Scott Clements' Vision: Unleashing the Potential of Brisbane

[Music] hello and welcome to Red's Business and Technology podcast I'm your host Jackson bar and I'm your co-host nalim today we're sitting down with Scott Clemens who's the managing director of inertia engineering we'll be speaking about everything future of the engineering and construction industry Scott thanks for coming in thanks for having me all right let's M let's start with your background um what you did before nursy engineering yeah well to try I suppose I went through the normal path of going to University at ukq um spent the first six years here doing engineering Structural Engineering for a local consulting firm sort of midsize firm here then decided to go overseas as as most Australians do at that point in time and and spent three years in the UK uh why did you go over the UK just exposure or just to travel really yeah so worked over there worked for a year in the north of the UK in leads um I was very keen not to go to London uh I wanted to see the rest of the UK instead uh so I worked for a year in Leeds and then two years in bath um very very lucky in bath to work for a very sort of Cutting Edge Innovative firm there um a firm called bu hapal who are highly regarded English firm who also have offices in um I think the the states and and in Singapore as well uh and Europe good experience like do you learn more over there than you would have just working just in Australia it's certainly and I think I already got the fundamentals of of the technical side in Australia in Brisbane um but I didn't get uh everything that we could do you know what what are the opportunities out there with different construction techniques or different ways to approach things um different culture uh the the way way they ran as a business was a lot uh more fluid I guess uh a little bit more of a of a flow business than a than a structured business um although they had structure as well um they did things like hiring graphic designers uh to to Really lead engineering uh work lead projects um where normally in engineering you you're sort of after the architect or somethingone like that so that they they' do projects like Bridges or stadiums that that they engineering is such a crucial part of it um that they had the add-on sort of front end side of things to drive the design so I was very lucky that I I came across in a senior level already uh so I got the opportunity to then work really at the front end of end of projects really cool projects such as um uh we look had I had to look at this stadium in marsill in France where existing Stadium existing football stadium there and they wanted to retrofit a roof over the top of of it uh and so for weeks on end it was just me and a graphic designer working out how we could make it look but also make it work as well at the same time um so that's awes did you do any I imagine over in like Leeds for example there would been a lot of old buildings You' had to renovate and stuff where it would be any nothing like that in Australia you know beyond 300 years or whatever yeah yeah yeah there's obviously opportunities all the time for that that sort of things we did a uh uh it was a brewery Redevelopment so it was in Dorchester which is in the south of England and uh this massive you know much bigger than than Castle M here um a big Precinct and then so they redeveloped that or probably a still redeveloping that at the moment uh residential shopping centers Cinemas all sorts of things um yeah working with the existing structure and you know some things that I I'd had experience with a little bit here um and some things I probably clash with the locals on as to you know I think they could be done better as well but um yeah great opportunities did you we'll speak engary second but did you bring any of that uh experience and like graphic design lead um engineering next into the way you operated NOA yeah definitely I think that's the biggest Gap in most most of what Engineers do here structural or civil or or whatever type is that they they don't think enough broadly they don't think enough holistically around the the problem they're trying to solve they they see a very narrow um um this is what I've done before so this is what I should do this time um without stepping back and looking at the big picture understanding the big picture sometimes you know we we always talk about that sometimes you don't even have to solve that problem you could make it go away by looking at it in a different way uh so yeah that that side of things being being a little bit more creative UPF front um you know thinking around things rather than trying to go through them that sort of stuff yeah awesome we'll unpack that creativity piece a little bit later but first you when you finished overseas and you come back to Australia why did you come over to Australia and then why did you start a with a n well actually I I decided when I was leaving the UK to not be an engineer again so um that was a bit of a sideways Journey uh I I probably I'm I'm not while I can do the technical side it probably doesn't excite me as much it's probably the you know the front end of the technical side really does I suppose that's the more holistic problem solving side where you can where you can have an impact across a different a range of different areas so what's the front end just for people listening who don't understand uh I suppose it's it's the early you get involved in a project the more you have to the more influence you can have by uh understanding what every different um stakeholder cares about you know whether it's a developer Builder um you know five or six different Engineers you might be working on on that the architect the town planner the designer all sorts of you know we work in teams of 15 15 people and and I just love knowing what sort of everyone really cares about and getting involved in that side of thing so I can then even though my role or our role within that is you know less than 10% um potentially at the front end I can uh think my way around a problem or help help be part of a a big complex team of Consultants to um essentially just make a great impact on that project as opposed to more of an architect Le here's the design make sure it's not going to fall over engineering pretty much yeah really like the collaborative process more you know and I think that when you get good really good Consultants around the table that are are good at what they do but also good at talking and listening to each other uh that's when the best results so when through the process um for anyone listening who's maybe looking get something in the future or in that industry at all when's the ideal time to engage engage the engineering team do you think in the process always right at the front from I think so look we we've done amazing projects we've got engaged before the developers bought the site okay so so they go look Scott we're we're looking at you know Scott or inura or whoever it is uh we're looking at this site might be an existing building or it might be just a piece of land the piece of land might be well what are the constraints around it you know how can we work around those constraints what do we need to worry about what do we need to look out for what are the opportunities too there's a few that are highly constrained sites that everyone else passes up on but we look at it and go actually there's solution potential solution here okay um and if you get it for the right price well then then you can get the value out of it there's one particular project that we did in the city that's a multi-award-winning one now um called Midtown where we got engaged to do uh pre purchase due diligence of two existing buildings and and our our client had a had a dream to say well how can we add levels on top of these two uh existing 20 story buildings um and said can you have a look at the building can you have a you know you've got two weeks to do some due diligence on working out whether we can do this or not which is obviously we weren't going to sort of uh be completely confident in that in that period of time but um we're confident enough that we could go ahead with it and um you know based on on our advice and some Architects advice U they purchased that building and and you know we ended up with seven stories on top and joining the two towers together and and a very successful successful and really interesting project that we've actually been um written up in the American Institute of civil engineers we've presented to engineers in the UK about um that was midtown midtown Center yes cool so you move back to Australia don't want to engineering anymore but still still like the early kind of Concept side and then how did you land in oan yeah so I my sort of sojourn away from engineering went into um I guess more development or or or actually project homework so I was involved in the construction marketing Finance sales side of that um and uh you know that I love that being involved in a whole different part of the industry and is probably what's Driven me to be understand and be involved upfront in projects because I've obviously understood uh different elements as well uh and can add value through that uh unfortunately GFC hit that that little sojurn and then uh I was I was getting about to get married at the time I thought I better get a real job again so uh so I was I started working with my now business partner at inura he he'd um uh started a small business it was the um the version before aurer uh wasn't called aurer at the time but um he was just working out of a as a subc consultant to another geotechnical engineering firm um and he had too much work on so so I said look you want me to help you out I just started doing some contract work and I think 6 months later I said well you know should we just give this a go um we seem to be offering value to people and getting more work and out of the GFC we kept kept growing so well um we made an agreement to to join up and that was 2008 um three years later I'd call the start of inertia because that's when we got a bit more serious about things like websites and marketing and our own office and whatnot how many employees are Nur that time uh two so 2008 I was I was essentially the second one so three of us all together uh and then 2011 when we say we got serious it was only five of us still so we we'd just been ticking along doing some smaller Structural Engineering work and and um being quite happy I I'd started a family at the time so I wasn't really trying to spend all my time in the office um but uh I probably always knew that I wanted to do more than than than just sit on the tools I guess so what's the when did you change it to iner engineering in 2011 and like what's what's the name like what it background the real story is I wanted momentum but I couldn't get it so so inertia was the the the next option I I think that it's worked out really well actually I think it's better than momentum um inertia is a little bit misunderstood I think as a term in in this country uh a lot of I know a lot of people that I've spoken to particularly uh older Australians that used to use the term think about it as inert as in not moving but but inertia is actually you know it's it's in its state of movement or otherwise not movement unless acted upon by an outside force so it's a right um so essentially our take on it is that you know our services always moving in our in our projects stand the test of time um okay yeah cool what sets noal engineering apart from other engineering firms I think there's a there's a couple of things uh um there's probably maybe three things I think uh culture's always been a big drive for us uh you know we spend and have always spent a lot of time connecting with each other um you know doing doing different social social things uh doing doing charity things as well um we you know and I think everyone that has almost everyone that's come there has said oh this is different you know we we really enjoy this um being here uh so that that's probably the Baseline for us the cultural side of things I suppose my background being outside of engineering has has helped as well so I like to teach our our younger Engineers more about the industry than just their narrow Focus that they they learn at University which is essentially you know um computer programs and um spreadsheets and things like that so I really like to you know show them the view from everyone else's eyes as in the other stakeholders that are involved in in a project or whatnot um and probably lastly marketing I I really like marketing I enjoy it and right um so I think that uh I I I think that most some of the engineering firms are catching up a little bit now but you know 10 years ago no one was doing anything at all why do you like marketing I don't know good question okay most business owners are natural marketers right yeah yeah you don't think of Engineers as as Market marketos though but you don't think a Scott as an engineer though or a marketer I I um I do have a saying to to some of to to anyone that will probably listen to me most of the time but particularly to our our people is that only doing a really good job's only half the job you got to tell people about it too not tell people about it in an arrogant way but let people know what you can do and the value you can offer to a project or a client um and then you get that opportunity to do it again and ultimately Engineers love solving problems that's generally what they did engineering for and what drives them to do engineering um they'd get more opportunities to solve more problems if they tell people about it um so I think I think that's probably the drive a little bit and I also have another saying we're only competing against other Engineers that don't don't always don't that they they feel like marketing is a dirty word yeah that's that's what I thought most Engineers thought about marketing which I thought I was very surprised when it came actually so that's cool and we can unpack that one a little bit in a second but before do there's a lot of ways I want to take this not you want to jump in a couple questions probably the first question I've got for you Scott is you've seen obviously technology transform organizations like yours over the you know past couple of decades like can you share with us you know where you've come from where do you see things go obviously there's so much come in in the likes of AI and Automation and you know obviously cyers integral to everything you do like just talk take us through the Journey well I'm going to show my age a little bit here was when when I first started in uh before 2000 let's just call it that um we uh our office had one email address that we all shared we still had uh we still had paper copies of all our plans and and plotters and we still sometimes Drew by hand um and Drew and had to scratch out things when they were when they were wrong and and redo them or redo it all again so um the the first step has been that efficiency on on on the digital drawing side of things without a doubt um uh that and that's that's probably the thing that's come the longest way I think in in the industry in my time I think that Australia's still behind other other countries so um particularly on the drawing where behind or where do you yeah yeah it's it's coming in now so so we you know the the most of the leading I suppose uh countries um such as the UK or Germany always have integrated building models where or you know the Clash detection between structure or services or or anything else is is almost automatic um and then that building model then gets used for the life of the building to understand what maintenance requirements and and things like that are um you know we we're doing it now um but we were slow on the uptake um particularly in the private space there government's mandating a lot of this now but um yeah the private space has been slow so that that's probably the biggest change I think I think then I'd probably go to sort of operating systems you know how we manage projects how we record our time and things how do we um record communication as well that's something that we did probably 12 10 to 12 years ago um we have a amazing database of every single pretty much every single uh email communication on every single project we've done um that we can pull up at any time and and it helps us when we have where the change over Personnel um or an old project come up we said what happened here um you know so that that sort of thing has really helped us uh how did you do that 20 years ago oh that was about 10 years ago that yeah before you had cuz on you got product numbers and you capture emails and stuff how was that done 15 years ago uh yeah how did we do it beforehand um I don't think it was done much at all that's that's the difference yeah you you I suppose the emails we you'd sort of save this the important ones manually you know we'd drag it over into a folder or print them out or yeah we we would we'd still have manila folders for every single project where you you printed all the important things out and there obviously a little bit down to um trusting humans to print the right ones out um and and uh and record all the information required so yeah the communic and obviously as we all know the communication side of things has changed a lot in the last few years with the Advent of Co and and and driving um things like teams and slack and all that sort of stuff so we we were using slack and and whatnot before that but um I do sometimes think there's too much um there can be too much of it but yeah leading ahead Scott like if you the challenges you as a business owner facing with technology and you know where we're going can you share what what those are what you say yeah well there's obviously challenges and opportunities I think there's a there's a lot of opportunity um in for for me what what I there's a couple of things we'd like to focus on and personally one as a business owner is to really understand um indepth how the business runs up toate day-to-day you know that's that's sort of my dream to say well all the metrics the key metrics of the business and and our key clients are at hand at all times now we're not far away from that but we're a long way from that in a lot of ways um and that's probably more more humans in the way of of technology or or being able to pull all the different parts of Technology together um I think that's a great opportunity for for anyone that wants to run a really smooth we know that business is under way smooth but a smoth as possible business with the upto-date information that we can get um to make decisions critical decisions all the time and and to make sure you're also servicing your clients which is really what the business's purpose is right I mean I've been amazed with the change in in Advent of AI um not necessarily yet in our industry affecting that but um the uptake from we wouldn't even had this conversation two years ago about Ai and now everyone's talking about it someone some people as we've talked about a calling things AI that aren't AI any software these days that comes out in this new is AI yeah this podcast is all done by AI not really we um I I I truly believe that it it will hugely impact what what we do not just AI but you know just different ways of programming things um there's a lot of what Engineers do that can be done by a computer um almost without input or or very little input um and I I would see that I'm just throwing numbers out here but I'm I would see that possibly 50% of what we're doing now will will change and not be done by a person personal yeah potentially yeah um so so being maybe not the first but certainly not the last in that that side of things is important to us yep uh to make sure that um we're not left behind whether that's left behind because some someone else El a competitor does it uh uses technology to do it better or uses technology to do it cheaper um which is probably more where our industry goes normally cheaper rather than better but yeah and are clients demand in any particular Technologies or new ways like you mentioned earlier that you know we are behind the Germans and the Europeans like is that translating into demands that customers put on you as an engineering firm to to embrace newer technology platforms or systems or anything like that uh not not really as as yet in the straight engineering design and consultancy space I think that in reality only our really sophisticated clients our best clients really understand what we do in a lot of ways anyway uh there's there's a lot that um and certainly the general public when you say you're an engineer half of them still think you're driving a train you know so uh um there's a lot that don't fully understand how we get to a point and that's back to what I was probably talking a little bit about marketing before is that Engineers don't explain it well enough either um so it's it's probably on us more than anyone else um so they're not we're not really outside of the the the drawing and digital side and the 3D modeling side um that's a that's a must um it's our opportunity to show what can be done differently I think there's there's uh which is a really good opportunity because once you know as you know when you would put something out and and show the benefit of something in that technology early um and then that that that's sort of automatically associated with you and your service um so yeah not not so much yet uh I I can see more broadly the construction industry changing um in the next well I probably would have said this 10 years ago but maybe in the next 10 years um we don't do a hell of a lot of modular construction or pre-fabricated construction we tend to just throw people into something on a site um but with the pressures that we're currently having that's that's coming out again so that changes the way we design things to because you then what modular pre-cast tends to do in in a project is it means you've got to design really really accurately and a lot earlier in the process you can't wait till it's being built to resolve Your Design you have to have it fully resolved um fully coordinated with the other Specialists and then they build it in you know offsite and throw it up onsite so that's exciting I mean 50% of job being automated with AI That's crazy opportunity for whoever Masters that and gets there first it has been interesting I think like the amount engineering firms rely on technology over the years you just got more and more and more and more right it's going to be much bigger you know TX Tech spend less humans um probably in 10 years which would be pretty exciting um more broadly speaking you mentioned before we jumped on the show uh you're really passionate excited about Brisbane and the opportunity we've got here you want to speak AIT a little bit about about that yeah well I'm I'm a I'm a Brisbane boy and and I do think we're in one of the most livable cities in the world and I'd probably extend that I would extend that to Southeast Queensland in general so when I say Brisbane I'm really talking about Southeast Queensland But ultimately I'm from Brisbane so I use that term more than anything um as we know we we have a a major the world's biggest event coming um to the to the smallest place that's ever come to you know that that's the cool thing about um Brisbane winning the Olympics is that uh we've got a real opportunity we will be uh on the world stage as a relatively small City really and with that drives all sorts of um desire to to build and and to live here and opportunities for people to come and see and go oh look look look what they've got there um I do I do fear that we might not fully utilize or leverage the opportunity we've got um I have no doubt we'll put on a great Olympics what do you mean by that what why I I think that the the opportunity of the Olympics is not just to put on a great Olympics the opportunity is to create a legacy for a whole region or a whole city for 50 years you know so there's there's once there's Once In Our Lifetime chance probably once in two lifetimes chance that that brisbane's going to have an opportunity that people can throw all all sorts of money at the city the infrastructure of the city um not just sporting infrastructure but but transport infrastructure in particular um uh in development in general you it's almost an unlimited it will be almost an unlimited pot but so how can we plan around using that to the best Advantage for future people in southeast Queensland in you know so that we're we're not in 2050 talking about traffic problems or transport problems or all sorts of all sorts of things like that there's a lot of people saying that now that you know obviously there's a bit of a housing crisis going on already uh traffic's getting only worse at the moment um people some people actually negative about the Olympics coming in because of those kind of concerns uh which is going to be interesting what are some of the ways you think that they can plan for the uh Olympics 2032 um without causing all those problems and and planning so it is a legacy what are some of your ideas we should be voting Scot in a politician right you know we're need good leadership um I look transport it's everything to me lines up with transport first we we've had an announcement about two weeks ago uh about the development of of Hamilton Northshore um I I think the number is something like you know 12,000 new new apartments in that area over the next 10 years or so you know it's it's the biggest growth area in Brisbane it doesn't have a train station M um we've got an opportunity to put a train station there and I no doubt that there's conversations about it but I don't understand why that's not that should be the first bit you know um the housing bit comes after it so we've got a funny City where where we've got some really great places that should be developed that aren't being developed and some places that probably shouldn't be developed that you know we generally do follow public transport but then some of it and train lines in particular in our in our high density areas but then we've had over a 20 30 year period a real push for development around large shopping centers um so that might be the Frank Lowry rule I'm not sure but you know we've got a huge density at chide with limited transport um out there outside of buses uh microbats the same thing um you know why do we choose those hubs we know why we chose those hubs because there's big shopping centers there um but why aren't we choosing hubs that are that are perfectly capable of of transporting Mass transporting a lot more people um also please don't choose places in the flood zone like Milton um or or make sure you you sort of mitigate against those issues you know shopping centers in schools that seem to be the areas where everyone just flocks around there and then wants to go in those areas because of that which is understandable because you need to go close to those things you if young family for example you got to look for good school areas and that kind of thing uh makes makes a lot of sense what do you think some of the challenges apart from transport that we're going to see I think the biggest one that everyone's talking about in the industry at the moment is just cost of construction so uh the the government spend that's happening on on health right now um and health in the next few years will then well actually will overlap with the spend on Sports infrastructure uh so we've got an unprecedented a spend uh on from government on construction activities now the issue with that is we've got a limited supply of people limited supply of construction supplies um but particularly people um so there th those two government spends can't not happen you know particularly the Olympics one but the health one's already there and it's already happening so what it's doing is it's driving up construction pricing throughout the whole industry um we have um particularly at that high end of government spend that they'll all be um unionized labor forces uh with high pay rates and and they're starting to suck up uh other other sort of not normally government trades going into that space um which I don't blame them they're looking for the best return and the best pay and all that sort of thing but it's pulling them out of private uh the private development space and the private development space is the space that provides all their houses yeah um which is super important like I said before it's already in a housing crisis there's all this like you know health and Olympics kind of construction going to happen and people need to you know people need to be in Construction and building um those kind of things the construction industry has had a pretty terrible time over the past few years right with collapsing and like you said shortage on people and um increasing costs going crazy and it's a risky business I think everyone even five years ago look at construction as potentially the risky kind of industry but I think now even like more so than ever what are some creative way that that industry can um like fix those challenges well it's it's interesting it is I think it's starting to be fixed a little bit already um the the the real issue with with Builders and I'm not an expert necessarily on on on how they contract and um and the solutions there but uh the real issue is that they they lock in pricing um on a particular day and two years later they're still building it um um and what happens is that their their input costs um in in their model of of of the price change but their end price doesn't so um I've said that I'm going to build this for $100 uh I know my cost are $80 at that point in time two years later my cost are now $110 and that's that's what's happening and it's and it's a particular contract system that does that there there are other models out there that are starting to be used a lot more um frequently now Cost Plus kind of models cost yeah Cost Plus um managing contractors a number of different ways of doing it where Builders have just got to the point where they don't have to accept the other way probably there AR We're All Our Own Worst Enemy in in construction and and and Engineers are they different but Builders the same once it gets quieter they'll start going back to that and accepting it again yeah it's a hard challenge right because even for the person who signed the contract wants to get a thing built it's pretty hard to budget for Cost Plus or you know uh how do you because you got to probably get finan for this staff and it's a huge kind of design process to go through and if you don't know what it's going to cost at the end that's that's why they obviously fix price right yeah Finance is the biggest issue you know how how can I lend you money to do this if I don't know how much actually going to cost yeah um or if it works in the end so and the banks aren't going to loan you between you know six and 8 mil somewhere yeah gets get a little bit tricky uh but you know I think that a friend of mine always says the the solution for high prices is high prices you know so it you know the market does sort itself out at some point but we probably just have to learn from these these big swings you know brisban hasn't had a big swing in Market forces in construction for a long time and that's been a great place to work because we we can know what's happening but um what what we aren't very good at is when there's a big change up or a big change down that's that's the problem without getting political here um what's your thoughts on the housing like residential housing shortage and what do you think can be done yeah it's a it's a complex problem I think that um there's a number of things and and I do think that the the federal and state governments are doing the right things as far as funding for social and affordable housing um that that is a uh it's probably a little bit of a Band-Aid uh I think throwing throwing some money get something very quickly to go this is this now needs to be social now needs to be affordable um the longer term fixes are probably a couple of things and and a couple of things I've seen done in other places pretty well one is just reducing the the the costs and the red tape around construction is is a huge thing so around the approvals around the approvals uh is particularly you know like 6 months or 12 months extra can can add so much cost to to the to the project um allow people to do small infill projects more often brisbane's not great for that in fact uh since I think 2014 have almost been anti putting little infield projects um Everyone likes to protect their leafy suburbs and houses so um and that that's what we vote for to be honest it's that's our fault as as residents to say I don't not in my backyard type of thing yeah um but that's probably the most affordable type of what um infill you can do where whether it's Granny flats or it's a couple of tow houses or or what not that's the stuff that actually people can still purchase or or rent for a reasonable price uh and I I guess the other thing I've seen done overseas and and I'm just thinking post more likely the UK is that they they when they have a larger project and it's starting to be done a little bit more now is that they actually mandate that a certain percentage of that project's affordable so they have to be delivered um so it can be rented or purchased at a lower a price point um and and they get they get planning concessions or or whatnot around that and that's starting to be done here now um but but more of that to me is a longer term solution um around it to you know a bit of give and take yeah it is an interesting challenge because you're right they're that not in my backyard thing right cuz people have their house and they want you nor anyone in Australia blocking their view people go get upset I cut down a tree at my place and my neighbor said I've been watching that tree go for 20 years I was like okay all right he he was dropping stuff on the roof so we had to get it cut down and he's like but I've been watching I yeah so I can imagine at a wider lens there'd be some many other problems from people in like the you know um family kind of suburbs building like a you know four-story thing with much more affordable housing yeah uh a lot of other people will get not happy about it I'm seeing and the issue normally happens is that it takes a lot of pressure to shift people's perceptions um and once you start this and this has I I asked this question of a a leading yimi yes in my backyard Advocate um not not long ago and she said I said do you see this do you see actually Yim winning in other parts of the world and she said yes there parts of the states for instance and it and it's just come up around because of the the simple pressure of you know having uh for instance homeless people on the street um or having you know like things that aren't working well in a community um and and then going all right I can actually understand how helping provide lower cost housing um will help the whole Community not you know it might a little bit negatively impact me at the start but everyone gets used to it after a bit anyway and they've actually got a better stronger Community to to live in um it's just we don't have I don't think at any level of government uh anyone with the strength to stand up and explain that and and and show it and Lead it um particularly at a local government level it's um you know we're very this is probably a broad statement that I probably shouldn't say it it's a broad statement but very uh reactionary to the vocal minority what are your thoughts on the bill to rent going on do you think that's going to solve any challenges without a doubt yeah um we're scratching the surface that only at the moment but um yeah in in the US it's it's huge like um I don't know don't know the figures off the top of my head but uh I would you know from a percentage perspective it's 20 or 30 times more what we've got here uh build to rent housing in in that's planned in Australia um planned or in development is still less than 1% of housing Supply even though most of these build to rent are 200 plus units and and some of them are uh 600 to 1,000 uh the stuff that's coming up it's still a very very very small part of of what we can do and I think that there's real opportunity to you know like when you get those the big ones they create communities by themselves as well um the the the reason seems to be and again not an expert on the financing for build rent but the reason seems to be that um the the the funding model is very different um so it's not necessarily just about the initial return on on selling something it's a it's a longer term more patient Capital you know superannuation um investment that that side of things so that uh they can accept a slightly higher construction cost than than build to sell and the Prov the premise around that is that it's also like serviced kind of uh living as well right um so for the um people that can get into cheaper housing doing like a buil to rent kind of thing and lower cost of living also get better service and bit of a community look at like gasworks for example that's pretty cool over gasworks actually um there's some good apartments up there for example with downstairs there's heaps of culture you can go down to and Shopping Center's right there and it's good location close to the city so I mean if I think a v like that kind of concept makes a bit of sense to be honest for bris oh look if if I was uh mid 20s and wanting to somewhere to live i' I'd be definitely looking at that as an option you know great great Services they're not necessarily more affordable necessarily cheaper from a rental perspective because you got to pay for all those Services um but for what you get for lifestyle um you know it's it is more affordable than buying something so yeah all right I think that's all the question I had n anything else you wanted to add before we close out yeah the only question I've really gotten as a business owner leading you know inertia into to be one of the best in southeast Queensland and passionate about Brisbane Scott like what are the challenges you face on a day-to-day basis like give us three things that you know you see that you know is common as a business owner that you you faced with on a on a weekly basis good question Nigel uh the look The the one that's obvious at the moment is lack of resources um and that that is discussed almost on a day-to-day basis at our at our business uh uh it's probably a little bit what we talked about with regards to the construction industry and and Builders not not having enough people to do the work that that is coming um but then we've got not enough places to for them to live when they do come so it's a uh another um associate of mine said um um they've got to come and build it their um look that that's probably the the the biggest without a doubt right right now um I I would say that the pressures of the industry in construction prices are also making it difficult to efficiently manage our operations so not just through lack of resources but because what what happens often with the project work is that it gets it gets so far um and then it gets repriced and then we have to look it is it is the pricing an issue will it go ahead or not um we do we have to change it do we have to stop so this year in particular has been characterized by projects starting and stopping starting and stopping starting stopping so so we've already low on resources but then we've got to manage a constant change in our forward workflow around it so and as you know doing that it's not efficient at all so then we're adding more cost potentially either more cost just to us and absorbing it or more cost to the actual project because of the change and all that um so it's ironic that higher costs are causing higher costs again yeah it's like you to build in more risk in a time where people can't take more risk to be built in so it's it's a weird one that's right yeah I think I've only got two major ones there's probably a lot of little things fairly common I guess we I it to a lot of business owners we deal with and even us you know resourcing human resources and just a massive challenge that you know I think it it comes with it opportunity but at the same time you know like what you said before Southeast Queensland you know passionate and we Reds you know want to be the best we can be in southeast Queensland I think we've got an amazing you know decade ahead of us but you know to your point can we capitalize on that opportunity is the biggest challenge yeah I could think of nothing better to to look back in you know say let's say four or five years after the Olympics and say oh that was an amazing Legacy that you know that we've benefited a whole region or a whole state potentially for for a long period of time Absolut if anyone wants to find out more about inertia or yourself Scott how can they reach you well there's the website ww. inertia .com. um or look me up look me up through that awesome Scott thanks for coming in thank you thanks having [Music] Che n

2023-10-16 12:50

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