Sydney Home Builders - Quality Constructions

James is aged 34 and currently lives at Cogee, Sydney.

James grew up on a farm just outside Wagga Wagga in southern NSW. But at school James' work experience led him away from farm life after he was offered an apprenticeship in three different trades: mechanics, jewellery-making and carpentry. He picked the latter, both loving the work and enjoying being outside. He laughs remembering his early days. "I kept up some jewellery-making as a hobby for a while."

He served his carpentry apprenticeship under Robert Sutherland in Wagga Wagga. Sutherland, a well-respected builder from the local area, soon bought out a larger construction company called Riverina Quickform. "Suddenly I found himself doing high scale commercial stuff," says James.

"We did all kinds of stuff. We did an extension on a high school that took 14 or 15 months. We built the local twin cinemas. And we also built Waterview Gardens, a nine-storey apartment complex - the biggest residential project anyone had really seen down there."

Learning the trade, his teacher used to pull James aside and take the time to show him how each small job is done properly with very high attention to detail. "He picked up absolutely everything." James shakes his head in wonder. "How to seal plaster so the paint won't show it up, ,how to take the sharp edges off every piece of wood I worked, how to keep a good tidy job site so all trades on site can see what is ahead of them."

James puts his hard working ethic down to his country training. "In the country you really have to look after the client, because it's more than likely they'll turn out to be your neighbours," he says. "You've got to make sure you're always on time and on budget because you live and die on your reputation in a small town."

Since his apprenticeship, James has also completed his Advanced Building Supervision Certificate gaining an unrestricted building licence. And after subcontracting for a number of other builders, James eventually realised he could do it better on his own.

After teaming up with Daniel Clark, and founding Quality Constructions, James has kept up the hard work. He received his Scaffolding Licence, Explosive Powertools Licence, and with the company has run through a number of courses sponsored by the Housing Industry Association of Australia. These include Contracts Administration, Better Business Management in the Home Building Industry, Occupational Health and Safety Induction Training for Construction,Project Management accreditations, time management, understanding BASIX, Microsoft Project Training..

Since coming to Sydney, James has tried to bring the best of his country upbringing with him to the city. "I can't shake the old habits," he says. "We have weekly meetings with clients, explain things in laymen's terms - you know - keep them up to speed with how the project is going."