Matt Lowson: Previous to starting with Stroud, my main experience was coming from a tradesman, then onto supervision, then onto management through some of the major companies, the major building companies in Southeast Queensland. And that experience taught me a lot in what not to do and what to do as well, bringing that positive experience into my own company. I just got to a point that I felt that I had to do it myself. It's a bit similar to when you're a teenager wanting to move out … [Read more...]

  VJ Tran: I started off working for my dad painting houses up in North Sydney. I fell in love with the designs and the building and decided to pursue the building career and it's now been, you know, 15 years roughly so yeah. I had started off working as an estimator through to administrator, site manager, up to project manager doing both private commercial contracts from residential to commercial. I was looking into systems and procedures and structure. I enjoyed working as a project … [Read more...]

  Travis Butler: After I completed my apprenticeship and my builders course I went out and did some renovations and extensions with a builder. And then I was branching out into building my own new homes. I got an opportunity to start doing some TAFE teaching, which I took, thoroughly enjoyed working with some younger guys trades and apprentices and moved on into some head teaching. And after that I looked into going back to building. When I was looking to leave TAFE, I was looking … [Read more...]

  Jason Till: So I started in the construction industry as an apprentice carpenter, from there I did my time and got all the qualifications to become a licensed carpenter, from there I went out on my own, started a carpentry business. So once I got my carpentry team together I worked for a number of different builders. Perhaps at the time at the peak we were doing roughly 100 houses per year. I eventually jumped on board with Stroud Homes as a carpenter, as a subcontract carpenter and … [Read more...]

  Thomas Eldridge: I had a master's in civil engineering in the States at the University of Colorado and then moved over to Australia with my wife. And here we moved up to Queensland, started with nothing, and I ended up getting a job with James Stroud at the original franchise, in Jimboomba, as a contracts administrator. I got promoted to an estimator, then the operations manager there, which I've been doing running the office for about three years. So after working there for five … [Read more...]

  Video Transcript Yarren: I left school, I did my apprenticeship, I started out doing a little maintenance role, and then ended up working in Sydney at Fox Studio. A few other places doing a lot of film set work. I've had a fair bit of experience with some commercial stuff and a lot of more high-end one-off sort of architect builds and jobs like that, that we used to fit in in between the film industry work. And I've always had my own business. Sometimes I'd subcontract to other guys, … [Read more...]

    Adam: Started off as an apprentice carpenter when I was 15 years old. Andrew: I've been in construction for over 20 years. Brendan: I've been in the industry for almost 20 years. I'm a carpenter by trade. Caleb: Before joining Stroud, I was running carpentry gangs and doing lots of renovations. Joe: Been in the industry for 25 years as a chippie. Simon: Been in the industry for about 10 years doing estimating and contract admin and supervising. David: … [Read more...]

  Brendan Moylan: I've been in the industry for almost 20 years. I'm a carpenter by trade. I've been a site manager for 10 years. And for the last three, I've been doing renovations and extensions, semi on the tools. I engaged a partner, who I'd worked with as a site manager. And together, we started growing a business. And we realised the obstacles to get from where we were to where we wanted to be were too great to not have the backing of people who know what they're doing because … [Read more...]

  Brad: Hi, my name is Brad. I'm one of the owners of Stroud Homes Ballarat. And I've been in the industry for about 16 years now. Simon: I've been in the industry for about 10 years doing estimating, contract admin, and supervising. Brad: I've worked all around Victoria, but of late, we've been concentrating on new homes in the Ballarat and surrounding areas. Well, after 16 years of just going through house-by-house, it appealed to me the vast range of plans, homes, and I guess it … [Read more...]

  Had I continued down the track I started with, which is building, you know, homes myself by not being part of any group or anything like that, I couldn't imagine me being able to build more than, you know, 5 or 10 homes a year if I was lucky. The wife and I thought about it and thought, well, maybe, we go back and have a look at this franchising idea again. James and his whole philosophy of how he believes the business should run and his priorities and everything really suited my … [Read more...]