My building career journey began 35 years ago, completing my apprenticeship (proficiency) with a wise & knowledgable house builder in the last years of trenched hardwood frames. Completing an Advanced Diploma in Building Construction & Management whilst also working on some of Melbourne’s high rise buildings, gave me a diverse skill set of domestic & industrial construction. Following promotion to Site Foreperson, I resigned at the conclusion of that project to pursue my passion for unique building construction & historic building methodology.
Building bespoke homes with recycled materials, Strawbale construction & conservation of historic buildings lead to the employment of 18 staff. This required me to be Construction Manager with a more “off the tools” role to maintain the production & quality control over numerous sites. Having a realisation that I enjoyed being hands on, I refocused the business to a model of specific skill sets. An opportunity to teach these skills & general construction to Certificate 3 apprentices & Certificate 4 diploma students was an enjoyable part time career, whilst maintaining an active building business.
My focus became concentrated on building conservation & I was appointed Central Victorian Site Manager for Period Building Conservation P/L. Working for Greg Owen, who is the industry pinnacle of the building conservation industry, allowed me to further & diversify my knowledge in many lost skills & trades in specialist historic building conservation projects on Government assets & private homes.
From 2015, I have operated Build Conserve & have completed conservation works to many buildings throughout the Goldfields region. I aim to be a specialist in one building area, with this requiring many specific skills. Historic buildings remind us that they are the soul of the town & the story of where we came from. Build Conserve aims to conserve our building history, for generations to enjoy.
