Craig Cleary Doing things the right way
Craig Cleary Doing things the right way
Craig Cleary Craig Cleary is a Sunshine Coast native, a third generation builder, and a veteran of the construction industry in his own right. After spending 12 years gaining valuable hands-on experience in the Sunshine Coast construction industry, he decided to branch out and form his own company in 2002. Today, Craig Cleary Constructions (CCC) is highly regarded throughout Queensland for their high quality custombuilt homes and transformative renovation projects, which have garnered a wealth of accolades throughout the years.
Craig Cleary “I see ourselves as a boutique familyowned business that specialises in custom homes and renovations, with the goal of making the client’s experience pleasurable and stress-free,” says Craig, summing up his mission statement. Craig decided to form the company with his wife − who has a keen eye for design and colour selections − in order to offer clients “both sides of the coin.” When they first started out, they were only doing a few projects per year. Now, they’re doing about 12 custom homes per year, in addition to balancing renovation projects as they come. They do the majority of their work on the Sunshine Coast, but they do frequently take jobs in Brisbane and, on occasion, will travel even further “for the right project.” “With our longstanding and very experienced construction team we can now manage multiple new home and renovation projects at any given time,” Craig says.”There aren’t many people who can do brand new high end custom homes and renovations at the same time like we can. We specialise in both.”
Craig Cleary both.” When it comes to renovations, CCC will take on nearly any project, from single bathroom projects right through to a $1.2M multiple storey renovation. However, Craig is a bit more selective when it comes to his custom built homes. “I don’t do cookie cutter homes,” he proclaims.”None of my homes are the same. Every single home I’ve built is designed to suit the client’s individual tastes and surrounding environment.” Nonetheless, once he accepts a project, he always goes above and beyond to deliver high quality outcomes for his clientele, even if it means working through difficult conditions ormaterial restrictions. “I took on one custom home project on a sloping site that the previous three builders backed out of because it was problematic. I don’t see that as a problem− I see it as a challenge,” he says. “Plus, we’ll work with any material. So, we do a lot of feature concrete, concrete slabs, structural steel, concrete roofs, you name it. We’re constantly stretching limitations.”
Craig Cleary According to Craig, CCC built their foundation on integrity. He says that quality permeates throughout everything he does, including his work with the community and local sporting clubs. As such,it’s only natural that it applies to the company’s business ethos as well. “We don’t sleep right unless we know we’re doing the right thing,” he explains. “Sometimes things aren’t easy and don’t go according to plan, but at the end of the day, we always have our integrity, and we make sure our relationships with our clients always remain intact throughout the project.” This also applies to the way Craiginteracts with his team. The vast majority of his staff and subcontractors have been working for him since he started the company, and those he takes under his wing frequently stick around well after their apprenticeship is up. Clients benefit greatly from this cohesion, as their high degree of team chemistry and experience translates into exceptional quality assurance. LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Craig Cleary
Craig Cleary Craig says he owes his knowledge to a solid based building apprenticeship, where he got to work from site cuts right through to completion and gained valuable experience working alongside leading contractors in all trades. “My office is onsite, and that’s where I am every day, using the skill set I have,” he says. “My role in the business is to work closely with the clients on a daily basis to ensure the quality is always there. It’s a team effort, though. Between myself, the client, and the guys who’ve been working for me for several years, the quality just seems to keep rising to the top.” Having accumulated nearly 40 awards since their inception in 2002, it comes as no surprise to discover that Craig Cleary Constructions netted another three accolades at the 2014 HIA Sunshine Coast Awards. CCC received awards for Custom Built Home $750,000 - $1M, Small Lot Housing, and Renovation Project of the Year, further cementing their reputation throughout INUNDATEDWITH AWARDS
Craig Cleary Queensland as a premier builder. “The awards make it all worthwhile, and it reinforces our belief in what we do,” Craig says.” Some of these projects are tough, and there’s a fair bit thathappens behind the scenes, so it’s good to receive recognition for what we’re doing. We’ve been entering these awards since we started, but each new award means a lot because the competition just gets tougher and tougher each year.” Of the three awards the company won that night, Craig says the Renovation Project of the Year award stands out the most. “The project presented a lot of challenges, and my wife and I had to work really closely with the client to transform that unsightly old house into what it is now,” he explains.” Firstly, we had to put a second level on the home, and the existing structure wasn’t able to support the addition, so that was obviously very tricky to work around. The client had done some cosmetic renovations to that home a few years prior, so we had to make sure we kept them intact throughout the project.” “This is a waterfront property, so we re-
Craig Cleary -ally had to touch up both the front and the back to match the interior.Plus, we had to squeeze a pool in there, we had a lot of asbestos to deal with, and there was an old boat ramp that we had to remove. To top it all off, the double brick was falling apart as we were pulling it out, whichmade things really messy.” In spite of these challenges− in fact,for these reasons − Craig says he actually prefers renovation projects. “I really do enjoy building homes, but I personally love renovations because the plans change every day. You have to be on your toes and be ready to make decisions at any moment,” he says. Moving forward, Craig says he’s happy with CCC’s current workload, saying he simply wants to see the company become more efficient and better at what they do. “We’re not trying to double the amount of projects we’re doing− we just want to remain at the forefront of the high end custom home market,” he says.”That means being cutting edge and staying ahead of the game in terms of bringing new ideas and products to the table. I’d like to think that we have the right formula for success now, it’s just about making it more efficient.”
Craig Cleary
Craig Cleary
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