In this video, we hear what our Port Macquarie franchise owners Joel & Alla Freeman has to say about joining the Stroud Homes business.
Transcript:
Joel: Previous to Stroud Homes, my whole experience was working for other builders, whether that was throughout my apprenticeship, after my apprenticeship as a leading hand carpenter, and then moving into the supervisor role, and being a supervisor. So, yeah, the Stroud Homes experience has been the first time that I’ve now in a position where I’m making money for myself.
Alla: We always wanted to get into build a business that we’re both kinda involved in.
Joel: It’s funny how it all happened. I wasn’t actually looking. I knew in my current role that I had about nine months left, and then I’d wanna go elsewhere. I was in a supervisory role that had about nine months left in its life. And after that, I knew that that role wouldn’t exist, but I had no idea actually where I was gonna go. It was actually Facebook that put me in touch with Stroud Homes. I commented on a Facebook post. I’d actually tagged some guys that live in Newcastle to see if they’d be interested in a Stroud franchise for Newcastle.
Long story short, two weeks later, I was having coffee with James Stroud. A month after that, we were signing a franchise agreement. A month after that, we opened a shop. And two years later, we’re having a ball. The thing that got me across the line was, one, the quality. Two, the fact that Stroud Homes allows you to be your own builder. You can still build custom homes. You can put your own flavour on what you’re doing, and actually sort of have some level of individuality to be your own builder.
The other really, really big selling factor for me with Stroud Homes was their financial reporting and accounting side of things. The way that they monitor your business and teach you how to become a businessman, and look at the control gauges within your business to ensure that you’re gonna survive, and you’re gonna be able to predict the ups and downs of business and make the necessary adjustments within your business to see your way through.
Alla: We, Joel and I, work really well together. We’ve got our separate heads. So, Joel is more into sales, supervising, estimating, where I’m more admin, accounts, you know, looking at different things with fresh eyes.
Joel: And having my wife in the business is a massive bonus to the business, and it’s exciting and rewarding in lots of ways.
Alla: We were both kinda employed by other people. So, we’ve haven’t had an experience of being in business, and especially husband and wife being together. You hear stories that, you know, it kinda doesn’t work, but it works.
Joel: Very soon, after we launched the business, we had our second child. So, for the launch day and for the first couple of months, I had Alla there in the business, and then she went on maternity leave. And so I was back to being a one-man band, and I noticed that a lot. Then, when our second child was old enough, and Alla could come back into the business, it’s a huge plus. You know, she’s very driven. She adds a lot of expertise and experience to the business as well. And I guess that feminine touch, you know, that sort of feminine touch to the business that it needs.
Alla: We try to really separate work from our home life. So, I think that’s where we work really well.
Joel: So, the other really, really big selling factor for me with Stroud Homes was their financial reporting and accounting side of things, the way that they monitor your business and teach you how to become a businessman, and look at the control gauges within your business to ensure that you’re gonna survive, and you’re gonna be able to predict the ups and downs of business and make the necessary adjustments within your business to see your way through.
Alla: We’ve got a second baby, so he’s only one and a half. We’ve got a four-year-old. It’s a busy, busy time, but it’s rewarding. So, we love what we do. We love working with people. We love building the homes that we build with the quality. We love the product that we sell.
Joel: We opened the business in 2016, so, we’re almost two years into the business. It’s been a pretty fun ride. Plenty of hard work, but a lot of good times and rewards that come with it. We’ve handed over about 10 homes now. We’ve got about seven under construction at the moment. We’re putting about 1 to 1.5 slabs down a month. So, this year we’ll build about 12 homes. Next year we’ll build about 18.
Alla: Yes, our lives are different and busier, but they’re busier and good in a different way.
More info:
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