CEO Interview – Colin Rahim and Peter Sukkar – Growthbuilt

What is the story of Growthbuilt?

“Back in 2005 working in different roles and different companies within the industry, we identified a gap in the market where
we felt we could add the most value, and thus setup Growthbuilt,” Colin recalls.

“We’ve built our business on value management and engineering, innovation and integrity,” says Peter.

What are your areas of expertise and how does this complement the business?

Colin specialises in business development and client retention, while Peter focuses on safety and the operational side of the business, thus continually delivering in full on the project and design intent, on time and within budget.

What have been the drivers behind Growthbuilt’s success?

“Key to our dynamic culture is focusing on quality and transparency. Apart from shrewd capital and balance sheet management, our integrity and collaborative approach to projects and business is also key. These ideals underpin the principles and procedures of value management and value engineering that we apply in our business. We continually strive to create value-engineered alternative designs, review construction methodology, undertake risk assessments from conception through to design and delivery.”

“We understand the key to the success of a project is collaboration with our clients, their funders, consultants, subcontractors and all other stakeholders. That’s why we handpick our employees with the right balance between operational outputs and client service, for their expertise, communication skills and commitment. This is key to maintaining our integrity as a business and a builder. We are unique in that we have a dedicated post-completion customer care team who ensures that long after subcontractors and labourers have left, we continue to take care of our projects, and our clients.”

This is the Growthbuilt way. It is this value proposition that allows us to really connect with our clients.

How important is innovation?

“Innovation is at the heart of our business along with value management and value engineering, both key concepts to innovation in our industry. Innovation is key to each of the design and construct projects we undertake. It’s this mindset of innovation that allows us to exploit new ideas, create additional value for our clients and projects as well as provide us with a competitive advantage,” says Peter.

“There’s nothing set and forget about the way we do business. The construction industry, and the current market is too dynamic for that.”

How does Growthbuilt respond to new markets?

We have a process of introspection, “do we have the resources and risk appetite to take on a new project or market, and maintain our quality, brand and reputation of delivering on time that we have become known for?

This approach to strategic and sustainable growth has worked well for us, an example being the senior living and aged care sector, where we have completed numerous projects and in doing so have expanded our team capabilities and focus on this sector. We’ve found that working this way means we’re well-positioned to move into new markets to present improvements, alternatives, savings and functional solutions at all stages of a project,” says Colin.

Tell us which projects Growthbuilt has recently completed.

We’re proud of our recent work including the adaptive reuse and redevelopment of City of Sydney’s commercial asset Juanita Neilson

Centre at Woolloomooloo, Centuria’s high end residential building Monarch at Mosman with Bates Smart, Dougherty Apartments Seniors Living Facility with PTW Architects, Battique and Aston Boutique Apartments in Lane Cove for Central Element, Ashlar Apartments in Surry Hills, and the commercial redevelopment of Windeyer Chambers in Sydney’s CBD with Architectus.

What is the future of Growthbuilt?

“Growthbuilt has its sights set on becoming an upper Tier 2 design and construction builder by 2019, particularly in New South Wales. We will continue to build on our strengths in fitout, refurbishment, aged care and commercial sectors.

We are also about to complete some landmark developments being high end apartments and retail at Griffiths Teas on Wentworth Avenue for CornerStone, and 140 apartments over 18-storeys at The Carl in Carlingford.

We are also currently in the process of working through an Early Contractor Involvement role for Zone Q Investments on Aqualuna at 30 Alfred Street, Milsons Point.”

What else would you like people to know about Growthbuilt?

We’re on the cusp of transforming from a medium to a large business with our point of difference being our approach to value engineering whilst delivering in full on the design intent, on time and on budget. This has led to a steady stream of repeat work from our clients, thus allowing us to build meaningful and lasting partnerships with our clients over the years. Over the last few years, we have also appointed an executive management leadership team who we see as experts in their field with over 100 years experience between them. The leadership team draw upon strategic partners such as EY, EY Sweeney, PWC and are continually driving improvement initiatives throughout the business on a daily basis.

These are exciting times for us, and we hope, the industry.