2 | Griffin Constructions
Griffin Constructions | 3 Griffin Constructions is a Canberra-based building company that builds beautiful homes and strong customer relationships alike. They specialise in high-quality renovations and extensions, though their portfolio also consists of new houses and even timber work at the National Portrait Gallery. At the head of Griffin Constructions are Directors Stuart Marshall and Luke Greenham, who bring a wide range of experience and knowledge to every project, and preside over a similarly professional team of carpenters, apprentices and subcontractors. Under their shared leadership, Griffin Constructions consistently finishes jobs on time, within budget, and to the highest standard of quality. “Between the two of us, we do the work of three,” says Marshall. “Having a partnership
4 | Griffin Constructions with defined roles means the business runs very smoothly. It means we have the time to provide close attention to detail – and that’s why we turn heads in the industry.” Marshall began his career in the industry more than 20 years ago, starting off as an apprentice in Canberra. Soon after, he was hired by John Holland, where he worked as a site foreman on many major commercial projects. After five years building with them in Sydney, Marshall returned to Canberra and decided to apply his experience to the residential sector. At that point, he formed his own, which grew to require a permanent site foreman – that’s when he met Greenham. Marshall and Greenham ended up becoming partners. They amalgamated their individual businesses, Marshall Constructions and Artisan Constructions, forming Griffin Constructions and growing steadily from there. Today, Marshall is the first person clients meet when they decide to start the process. He does all the upfront work – including design coordination, job estimation, and building approvals – and then all the project administration throughout the course of the job. Greenham, meanwhile, takes care of the dayto-day running of the jobs. He’s been doing residential renovations and extensions for the past decade, and has proven that he’s highly adept at getting the work done to a high standard. CLIENTS ARE KEY Currently, the majority of Griffin Constructions projects take place in the inner Canberra suburbs. Most of their workload is comprised of up-scale extensions and renovations, but also take
Griffin Constructions | 5 on architecturally-designed new homes. No matter what type of project they are doing, however, they go out of their way to form exceptional relationships with clients. “We believe that all great outcomes derive from the relationship between client and builder,” Marshall says. To build those strong relationships, Marshall and Greenham ensure the lines of communication are open from the very beginning. The first thing they do on a job is ensure that the client’s aspirations and expectations are clearly understood. They then prepare a comprehensive building programme, so clients understand what is being planned for, and do not have to contend with any unexpected surprises along the way. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a client that said we don’t communicate with them,” Marshall says. “And that’s the key to a good client-builder rela-
6 | Griffin Constructions
Griffin Constructions | 7 tionship – the fact that everyone can talk to us, and everyone understands what we’re doing for them.” Griffin Constructions also goes out of their way to meet the practical needs of their clients. If they need to stay in the property while they do the work, for example, Griffin will do everything they can to accommodate them. “We’ve always measured our success not just by the end result, but by the great working relationships we establish with our clients along the way,” Marshall reiterates. “Clients are a key part of the process, and in turn, a key part of the project´s success.” Also a key part of a project’s success is the team working on it. According to Greenham, the company’s roster of employees and subcontractors also work to build strong and lasting client relationships on the company’s behalf. “Our people are very respectful of the fact that they’re working in someone’s home,” he says. “And they all do a good job of keeping things tidy, and are very pleasant for clients to deal with during the day.” INDUSTRY RECOGNISED With every project they take on, Marshall and Greenham are dedicated to achieving the highest quality possible. That dedication has been consistently rewarded by repeat work and client referrals –Marshall says that word-of-mouth accounts for 90 per cent of the company’s workload. “That obviously means we’re doing something right,” he says. Another sign that GriffinConstructions is doing something right are the many industry awards
8 | Griffin Constructions they have acquired over the years. In 2012, for example, they won a prominent HIA award for Renovation / Addition Project of the Year. The same night, they also picked up an award for Renovation / Addition Project over $650,000 and were finalists in the Home of the Year category. “That’s great recognition for the guys that work for us,” Greenham says. “They work hard to deliver quality jobs, and it’s nice when that effort is recognised amongst our peers.” Marshall credits Griffin’s consistent award recognition to their attention to detail, and to their “systematic quality assurance.” “Before we even start a job, I like to spend time
Griffin Constructions | 9 getting the details right,” he says. “Then during a job we’re constantly checking our work as we do it, making sure it’s up to the standard we want to be known for in the industry.” Moving forward, both Marshall and Greenhamwant tomaintain, amd even improve on, that high level of focus and detail. While they do want to grow the business, they are both conscious of the dangers of growing too big, too fast. “We want to grow to the stage where we’re doing about 15 to 20 projects a year,” Marshall says. “We won’t do that, though, until we’ve got the right people behind us. That’s what we’re working on now.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=