a lot in the future.

We're gonna try to do some filming on site and stuff.

So anyway, hey, have a great weekend away.

You too, man.

Thanks buddy.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.