Welcome to Home Building Like a Boss, the podcast dedicated to helping first home buyers in Perth  build their dream home with ease and excitement.  I'm Jamie, your host and go to building broker.  Are you ready to feel empowered, in control and excited about your building journey? I'll help guide you with expert advice, insider tips and tricks and real life stories to help you navigate the confusing world of home building.

Tune in as I take you on the journey to building your home like a boss. 

Okay. So today I have with me, Laura and Laura is our Ops Manager. She's been with me for a couple of years now, and she's joining me on the podcast to do a. I guess meet the team episode about me. So now I'm the one being interviewed,  which now I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of it.

So thank you for joining me. Hi, I'm so excited to be here. Um, and I can't wait to interview you because I've wanted to do this for so long. So this is so, so, so exciting. All right. Are we going to do it? Yep. Dive in. Okay. I've kind of like, I'm giving you a little heads up, but I haven't told Jamie too many things because I really just.

Want you guys to get to know her like we know her. So, all right. So first things first, let's really dive in. We all have our quirks here in the office.  What is something  about you that you think would make everybody else laugh or like something about you that makes us laugh and we know about you? It's definitely probably that everything I say and every quote I have is always a Stephen Bartlett quote.

And the end of it is, this was from Stephen Bartlett. Literally always guys. Like you have no idea. Everything she says, she's like, I've got this idea. And we're like from Stephen Bartlett. Every single time  you're a hundred percent, if you could marry anybody, you'll be him. Okay. If you could build your dream house, what would it be?

Like, what would you include? And I'm going to throw in. What suburb would you build in? Oh,  that is The suburb one is a bit of a tough one because I used to live, I used to live in Hammond Park, so I guess like 20 minutes from the city, 20 minutes from the beach, kind of good location, central location. Now I live Um, on the beach in an apartment, though.

So I've gone for the lifestyle and I don't think I could give up the lifestyle living. So it's definitely going to be a suburb on the beach. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So staying on the beach with that kind of lifestyle and house wise. Yes, yes. Low maintenance, not too big. The last one was too big. A lot of maintenance so I don't have to look after anything.

That lawn. Just quietly. Yeah. Jamie's old house, before she sold, it was like the tiniest patch of lawn guys. And like big entertainment area, tiny patch of lawn and she killed it. Totally killed it. Look, I wouldn't say it was all my fault. Okay, okay, okay. But I revived it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, did you just say you revived it?

Laura's husband revived it. Just to clarify. He told me what to do and I did it.  Dead. Okay, keep going. The house, it's an entertainment house. Like a place for me to have friends over.  The, maybe a pool, but drinks like servery window, entertainment, open living all at the back. Um, I love having like my friends over and things like that.

So it'd be a real like entertainment hub. I love that. If you only had so much square meterage and you had to forego something like in that dream design of entertainment, are you saying that you would have smaller bedrooms to have bigger entertainment space? Probably. I would have like, cause everyone's always like, oh yeah, four by two, but do you really need for like, I didn't need a four by two in the old house.

Yes. Sorry. Could forego a bedroom, like a three by two to make sure I have like the living area and the backyard space. All right. Cool. Okay. So now you're knowing Jamie a little bit more, but let's dive into some more boss things. Okay. So, cause I want to start with your story. And obviously you mentioned that I have been here for a little bit.

I, to give some context, uh, I have known you what? Four years now. Yes, five years now. Yes. And started, you contacted me as a consultant back a long time ago to help you with like setting up the backend of everything. Right. So I've seen before Boss was born. Before Boss was born. Yep. So I've seen some iterations,  , I have seen some things.

So I want you to start with the story and like when you look back at your journey. Um, starting boss,  was there a pivotal moment that really made you take that leap and go, yeah, I've got to go out and I've got to do this on my own. Yeah, I would definitely say there was a few things that definitely helped me make that decision and I could see like the opportunity and the potential in being a broker, which is how I started and how I built my house. 

Um, but I knew I could do it better. Like I, I had the drive and the passion to be able to help people who were in a similar situation to what I was. And I wasn't getting, I guess, I had the vision and I needed to make the vision happen, I guess. And I wasn't getting that. And I knew I could do the vision on my own.

So you mean like of your own house or like the vision of the business, the vision of the business? Yes. Okay. And so like, what do you,  I'm going to. Pester you here. You're gonna hate me. She's gonna hate me guys. I'm so dead. Maybe I'll have a job after this, but that's totally fine. Fine.  What was that vision?

Like what did you feel? What could you do better? It was definitely around like the client experience. Like I had ideas to do pre start prep meetings and slab boxes and slab parties and different things for key handover. And like how I wanted to run the operations and the systems. Like it being so client focused.

I always had to go ask and be like, Oh, I got this idea. Like. Can we do this? And I was sick of being like, I've got an idea. Can I do it? And then no, or money or, you know, different things come into play as a business owner when you have to make those decisions. And I knew I could back myself to make those decisions.

Cool. And back yourself. You have, you have. Okay. So I've been here for a little while, right. And I've seen pretty much, well, I have all clients now under boss actually. Yeah. Even a few before that. So I think one thing that's really stands out is. It's such an overwhelming process. And so like, obviously in my role, I have to really understand the entire building process because everything that we build out in the backend to support everybody has to follow that process and has to understand things.

And while I know absolutely nothing about like. Certain aspects of the building. Like if you said about, I've heard that word, no idea what that actually means. Right. Like I could tell you about the, um, more so what the clients are experiencing and there is a lot of information. Right. And I would say that beyond anything, it's just really overwhelming.

Like the whole building process is overwhelming. And so that is really what our clients experience. Right. So what do you think it is about our approach that really changes that experience for our clients once they come to us? I think it's always around having our clients in mind first and always educating and supporting them through each step of the process so it becomes really overwhelming because you don't know what you're doing like you don't get taught at school how to build a house or how to understand your finances or how to go to a bank and We're here to help clients through that process to make it less overwhelming because we actually know what we're talking about.

We've been through it  over a hundred times with different clients, different blocks, different situations. Every client is different and we've seen not all because there's always things that come up, but we've seen a majority of it to be able to support clients through the process. Knowing what's happening next, or you've got someone to call to answer a question rather than going on to Google and then going down to a rabbit hole.

Cause Google's telling you, your house is falling down. Like you can actually ask someone who knows what they're talking about and being through the process and breaking it down, like step by step. Really simple, which is obviously one of our core values, really, really simple that you understand and taking the time, which takes extra time, but taking the time to explain that to people so they fully understand it and if they don't explain it again.

Wow. Okay. Love that. I love that. And I also think I'm just going to add to that though. Like, cause I'm not a broker, right? So I can only go on what I see you and everybody else do is that because you are a broker and you're not a builder, you actually see what is like inverted commas, normal and not normal.

Right? So if a client comes to you guys and is like, this has happened, you can be like, that doesn't feel, it doesn't feel right. Right. And then you guys ask those questions and that I think really gives a lot of comfort to our clients, you know, so, okay, we know what questions to ask. Oh, yeah. I would, by the way, I would be so screwed.

So thank God if I was to ever build, I, cause I have not gone through the process would be, I would, you'd have to do everything. I'd be so screwed. Obviously there's been a lot of client success stories, right? So everybody, pretty much everybody that signs on is. Finalized unless something catastrophic happens or you know, things out of our control.

Is there any story or any client that you've taken through the process that is like, you know, it, it just reminds you exactly. Obviously all of our clients remind us, but is there anyone that's like, this is exactly why we do it with you? Yeah, that's like such a hard one to answer because every, especially like single moms or young families looking out to get out of a rental and never owned anything of their own and like not being in that control of the landlord, like those are really great success stories because. 

They now become in control of what they're wanting to do. But the biggest one I would probably say, and I don't know if this one would ever, I don't know, it's a big call. I can't wait to hear what you're going to say. Ever top it off because it's literally like a one in a million. Fucked up situation that could ever happen to somebody.

And it was even before I started BOSS. So this was like one of my very, very, very first clients and just like, they're, I would say like family friends. I've known them for a very long time and the average family, two young kids, they were renting and it was probably like 2020, 2021 time. So rents were starting to increase, like money was getting tight, all that kind of stuff, COVID.

And we got him a block, got him a builder, did all of that stuff. And it was formal finance approved. Now the next process is settlement and settlement kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. And then, um, Cam, who's a settlement agent called me and the seller  of the block of land went into liquidation,  like kind of an explain one in a million.

What I don't know what happened and the, we had to wait for the administrators to be appointed a whole bunch of stuff to happen. And the clients were just in limbo. They wanted to throw in the towel, like they didn't want to start the process. We had deadlines to meet because of the government grants. So they could actually get the 20, 000 back from the government because the slab needed to go down at a certain time to make that.

So there was like a whole bunch of things and they needed that money to move into the house and finish everything off and et cetera. So there was a lot of time constraints and a lot outside of our control. So waiting for the administrators. And it was like a web. They had heaps of property and one needed to be released and before the next one could be released to the block of land.

And Cam and I just pushed and pushed and pushed. I wouldn't have done it without Cam either, so make sure you get a good settlement agent. And stuck with the clients through the tears and the phone calls and everything. And eventually, I can't exactly remember how long later, but  Settlement went through and they were the only one on the street out of all the blocks that went into administration.

The only contract that went through.  So I didn't know that that was the only one. Yeah, everything else got pulled and re put on the market when the administrators got pulled, but they were the only client that actually continued and stuck through it. And I mean, that's probably going to come down to us pestering administration and the sellers. 

Block is ours and we need it to go through. A hundred percent, because really everybody else is probably, I mean, I obviously can't say this for sure, but 99 percent of those other people probably went with brokers.  Yeah. Wow. I didn't know that.  I also kind of forgot about that until I started talking about the story too, so.

And yeah, they've, so grateful when they moved here, they've got their keys, they've been in the house now for a couple of years, they have a bunch of equity sitting in the house.  Like, and now they're not renting. So I think that's such a good reminder.  Like even for me, just about,  cause you always hear like, if we talk about finance brokering, right?

Like when I bought my house, I was like, why would I use a finance broker? Like I could just go straight to the bank and whatever, but it's just such a good reminder that like, this is why, because finance brokering is one thing. Right. It's really just a tiny piece of the puzzle. Like we're just getting a loan and obviously there's a few things, but once the loan has happened, the loan has happened, like that's the end of the story, but for building, it's such a process.

And like, I think the thing that I love most is that.  It really is such a team effort. Like you guys are there and working with people and they can ask you any question. And I like, I see the questions coming through and like, you know, and I love that though, like I love the relationships that are built and like the questions that people can ask.

And I just, I didn't even, I knew the part of that story, but I did not know all of that story. So that's wild. Yeah. And I think it goes, I mean, I was talking to the guys about it, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago, whatever, probably about another crazy idea that I have, but  by the way, hashtag and Jamie has lots of crazy ideas,  trying to explain to people that when more than just a broker, because.

It's not just about the quote and the money at the end of the day. That's obviously a huge part of it, but where the middle man slash woman between every single party in the building process. And there's a lot of moving parts and it takes a lot of time and the emotional sport and all those things. And that every aspect of that played into that client success story.

A hundred percent. And I think just, I'm going to share something that I don't know if people know, but I think it's important to know because. This is actually going to go into one of my other questions, which is around, you know, this industry has a lot of,  there's a lot of misconceptions and a lot of what's the right word?

Like trust is really important. And I think something that people probably don't know is that. For you guys, until really a build actually starts happening, there, there is no payment, right? So when you talk about time, it really is all of your time and effort and you guys get nothing out of that. Like if you go to a builder, that's probably why you don't get the time.

Right. They're not there to answer everything. And I hope people know that because you're literally doing it off your own back, like there is literally no payment at all  until a start, a house starts getting built. So everything prior to that is 100 percent simply because you want your clients to have the best experience.

And. You know, in everything that I do, that really comes down to how we build the system so that you guys can  give your clients those experiences. So I just want to share that little piece because as you were talking, I was like, I'm going to share this. Yeah. And Jamie's already going red and actually wants to die, but that's okay. 

Um, okay. But let's get onto that because I want to talk about trust a little bit. Right? So, because in this industry, trust is fundamental. How do you think? You've built that trust, like especially having clients navigate such significant life decisions really, when it comes to building a house. How do you think you, like you and the team and you know, all of us really build that trust?

I think at the end of the day, it always comes down to transparency. Like transparency through the whole process, transparency, educating, telling them like what's happening next? And each situation and house is different. And in an industry full of smoke and mirrors. There's a lot of shit out there and to build that trust, it's about being transparent with clients, good and bad.

Like sometimes in building things, don't go the exact plan and way that we needed it to go, but it's about having those, you know, backup plan a, B and C and how we're going to deal with this. And that's with having the right team, but also the people that are going to be transparent with you, including a builder.

That's also transparent with you. And for us, it's about having different builders on our panel who value. Similar things so that that whole service for you is all about you and building that trust that there is good in the building industry and you can have a positive experience, but I think, yeah, always coming back to transparency 100 percent and see that little piece that I just told people about actually not getting any sort of cash or payment until a house is built transparency and I think that means a lot like it's no one else would share that.

No one else would share that, right? Because I don't know why I actually don't know why  now that I say that, and this is probably why I don't work in the construction industry outside of this little space because I say things that are going to get me in trouble. But it's true, right? Like when you share that with people, like when I know when I've talked to people about this business and like how incredible it was when I first heard about it, people did not trust it. 

They really didn't. People don't trust the building industry. No. And that, that is what we're fighting against, like people will come to us and, or the main thing is, is like, you know, you turn around to an uncle or a cousin or a friend and I'm thinking about building. Why would you do that? Worst experience of your whole entire life.

Don't build. And they're passing their own like experiences and projections and the news and like all that bad stuff. And the bad in the building industry always outweighs the positive. Positive, sadly, but there is good and there is positive out there and it's about finding the right team. And like, that is our mission at the end of the day is to shake up the industry because it need, it can and should be client focused and it's just what it should be.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. A hundred percent. And you are right. Like there's even a frigging, I mean, you probably know this, but like when I got in, I was like, there's a bloody Facebook group, shunky builder, right. And like. I'm, I'm not building, but I went on there because I was like, I'm just going to have a little gander, you know, a little nosy person that I am.

And I was like, this actually being on that page, like mental health wise, like you got, if you guys, if you're building and you're on there, please get off because you're just going to cause yourself so much frigging anxiety. Like, no wonder, no wonder, and people go to those groups to find information, but it's like, you're not actually getting accurate information because you could have had a shit finance broker, or a shit broker, or a shit rep, or a shit builder, and obviously that's going to make your experience shit, like what if you had Um, but also like team and people around you, it's going to change your experience tile entirely.

A hundred percent. And even on the builder front. Right. And I don't know if you can answer this, but I'm just going to guess here in that there's no different to having, like, when I was looking for a ninja creamy the other day, right? I don't know if anyone hasn't seen them, but I was looking at all the reviews and I instantly go to the one star reviews, right.

And I want to read them. But then I was like, hang on, Laura, how many one star reviews are there versus how many amazing reviews are there? And like. In the building industry, you obviously work way closer with the builders than I ever do. Right. But I feel like COVID obviously had an impact on all of this, but they can also change.

Right. So somebody that had a terrible experience doesn't mean that the next person is going to have a terrible experience because the builders, not always, by the way, this doesn't go for every builder, but like what I've seen is that some of the builders know that their processes aren't great. And they're actually working to fix that.

When you're going on these pages and you're seeing like all these people that had terrible experiences, they may, they have to have the opportunity to also change, you know? Yeah. I don't know if that's true by the way, but that's what I feel. Yeah. I mean, some, I would say do it right. And as a client, you're never, I guess, going to really know that because you don't know the back end of a builder or how it works or like who the team are and et cetera.

But we do, which is another reason on why you need us.  Okay. So on that. Obviously the building journey is so personal to everybody, right? Like everybody's circumstances are different. Everybody's families are different. Everybody finances different. Obviously I know the answer to this, but I want you to tell. 

How do we like tailor everything that we have in terms of our services and how we support everybody to support people through all of those different circumstances? Um. Like how does everybody get the same experience, even though their circumstances are different?  Yes, we built out a good system and process,  and I think like with going, I've obviously been through the building journey, which is like, I've been through the process and I know  how good slash bad that can be.

And building out the processes and the system and the business and everything we do is always with the client in mind first. So having those things in place and just it being simple, it's always, always about the client and having those things that are like, okay, how can we make this easier, less admin for us?

Because we need to spend more time with clients answering phone calls or being in WhatsApp and messaging or doing those sorts of things that we don't get bogged down with. The admin side of stuff. And we're really able to be personal with the clients rather than you're just another number. I'm just going to jump right in here.

Cause I can vouch for that. So as somebody that comes from ops, the easiest thing for me to do would be build one process that works for everybody and off we go. Right. But no. Along comes Jamie. He's like, that's not going to work for me. We need to have a system that accommodates to every bloody circumstance under the sun. 

But you know, it's true. Cause I will look at my phone. I'm like, Oh, she's calling. And then you're like, look, I've got an idea. And I'm like, Oh, here we go again. Right. But it is true. And I think the key thing that you do is it's always like, well, what can we take away from our brokers?  So that they can purely support our clients.

Right. So like we have everything, which takes me a decent amount of time, by the way, but we get there eventually. And sometimes there's lots of errors and, you know, but mistakes along the way, but we get there of what can we automate. So we use a lot of automations in the business, a lot of technology, a lot of different tools so that really for the brokers, they're really not doing, would you say, I mean, I don't know what you would call admin for them, but really not doing a whole lot of admin, right? 

We've got a lot of systems in place that do that for you. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that's eliminated, I wouldn't say it's It's definitely not a no admin role because there's still a whole pile of admin, but there's a lot that we've eliminated that we can make sure we allocate that time to the clients and spending with them that they understand everything, answer all the questions, the phone calls, the emotional breakdowns, the tears, like all of that stuff.

Because it is so circumstantial. Every client is so different that we need to have, we had to figure out a way to.  Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cool. So just on all of that, I mean, you kind of touched on this a little bit, but about simplification and how it's one of the core values of the business, right? And so every time we try and do something, we're like, cool, but how do we make this simple?

So, but going on that, right? Like, how do you think,  cause I think we do it really well, right? But like, how do you think we keep things simple yet maintain the quality and attention to detail? And this might kind of go back to what we just spoke about, but yeah. What do you think? Yeah, it definitely comes very similar to my answer before about making everything simplified internally and for the clients to like our processes, everything we think about is always coming back down to how can this be simple internally for the team so we have more time to focus on clients, but also.

Making it simple that the clients understand everything. Like if we just chucked out a whole bunch of building jargon and information, the client, which happens, you just get into this habit and builders and reps and people in the industry, you're working every day. So you throw out acronyms or you do this and you do that, but actually taking the time to be like, I actually have to peel it back. 

You want to break it down to explain to a three year old, like, can a three year old ask this and to become a master at something you have to teach it, not retain your knowledge, which is also a Stephen Bartlett quote. I knew that was going. As soon as she started, guys, see, always Stephen Bartlett. And that comes back to the education, like to be a master at your craft and what you do, you have to be able to.

Give the knowledge away and teach it, not retain the knowledge. And I think, and that ties back into education and teaching clients and simplifying it through the process. Mm. I actually really like that, by the way. 'cause obviously I definitely heard you say that quote before, but I've never really linked it to the simplification thing.

So that's, I really like that. Obviously the building industry is so.  It's always changing, it's always changing, but if there was anything right now that excites you, what would it be?  Um, it is definitely exciting when we secure a block of land for a client because it's obviously on the tough side to secure a block, um, with the supply and the demand levels that are out there.

So when I get to see that the team have secured a block or things like that, that's definitely always exciting.  Okay, cool. I reckon the team would say the exact same thing, by the way, because land is I'm pretty sure they did on all their episodes before we've got the same answer. You know what, I listened to them, but clearly I was not paying attention to that part.

Okay, as going a little bit more personal now, just going back to that, as a business owner, um, you've definitely faced your challenges. Like, so obviously I've been here for a while and I've seen you go through the whole creation of BOSS. What was one of the hardest moments in building BOSS? And how did you get through that? 

Well, that's a big question.  It's,  I think it's juggling personal stuff and business stuff, because I mean, especially me, like I live and breathe my business, my team and my core values. And I love what I do and  going through something personal and being able to  See, I told you I'd get out of the personal in half. 

I knew that was gonna happen.  So I'm just gonna jump in here  and say that  Being in business is obviously super hard and  Jamie really, really does live and breathe and is there for all of her clients. And sometimes obviously that trickles into life and makes personal things really, really hard. And you know,  yeah, there's just lots of challenges.

Do you want me to answer it for you? Yeah. Okay. There's lots of challenges that I think  you have to pick. You have to pick how you're going to handle them and what's going to get your attention and your focus.  I think for Jamie, I'm going to answer this, Jamie, you can jump back in whenever you feel free, but there were moments in time at the, at the beginning.

Right. So like earlier in what, 2021, 2022, where you went through a tough time personally. And I think the shining light in all of that was that you realized you couldn't do this by yourself. Yeah. You realize that  if you. Um, and I think it's really important to keep helping your clients the way that you help them.

That it couldn't solely rely on you because everybody goes through things, right? Everybody goes through personal things. Everybody experiences, even if you've got a job, it doesn't matter, right? Like you'd go through things and you can't, you have to rely on your colleagues and your team members. And. You were doing this alone and I think in hindsight, like I can definitely imagine that this was not what we were thinking at the time, but in hindsight, it absolutely was a catalyst for growth  and it brought your team on and. 

I would say, you correct me if I'm wrong, that  there is literally nothing that will break this now. No. That will break this business now. Like you learned so much through that period and now I know where it's about to go and I can't wait to watch because.  If you didn't go through that, you wouldn't be here.

I, I, I 100 percent know that. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, yeah, that  there was one point I just wanted to close the business down. I didn't want it anymore.  And I think  still getting up every day to do it  because I knew that's what I wanted to do.  And now coming out on the other side.  See guys, she's a big softie.

She's a big softie. She will never show you that, but she's a big softie.  And I think this is why though, like it really relates back to that client facing thing. Like, everyone can talk shit. Everyone can have a fucking marketing slogan and can talk shit, right? But like it is actually, literally, how you live and breathe this and it's why.

We all like in the team end up this way because you, who you are truly is about the clients and getting them into that home. And you will fight fucking tooth and nail with a bill if you have to, to get a client what they need, right? Like,  and you've done that through so many personal challenges. So on behalf of the team, thank you.

Um,  okay, let's, let's talk. Let's final question. Let's wrap this up. Okay. Final question is looking forward when you think about the next chapter of boss and. The bigger vision that drives you and kind of, we've already spoken about this, but like, what's next?  If you want to share, I probably put you on the spot now.

She'll be like, Laura.  Um, a lot of growth, a lot of big stuff. I can't say too much more, but there's exciting stuff that'll happen sooner rather than later, but there's also the big five year plan that I think, you know, that's the big, scary, crazy vision and shaken it out, shaken it up. Yep. And all about, you know, yeah, it's still client focused.

How can we help people? How can people have access, more access to this and changing the game where, you know, they have someone on their side, not having to. Do all themselves.  All right. Well, that's all my questions for you. I hope everyone enjoyed that. I did. I got her to cry.  But you know, let's see if you're hearing this by the way, it means she let me keep it in. 

So we'll say I can't wait to hear back and see where we landed.  Thanks for coming on the episode. 

so much for tuning in to the Home Building Like a Boss podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something new. Remember, you've got this and I've got your back. Until next time, stay inspired, stay informed, and stay confident on your building journey. I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode. 

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