Show Notes
“I had no idea about business.” Adam Antony says it plainly, and it lands because it’s honest. In this episode of The Mindful Builder, Adam breaks down the hard lessons that hit when you go from being a great carpenter to running a building business, where margin, cash flow, quoting, and systems matter just as much as what happens on site. If you’re a builder, carpenter, or construction business owner trying to build a profitable, sustainable business, this one will feel familiar. Adam’s story starts in Goulburn, NSW, and it’s not a straight line. He came up through carpentry in a true start-to-finish environment, learning the sequence of a build because you’re responsible for it all. That mindset becomes the thread of the conversation, because Adam treats business the same way he treats building: there’s an order, there’s a flow, and if you do it out of order you pay for it later. It’s a practical chat about construction systems, leadership, and what it takes to run a tight operation. After his apprenticeship, Adam took a left turn into real estate, spending a year door knocking and cold calling as a prospector. It taught him communication, resilience, and how to hear “no” without taking it personally, which matters more than people think when you’re selling building projects and managing client expectations. He then returned to building, got licensed in his late twenties, and stepped into a partnership that led to a major opportunity: a townhouse development that delivered a solid result, but exposed how easy it is to underprice labour, miss margin, and rely on “it’ll be fine” decision-making. From there, the focus shifts to systems and structure. Adam shares how he rebuilt the business with clearer standards, better processes, and support that actually works because the foundations are solid, including the reality of using VAs in a building company. And just when they’re about to get into the “AI lord” chapter, Hamish tees up part two, where Adam’s move into AI, automation, and smarter workflows gets unpacked properly. If you’re interested in building business systems, construction estimating, and the future of AI in construction, you’ll want to catch the next episode. CHAPTER MARKERS 00:00 Introduction 04:54 Carpentry Path and All Round Skills 07:43 Real Estate Detour and Sales Lessons 10:43 Builders License and Going Solo 12:47 First Big Partnership Project 14:39 Business Mistakes and Pricing Lessons 22:00 Starting a New Company 23:49 Fresh Start With Systems 25:28 Veo Team And Project Scale 28:45 Systems Thinking Explained 30:58 Making VAs Work 33:57 WunderBuild And AI Emails 35:12 Leading A Systems Culture 38:14 Passive House Motivation Our Sponsors: Pro Clima - https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm/proclima MEGT - https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm/megt Biz Tech Guru: https://www.biztechguru.com.au/
Connect with us on Instagram: @themindfulbuilderpod Connect with Hamish: Instagram: @sanctumhomes Website: www.yoursanctum.com.au/
Connect with Matt: Instagram: @carlandconstructions Website: www.carlandconstructions.com/
More from Mindful Builder
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You can’t build ten versions of the same house, live in them for ten years, and then pick the best one. We’re sitting down with thermal modelling specialist Cameron Munro to talk about why “model early and model often” should be a non-negotiable part of pre-construction, whether you’re chasing Passive House or just trying to build a home that actually feels good to live in. We explain what modelling is really for (direction, not perfection), how to run “what if” scenarios across glazing, insulation, shading, and floor build-ups, and why the best decisions come from cost-benefit thinking instead of intuition. We also get into the real-world gap between models and lived performance, the risk of not updating models as drawings change, and why overheating is the mistake that bites hardest when you skip the final iteration. If you want fewer ugly conversations later, this is the episode.
“At some point, someone’s paying for that tender.” Tendering sounds fair on paper. Same drawings, three builders, pick the best price, move on. But once you understand what it actually costs to price a job properly, and how tendering rewards omissions, risk loading, and variations, it starts to look less like a “market test” and more like a costly way to kick off a relationship. In this episode, Hamish and Matt break down what a tender really is, why the classic draw, bid, build model creates isolation and blame, and why negotiated tendering (paid pre-construction with clear costing stop points) changes the incentives for everyone. They also get into the uncomfortable bits architects and clients don’t always see: the real cost of tendering, why prices can come back wildly different, how gaps in documentation become legitimate variations, and why trust matters more than pretending you can compare builders like-for-like. If you’ve ever wondered why a project can look “fully resolved” and still blow out, or why builders hate competitive tendering, this one will probably ruffle a few feathers.
Good design isn’t something you look at. It’s something you live in. We sit down with James Goodlet from Altereco Design to talk about what “good design” actually means in the real world, and what a proper pre-construction process looks like when it’s done properly. We get into why comfort is more than temperature, how designers extract the details that shape the lived experience, and why due diligence and risk management need to happen before anyone starts drawing. We also break down why James brings builders in early, how he thinks about budgeting versus estimating versus contract, and why clients need clarity on exclusions and allowances instead of getting buried in noise. We talk contingency versus inflation, the feedback loop between builders and design teams that improves outcomes over time, and a simple practical fix for smoother pre-con. Whiteboard the whole timeline, agree on milestones, and make sure everyone knows who owns what. CHAPTER MARKERS 00:00 Introduction 01:27 Meet James Goodlet 02:16 Good Design Is Seen Or Felt? 03:00 Comfort Beyond Temperature (Hempcrete House) 04:12 What Comfort Actually Includes (Sound, Air, Light) 07:08 James’ Path Into Design 11:25 Why “Alter Eco” And Sustainability 12:52 Pro Clima Detail Library 14:00 Alignment First: The Real Start Of Design 17:21 The Client Questionnaire (Sleep, Routines, Storage) 21:46 Due Diligence Before Sketching 28:10 Choosing Builders Based On Fit 37:00 Budgeting vs Estimating vs Contract 42:45 Contingency And Inflation 48:22 How Designers Read Trade Breakdowns 49:00 The Feedback Loop With Interiors
A proper site visit isn’t a stroll around the block. It’s where you catch the stuff that turns into $30k surprises later. We’re back with Brad from Sanford Buildco to have a conversation about what a site visit should actually involve, and why doing it properly is one of the simplest ways to protect your time, your margin, and your sanity. We break down how our checklists differ across inner-city and rural sites, but still cover the same core categories: access, services, water management, demolition risk, and the existing building. We talk through real examples like tram and train line constraints, construction zones and parking permits, combined drains, earthenware stormwater, boundary trap upgrades, three-phase power, septic fields, and when a sump and pump becomes the only option. We also get into the stuff that catches builders out if you don’t look early: neighbour water issues you can’t control once you’re hard on the boundary, asbestos you can’t spot from photos, and demolition rule changes that can turn normal waste into hazardous waste overnight. The theme is simple: gather better information now, and you’ll have fewer ugly conversations later.