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This week in home building news! Catch up with Az and a colourful array of guests, to hear about who's killing it, who's innovating, and who's getting into strife in the world of new home construction.
Aaron Ng (00:00)
Now, before I get into it, a big shout out to the legends at my construct.
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Az (00:59)
Good morning and welcome to the Good Builder Podcast. Solar is something that's on everyone's lips, and we've never talked about it here at the Good Builder. It's something that we've had a few experiences in, and I know that a lot of builders out there, you guys are very interested in it. And we've also seen that.
A lot of you guys out there don't know how to implement it into your builds. So we actually have today a guest that I've known for a few years, and I reckon he's one of the best in the game, or the best in the game for sure, and that is Gary Higgins, who owns Halcol Solar, which is here on the Sunshine Coast, but services all of Southeast Queensland, and he's got a great experience. And since he's taken over the business about four or five years ago, it's gone from strength to strength.
He deals with a few interesting builders, including the Azure guys, who are amazing at their townhouse and multi-res developments. And he's been out I'll let him tell the story because there's a there's a few projects he's been on. But he's one of the best in industry at this in this space, and we really want to talk about it because come 2029, and now in Victoria, we are gonna be having all electric homes. So everyone's gotta get prepared for that. And it is my pleasure.
Bring to the couch this absolute legend. Gary, how are you, mate? I'm good, Aaron. Yeah. Thanks for that, mate. No. You're good at the sales game. Sold me well. I don't think I need to be good at the sales game. I think you're pretty damn good at the sales game, Gary. But thanks for that, man. Thanks for having me on. no worries. No, no, look, I've always been a huge fan of of your work and and all despite like the the quality of work you do, even the stuff you do for the community here on the Sunshine Coast, like the Westpac. Yeah.
life saving chopper like you you're a bit like to me I I talked about AUSMAR last week on our socials and and you feel like AUSMAR in that solar and energy space with the Sunshine Coast. You're like part of the fabric of Southeast Queensland. So where did it all sort of start carrying like what like you 'cause you gave me an interesting story, yeah, out the back, mate. yeah, look for me, solar hasn't always been for me. I as you can
probably sense or hear my accent. I'm from Ireland which doesn't have a lot of sun. So you can imagine solar isn't quite popular over there. so I originally in the electrical game I've done electrical apprenticeship for a couple of years. wow in my early days, many moons ago. didn't get to finish that. GFC hit so the global financial crisis in Ireland So I got into the building game more or less stopped then for a couple of years. so yeah that
That got there. So I got into a bit of a retail space, business management. I took on a couple of businesses, a couple of shops, area management, nationwide management, that sort of thing. Wow. And then with a construction background. Yeah, with a little bit of an electrical tread on the back end of that. So it I kinda had a mixture of both and that kinda helped me eventually end up where I am now. so we two thousand and I can't remember what a year, but fourteen, thirteen, fourteen years ago we or I
came over what we made. Yeah. we just packed up and said let's go and wow my friend who's an electrician, we he had to go to the Northern Territory because that's the only place he could sponsor himself and do all that. So I just jumped on and went with him. Yeah. And you ended up there from Ireland. Yes, straight off into the middle of wet season in the Northern Territory. my God. And even better, I got straight in back into the electrical game and I started doing remote MBN installs. So the satellite dishes on roofs in the Northern
territory so four hours outside of Darwin, you're on a route for two, three hours installing satellite dishes and doing that sort of game. So so yeah, a bit of a baptism of four up there. Yeah. Literally. And those things needed to function for those regional areas, didn't they? Okay, as well. so yeah, so started there obviously then doing that quickly kind of progressed into the project management stage of that and started then for that particular company
controlling the rollout of the MBN. They're in regional Northern Territory, so I was kind of handling that rollout ourselves. Wow. that guy wanted to open up a solar business, approached me and said, Look, with your business background and with the with the electrical experience, would you be interested in doing that? So done that, done that for three or four years and and upon leaving and coming down here to Brisbane, they and they continue to be,
if not the biggest, one of the biggest solar and electrical businesses in the Northern Territory. So wow. I like to think I left them in in good hands and gave them a good starting base for them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is I didn't know that about you, Gary. That's a phenomenal man. That is so you know, all the pennies are starting to drop in my head. Because just before this for everyone, we talked out the back and Gary said I said to Gary, you know, you you're growing really well. You're doing a really good job here i in Queensland and got so much respect and all that stuff and you're like
I don't have a business degree. Yeah. I'm like, man, like I was gonna ask you on this podcast. But anyway, w I wanna let you finish your story, but you know, it it's cool to know where you come from because you run a really good business. Yeah. for me it's pretty cool to learn that you don't have an education because you are just like a lot of the builders we have out there that kind of just were, like you said, thrown in the fire. Yeah. Survive and and what I find fascinating about you, Gary, and why I said the pennies have all dropped is because
You've run businesses and then you've got that trade side as well. You're like the best hybrid of a of a business person in construction because you understand the business to a degree. I know you're improving things and you're trying you're always looking to improve yourself and the business, but then you've got the trade bits too. Yeah. yeah, I think it it it does. I think a lot of things have been instilled with me in in the past and and wore them out is a a key thing for me and and I always
back to that with everything, whether it's builders, whether it's Resi, whether it's any it's like if someone on a Friday is talking about me having a beer, I want them to speak about how easy it was to deal with us. And and that's what we instill across all platforms of of Halcol. We it's if you're contracting us for solar or batteries, E V charges, just sign it over to us and let us do our thing. And don't have to worry about it. And that's that's that's that kind of fundamental that we go off. So but yeah so
moved down from the N T and and started by Halcol straight away. So that was like eight, nine years ago maybe. that was Halcol trying to establish themselves in a in in Brisbane. And that was my taso business development manager to start off and and quickly progressed into general manager within a couple of years. And the opportunity to purchase the company came up four years ago now. So me and my s my wife Rosie we we
jumped at the chance and purchased it and and here we are today. Wow it's it's the quick story. I know there's a l there would be a lot of heartache and and different things in between there because like who comes from Ireland to the Northern Territory. I I'm you know, I was born here and all that sort of thing might not look like it but it was But I went over there, Gary, and I remember going to the Northern Territory and I worked there for a little while and it was pretty unbearable. And I was a white collar worker. You know, you you got thrown into it from the start, you know,
Straight into construction and on roof. Yeah. I was young back then. The body was a lot more capable of doing that. Yeah. Nowadays I don't think I'd be able to do near half of it. So Yeah Wow. Wow. Yeah, no, that's that's the history of and that's how I kind of got into the solar industry and yeah yeah and and yeah, know a lot about it now. Well tell us a little bit about how col now. I I know that you're one of the most trusted. I think you've won several awards in the
In the solar cord Gary, sorry, mate. the solar awards base. There's so yeah, there's so many, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. so the rewards or accolades we've had are achievements over the last number of years. So we are so how how the volume side of the awards is is calculated as STCs. So the federal rebates, they look at how many what companies have traded, what STCs and they're able to calculate
Who's done the biggest volume? So wow. For the last I didn't know that. They they've started that count for solar, so P V for the last six, seven years. And we have been top on on the Sunshine Coast for the last six, seven years of volume solar. Wow. and then batteries, the count has come in probably the last year or two with the with the rebates coming in on those was. And again, we'd be top of the pops on on battery volume wise installation here on the coast. we've
been nominated for the Sunshine Coast Business Awards twice now, I think. unfortunately we haven't won that accolade yet. And then probably the the highest achievement that we we've really been proud of was last year we were nominated in the top five solar installers in Australia. So that was the Smart Energy Council. So these are the guys who control our industry. With who? We were top five, yeah, we were so down in Sydney at the awards
John Grimes who runs the the show and the smart energy council. And we were up against some heavy hitters nationwide. We are a family run business on the Sunshine Coast and to be pitted against those guys and and and really know it was a massive achievement for us. Congratulations Gary. one to date. So yeah. mate, that is wild. And that's you know I I'll talk to you about you you out the back and and we're gonna shortly have Paul on who does a bit with you as well, but
I said to you guys around Metricon, right? I was talking about Metricon and like the and like undeniably, I must say, like if if you're doing that volume of homes, you're the most trusted. Yes. Yeah. In Australia. Because people trust you to build their homes. You still do the volume year after year. They've done it for ten years. You've done it for six or seven. Yeah. Well, we're around actually fifteen years. So Hal Call has established fifteen years. It's only ownership the last number of years. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So we we're
Mate, you are cracking on. Like, you know, that to me, that shows the amount of trust that you have out there and what a job you do. And and a lot of the, as you said, you know, a lot of the stuff you focus on is word of mouth. I know that you you get a lot of other sort of stuff through. But you know, that that's how you run a business, Gary. And that's why I was so fascinated with you and and my first question when you came in today was like, you know, tell me about have you got a business degree or what? I wasn't being an idiot. I was kind of like, you're just growing so fast.
You're doing it really well. I know you've got good people around you but Yeah. And then you're kinda like I'm from the streets. Yeah, no, kinda myself and Rosie when when we're hiring and anything like that when we're looking at people, it's it's all about based around attitude. It's it's attitude and and what we feel of a person more so than what education you've got or anything like that. I think that's the mainstay of how how to try and get ahead in life. That's that's that's how I see it anyway. Yeah, wow. 'Cause you can't always have all the cards in your pocket.
No, no. mate, that's phenomenal. And again, like the reason I wanted to drag that a bit out of you is there's you're in construction. Yeah. I think there's parallels between how you've running your business and how builders do. And and for us here at The Good Builder, like we want our good builders to partner with people who run their business likewise, like you. Yeah. So I think that's it's phenomenal to to hear you talk about it and what you've done. I think the guys you've had on I I'm a big fan of the podcast, as you know. I I remember the early days talking to you and being like Aaron
This is such a good idea and you're doing so well and it's it's so great to see how how you're going and it's it's gone strength to strength. I've got yeah, no doubt this is going to be a juggernaut in a couple of years. Thanks, man. No, thank you. Well, I hope you get to work with a few of our good builders. But and I'm sure they want to know about this next little question. Yes. What's kind of going on out there in solar right now, Gary? Like what what are people installing? What's kind of the latest? what kind of technologies and things are changing or we're seeing a massive influx of
installations now. We we probably have gone from ten percent of our our volume walk installing a battery with a solar system to now a solar without a solar system without batteries is is nearly unheard of. We're probably doing taking away our our commercial and builder space, if it's Resi customers we're probably saying two Resi solar alone installs a week and probably twenty to thirty solar and battery installs a week. So there's a massive shift towards that.
So that's what we're seeing in in the solar space. That's in the resi space. Yeah. builders are still inclined to to either a not get solar at all, they it's kind of like a bit of a hoodoo. It's interesting. Yeah, yeah. This is what wondered you want. Yeah, it's it's a bit of a it can be too hard because you're dealing with federal rebates, you're dealing with energy X, you're and with that comes complications and regulations and you know, that if it's not
done correctly if if it's done by somebody who doesn't understand the solar industry, that can lead to complications for the builder. So a lot of just they just come away from the gun sharp. We've heard that too. Yeah, yeah. But it's it's for builders, if they talk to us and they see what we can do, it the margin a builder can put on a build and and and and again, yeah. Looking at the Metricon side of things, and we we don't have dealings with Metricon, so we've never I've never
been lucky enough to chat for those guys, but let's make that happen though. Yeah, we'd love to I will. Yeah. But they're they're like
that they're making their margin on the back end. They're not they're not selling to the homeowner. And solar and batteries have such opportunity in that space. If you're dealing with the likes of ourselves, say for example, we're volume buyers. We we we have two, three containers. So our our the markup that a builder could make off the pricing that we can price is is is quite yeah. It's pretty good there. And if they're getting quotes off their friends, their electrician friends, their you know small smaller style companies, that margin's not going to be quite there.
So it's not worth it for the building. Why would you do it if you're not making any money? But if if if designed correctly, it's it's definitely a good avenue for profit.
100%. I actually don't think, and maybe I'm completely wrong, but I don't think there's many. I don't think builders have been exposed to many and like solid solar brands like yours. Yeah. They're all individual kind of contractors that are running around and doing it and they're partly electricians and can kind of do it or whatever, but there's not a company that's like a a trade link, for example, of solar, which you are. And that is where I think the penny has kind of not dropped for builders because they've had bad experiences and
And I'll go and shy I I told you a story out the back. I had a past general manager, Janae. She listens to the podcast, Janae. She's so cool. But we she built with a very good builder on the coast view who I greatly respect. Yeah. And I was like dumbfounded when they said, you can't put on solo during construction. And I'm like, what the hell is wrong? And then the other thing, why I asked you about the trends, Gary, and and what's going on out there is, you know, I hang around you guys enough and and and the industry enough to know that like.
Everyone post build or or or like once their house is built, not everyone, but there's a vast majority of the population that are getting solar. So why do it retrofitted on a new build? Like wouldn't that just not make sense? And that's where I was with this builder going, What are you doing? Again, it's yeah, I totally agree with you because the the knock-on effect for that is the homeowner comes in and and and and look the client maybe if the builder wants to wash their hands with it and say it's too complicated.
You know, that's that's fine, but it comes to the client then. They move into the home. Yeah. It's external conduits on the outside. Now that we're all in the battery space, it's very ugly internal conduits on the inside. Or if you have to run it post the build. So so what we do on our space, so Azure Build for example. Yeah, talk about Azure. They're they're cool. We do so we've done probably about eight or nine
around that space projects for those guys. what do you mean by like how big are the projects? they they range. the biggest one we've done for them is ninety three units. Wow at at at South West Brisbane. So we'd plan that like that's planned to a T. So slabs are down, we've already signed our contract, we know what we're doing. Wow products agreed. As soon as the slabs are in, we're getting the timeline.
frame goes up, we're in straight away. We're pre-warring, we're panelling as the route goes on. We're utilizing the scaffolding. Then we leave them, they finish off. They don't have they know they don't have to contact us. And right at the end of the build, we'll be the last guys in, we'll fit off our inverter and we're out the door. And if planned correctly, you never see us. Wow. You don't see and that's 93 units. You you never see us. We just do it we just take total control. And
It's to the stage with those guys, which I hope they don't mind me saying that a couple of their guys will say, Just get Halcall on the phone. They just they just do it for us. There's no problems and and I'm always very much at the end of a project, what could I have done better for you guys? And the feedback with those guys has always been there's not a lot. You're one of the few trades that we've had no complaints over.
Now don't get me wrong, we're not perfect. No, no, no. We'll have our guys walking around, hey, he was pinged without a hard hat or you know, things like that where we'll also we we'll we'll get on top of but when it comes to the big stuff, you need to get it down from the start, if you can get it done right, it's it's such a such an easy job to be done on a build. Yeah.
Yeah, we've got heaps here on the co like on the coast. We'll we'll go to houses on Oceanic and well they'll be post build and the builder wouldn't allow solar and you've got this amazing four million dollar home and you're you're telling the client we can't get those conduits down. We have to go external and wow you know, like w we're putting Aussie duct up, we're putting whatever we can here call duct to try and make it as neat as possible. But if the builder comes to Yeah, yeah, and that's the shame sometimes. But wow. yeah. So
A ninety three you know project of of units or townhouses by Azure. Yeah. Like and that's the other thing. The especially for those ones like Azure and we know a lot of them, the avia guys, I'd like to make intros to those guys and things like that, who are building townhouses, it's like the the resale value on them and and selling them. Because a lot of the guys that listen to our pilot and we've got good relationships with do a lot of stuff off the plan too. And I'm like, Let's go. Like
And and as well as that, like the solar system we install is and I'm gonna just pull numbers out just for ASCII. If you don't mind, yeah. But say say for example we install a six thousand dollar solar system on a house for a builder. Yeah. That may cost the builder two, three thousand dollars out of pocket because you claim a rebate. Now, when that builder then goes to sell the property, that's not a two, three thousand dollar solar system, that's a six thousand dollar solar system.
The rebate has been claimed, and that's the out-of-pocket expense. Now that's that would be your everyday guy installing solar. That would be available. Then you take into consideration the the volume of we can do, the price point that we can do. It really opens up builders' eyes. recently we've we've just won another project with ClearCon.
And that's a near 40 unit development in Brisbane, and they're going full on solar and batteries. So all 40. All 40 units, yeah. So like that saving in itself is probably a six-seven thousand dollar rebate on every single unit. Again, that solar system could be worth twelve, thirteen thousand dollars with the battery. Wow. Their out-of-pocket is seven, eight. And and they can correctly state in their
Well, put the hand over it, that's a $14,000, $15,000 solar system. Holy crap. And that's the opportunities that are available at the moment on solar and batteries in the new build space. Holy. So yeah. This is why I just don't. And the other thing that I I well that's why I just don't understand why we're not doing it. Like I think solar's almost I want a builder to do solar as standard. Yeah. Yeah. But it should just be 2029, right now in Victoria, all electric homes. Yeah.
Twenty twenty nine, we're gonna need EV provisions and everything put into every new home. Yeah. Like, I think that's not far away. We're talking two and a two and a half, three years, because if you look at the build of a home twelve months, you've only got about two and a half years to get ready and get your process and get a partnership going and making sure it all works and then we're on because that build will fall into twenty twenty nine. Yeah. At such a good point, the E V side of things, because again, E V is a lot of people and there is E V is that will will
be combined with your battery, say for example, DC charges we call them.
But your your standard AC charger is actually like running a split system air con. It it comes off the main meter board and a subboard. Okay. So the conduit runs to that. So when we're on a new build, we're saying to people now, and this is probably the last twelve months, we're saying and and this isn't to the builder, this is because that's an extra cost to the builder. This would be somebody who's engaging us where the builder doesn't want to do solar. We're running conduits behind the wall for the EV chargers, even if they don't have them yet, they're popping them out. Because again, hidden conduits neither build.
better sell on value. Like you don't have all the conjurers with a male so that's that's the key. Yeah. It's just planning. Planning is just crucial. It is and and the thing about EVs is like they're the you know fastest selling cars. Yes. Everything's going EV. Yeah.
I used to have one and and you know, plugging it into a a normal PowerPoint will will kill you and will take like it will literally kill you because you gotta wait all night for it to charge, all that sort of stuff, and then yeah, electric goes through the roof, you don't have a battery. Yeah. You know, I thought it was saving me money and then it was actually not saving me money. So and and that's the way the world's going. We need to be ready for that. Yeah, it is. Even our we've got if you
Here on the coast, you probably see we've got four or five thousand that's knocking around, branded, and stuff like that. And our guys, what we love about it is all our guys drive them, all our all our renewable consultants drive them. So they go into a home and they're able to talk the talk. They've got solar on their homes at home, they've got the EBs, they've got the EV charges. Let's talk this, let's talk that. What benefits you? I've got this. It's not, and this is the failings within the solar industry, is it's
It's it's sometimes a ex car salesman or furniture salesman, ex furniture that's just come into the solar world and they're just looking for that quick sell and that comes. Well, we don't hire that we are specifically trained. We we all do our search to to to know how to design these systems. So good. So yeah, that's the way the world's going. Wow. Mate, yeah, and that's where I'm like Yeah. Same thought sort of thing with building. We we keep building our homes the same way. I know I'm talking about building homes now, but we we've built our homes the same way for hundreds of years.
a slight innovation is just making sure you've got solar, making sure you've got the battery. and and customers are gonna be so much happier. I I I I just don't know why many builders aren't taking it on. Sometimes as well, if if it's brought in at the early stages and it's it's it's
It's not the builder's fault, it it's just the frustrations in the industry. But we'll go to these massive homes and everything will be perfect, smart home, everything is done like to a T to electrify the home and you'll have a massive south facing roof. And and it would have been just as easy to go north facing and south facing will take about twenty, thirty percent productivity, particularly in winter, off the solar system. You know, if if we're all speaking at the early stage of the build, or if you've got partnerships with the builder where they can come and say, Hey look
Build your house 'cause we've got multiple builders on the coast who now go at the build stage and just say to us real at the design stage with you. Here's the plot. This is what we're doing. This is how do you want the room for solar and things like that. Like that's that's the extent of the planning. We've got a whole so within Halcol, within the the beast as I said. Yeah, could you talk about talk about how you work with builders and how it all kind of works when you're working with them? Yeah, we've got like so as I said, it's a family run company, myself, Rosie, our two kids, like
We own it, there's no corporation, there's nothing behind us that to you know. But builds us love that. Yeah, in the in but in Halcol itself, we've got commercial departments, we've got our resi departments, we've got our high scale industrial departments. So that's like the five hundred kilowatts we recently done for the Sunshine Coast Council at C V Downs Recycling Facility. So we've got everything is departmentalized to to make sure
When a new builder comes in and they want to know what to do, they're they're not just greeted by somebody that's spread across these three departments. There's professionals who just deal with that and look after it. So that's that's we take it quite seriously and and we're really gaining traction. That's why we're getting the likes of your cure your ClearCons, your Azores, your there's a few others that were in the process of just onboarding that I won't mention yet. wow. And then we've got your obviously your Hutchies, your Evans, your Evans built were great guys to work with. And on the coast you can't get better.
They're they're there the go as yeah. we've got so many more that I forget to mention. So that's what they like dealing us. We just we just give it to us and don't worry about it. You've got enough to worry about, just give it to and we'll deal with it. If you don't mind me asking, Gary, when someone so someone's dealing with you, yeah, where does the warranty fall? Where do the warranty and the support sort of fall with a builder? I want to clear that up because I think there's a I talk to a few builders and they've got like it falls on us, falls on the solar company. Who does it actually fall? Well
So that is such a great question. So and there's so many answers to that, but as many builders will know, QCAT A aren't favourable to anyone who's brought it. You know it's always you know who wins there at at all stages. Australian consumer law, builder
You have to warrant it. You have to it's it's your problem. If that solar company is out of business, that's your problem. Yeah. So what we see a lot of is well can they get a quote office or can they do this? And and then we'll follow it up and it'll be no my friend, I found out my friend does solar. What they don't take into consideration is
Does your friend know how to to register the system with Energyx? Do they know the compliance around claiming the STC rebate? Because what we're starting to see now is inspections. So in Victoria, every single solar and battery system is inspected.
Hunt like no getting away from it. It's inspected. If if regulations aren't no your your that system can be knocked off. Wow. That's coming in in Queensland now. So the pain that would cause. Yes, if you've got a builder or if you're a builder, you get your your friend or you know, somebody who who may be cheaper to do it.
If that solar system is knocked off and that guy has installed ten non compliant systems, he's all he's gone. He's gone back to the mines or he's gone, you know, he's down at the yeah, we got the Olympics coming up, we got a lot of projects. He's down there. who that client who's moved into that home, that new homeowner, who are they gonna come to to get that system back online? Yeah. And even if it's not fully your responsibility, you're going to have to deal with it. Yeah. And and that's where
Again, that's where we get a lot of traction when we explain this to to to new builders that we're taking on. They're like, Yeah, okay, I'm just gonna go with you. Fifteen years, you're safe, you'll deal with it all. And then the knock-on effect of that as well is like
Everything is Wi-Fi dependent and and internet dependent now. So your in your inverter hooks up to your Wi-Fi and that gives you your monitoring of your system. If somebody changes their modem, for example, they need to get the solar contractor back out to reconfigure it or they need to talk to them over the phone. Again, if that solar guy is gone, who do you think they're gonna call? so that that's the headaches that a lot of builders probably know about now.
And that's the reason they don't show us to do solar. Whereas if you can just go with somebody Yeah, if some if you just go with somebody who understands then the nature of the beast, that headache is taken away. a hundred percent. We we sticker every single system. So a Hell Call sticker will go on it with a barcode. That barcode will bring you back to frequently asked questions on our website. It takes away all those pain points for the customer, and then at the end of it, it's contact HALCO, don't contact your builder.
It's a Hell Call responsibility. We'll take care of it for you. That's how we deal with it. That's how we put it in. Mate, that is so cool. That that is thank you for talking to it because, you know, I knew you were coming on because I wanted you one. And and and I've been talking to a few builders and and some are very keen. Like, as I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna shoot through a few introductions after this pod and they're good builders. So I think you'll do some really cool stuff. But they were that was their biggest fee. They were like
Who's responsible? What happened? We know nothing about solar and they have so much to know about that they don't want to know about another thing. Yeah. And I like, I'll chat with Gary, but I'm pretty freaking sure that like, yep, you you'll you might copper nothing's gonna go wrong, but you might just say there is an issue, you know, a eighty year old bloke doesn't know how to work the app. Yeah.
You can always kind of shuffle that through to Gary's team and and they'll support you in doing that. And that's where I think it fell down for a lot of builders. This is one of the worst case scenarios, but you so when we do a pre war, for example. Yeah.
If we ain't got fifty mil clearance either side of of where we're putting our conduit and our cables going through, we have to mechanically protect that. So we'll usually use Anaconde conduits, which is four or five times the price of standard conduits, but it's a metal conduit where you know you can't drill into it. So if the client moves into the home, they drill a picture into the wall, they're not going to penetrate the DC cable going up. And that can't be stopped when you penetrate that. A, you electrocute yourself, and B, your house probably goes on for it. That's worst-case scenario. Now
You may think you're saving a couple of hundred buc get somebody, but are you going to check and see if that conduit is mechanically protected? You're not, because you don't want to have to worry about that. You're too busy trying to build a house. Again, that's where we
Yes, we come in quite affordable and we come in our price point is good for our new builds, but we do it right. You don't have to worry. Yeah. Wow, Gary. Mate, that is phenomenal. The you talked earlier a little bit about the margin. I think that's pretty interesting. All builders like to make money. And I think the other thing is that we talk to a few builders, especially one I always mention, Peter Wood. Everyone knows him in the industry, absolute legend. And I said to him, What makes a good builder? He said, A profitable one. Yeah. Yeah. So
Can you talk through the margin that they could potentially earn if they're they're putting on a system? Like it's not something that, you know, they're just putting it on as a I will talk to it. I'll what I'll I'll I'll just give myself a bit of a a bit of a shout out at the moment. Just when we take on a new builder, so if a new builder reaches out to us who hasn't dealt with us in the past, we install the solar system at cost price for that builder, that force one.
And that's purely a come test us out, check out our work, check out our process, and check out how we deal with things. Give us a chance, we'll give it a cost price, we'll make no money off it, we'll give you the rebates, we'll give you everything. After that, we're that confident that you'll come back to us that yeah, that that relationship will be built. But on the relationship side of things, then if a new bill does come to us and says, Yeah, look, I I do 10 a year, we'll break it down. So we'll say, Look.
If your client was to come in here and get a price off us, this is what the price would be.
If you're committing to ten homes throughout the year and there's no contract, I'm a handshake guy, you know. So if a builder comes in and and says to I'm a I'm a handshake guy, there's nothing. Yeah, ten a year, we'll then take that margin down. So we'll we are that price down. So say again, and these aren't real numbers, but say if it's six grand, we'll say, Look, when we buy in volume, and if we were to buy your ten homes in volume, right now we'd go to our suppliers and and our we're direct with everyone, so a lot like there's a very small number of products we use that we're
not
direct but or that we're not getting direct pricing through the wholesalers. So we'll say to them, I need ten of them, I need a hundred of them, I need a thousand of them, and we'll combine that. So then all of a sudden that six grand will come down to around four grand.
Now, the beauty of that is if the client comes into our showroom, which is the biggest in on the Sunshine Coast, and I think it's still the biggest thing we're We're gonna do a few videos on type the glass on the and that's that's the old one. We're moving for our new premises soon, which we'll touch on later. But But they'll come in and they'll get a six grand price off us. So we're not gonna catch the builder out by then. We're we're not gonna offer four you know, that that two grand margin on that is purely for the builder. Wow.
So and that's that's that's a better margin than they make of a house. And that's what they don't get. And you you you Plus no headaches. Plus no weight. Yes, and a and a f a really good looking home. And then you take into consideration what you can save off your seven star energy rating. So are you putting in double glaze windows? Are you putting in in in solar? What are you putting in to to get your seven star energy rating that you can take away? We can give you solar and you can actually make a margin on it.
Wow. And solar would take a big chunk of that. Yeah in terms of the brain. You know what I mean? With solar and batteries. Yeah, yeah. An EV charging like yeah, it's that it can really T. You know what I want to do, Gary? I want to put together a home package. I'm actually gonna do this. I'm gonna put together a home package with solar. Yeah. And I'm gonna look at the window glazing and all that stuff. And I'm gonna go for lower standard on that and put together a home and see how much it costs with solar. And I bet you number one, that the customer actually gives a shit.
More about solar than you know triple glazed windows or something like that and other things they're doing. And I bet you it actually gives them a bit of ex a better experience of the home. Because one of the things that we don't do in home building, and I I just don't know why, is we we we do the build experience, we hand over the home, we never talk to them again. Where
It is important, I really think, for builders, where I think people are gonna grow, you know, fall in love with their home, is the livability of it. And if you're saving money and you can charge your EV in a in a quarter of the time because you've got a battery and you've got the right power in there. I won't talk to that 'cause I'm no electrician, probably get it wrong. Yeah. And you've got all of that, plus you've got a beautifully designed home. Yeah. it's yeah. It's easy. Yeah, and modern as well. It's the the modern spec of it all that.
at your fingertips everything that's the way it's going. The way people are buying homes now, that it's that generation coming through that's been brought up on the phones and the iPads and things. So that's where we want to be. It's it's yeah. You're a hundred makes sense. You're a hundred percent mate. Well you do commercial and residential too. Yes. Tell me the difference between working in the commercial space and the rese space. What's what do you see it's a bit different working with those builders. So there's probably three areas to that. There's your
Not higher end, but very much more regulated and compliance oriented, residential. And that would be Sunshine Calls Council, Newsic Council. they're very interesting to work for. we've got great relationships with them. So you know, the the council guys, like yeah, brilliant guys to work with, but they the compliance is is very much safety is at at the forefront and safe to the extent that
We don't care the call, we care about the cost. We want safety. That's that's paramount. And I tend to agree with that. We're very much on I d I never want that phone call. As as I'm sure a lot of your listeners never want. A hundred percent. so so that there's that scale of things and then there's the compliance around that being on the coast, everything staying still, everything you know, you know, all of and that's a lot what we come across. There'll be tenders out there that we understand that this is a council tender, so we'll come in and we'll we'll tender for it with the
your stainless steel everything more or less cage you know everything we'll hear then on the back end if we've lost one or two of them but the job blew out we didn't realise we had to use stainless steel screws saddles you know you know cages so so there's that understanding then which is fine we love that sort of work yeah yeah yeah I I love the new build space I love I love getting my hands dirty and and talking to builders
We got some really good guys as I said on the coast. I don't think I mentioned Steve at Shine Building. He he is Stave, if you if you haven't if you're new building soon, reach out to Stave. He heard some of the builds he does are absolutely amazing. Really? Yeah. Are they high end? Yeah. I would say yeah, they would be. We've done some beautiful ones on in Myanmar there on the co and on the coast and on the river and stuff. the guys at Platinum are great to work with as well. They're good builders. But th those guys are are
They I love when it's just ha handed to us. I love when it's just, hey, we've got this project, can you give me a price? not that we already know they're gonna say yes, but they kinda want us to just price it fairly, don't don't take the piss. They already trust you. But then okay, just get it done. Here's the foreman's details and yeah. And then the foreman it'll be just like, this is our plan and and that's what I love, the ease and the planning and getting it done right.
So there there too, and then at the knee finish at the end of it. When it's a new build, when you're inverter, the conduits are hidden, it just looks schmick and it just looks beautiful. I really love that. so that's that's the two different areas of the commercial space that you have the major compliance and then it's just the we trust you, get it done sort of scenario. I love it. And then the resi space is is everything. It's the resi space is, you know, you could have really
good resi customers, you can have really particular resi customers. I enjoy working with both because I love the the test of when one of our consultants comes back into us and says, Hey look, I've got this really particular customer. They want to design it this way. And it really works our brand to go back to, you know, the suppliers and say, Will it do this? Will it do that? And and it educates us. We pass that on. So yeah, that's the difference that you have. Your resis can be a bit trickier because you're you're going external on the conduits and you're trying to hide conduits and you're trying to do things different. And
Battery locations and and things like that. Yeah, they're really yeah. So yeah, I enjoy it all, but that's the tree, that's the differences that you have with them. neat are neither finish on the commercial is always there. Yeah. well I love Gary, actually, the other thing is, and everyone should what I picked up when you were talking about resident customers. One thing you do do
Which I think is fascinating too. Like and and I've had renovation builders on here. Imagine doing construction, which you essentially are doing while someone's home. Yeah, yeah. That's what you're doing, right? Every day. And as you said at the beginning of the pod, you are the biggest on the coast. Yeah. One of the most well respected in Australia. Yeah. Top five. Yep. And you're doing that at volume. Yep. While people are living in their home.
I think that is one of the hardest jobs to do. And that shows me, and that's why I wanted join here, that shows me that builders can trust you. Because yeah, when you're building a home, no one's on site. So I think that would be, excuse your language, Gary, but a piece of piss for you. For a for a new builder, that would be a piece of piss when you're already getting five star ratings on twenty plus homes per week. Yeah. With people living in there and installing systems. Yeah. Is that a big thing for you? Like the customer service? And how do you approach that? It's again and and
I will say we're we're not perfect, but what what I can promise is when we're not perfect, it is dealt with. And so that's very our guys, we have our team of installers. We've got about twenty-five to thirty guys now internal. So internal instant instant installation team. So that would range from about five to seven installs per day. We then compliment that. Sorry, I got my math wrong. Yeah, no, no, and then we complement that with
We've had guys that have been internal with us and really
good guys, the best installers. We have the best installers in the coast though. I don't I I don't agree. Like you hundred percent. So but these guys have said, look, there's more money to be had if I can contract to you. And I I I fully agree with that. So I'll say to Yeah, look, we'll support you. So they'll work five days a week for us, but in a contracting space. So they'll have their own companies. But the the warranty of umbrella the the umbrella of warranties and so everything's but Halcol. Yeah. They we're just supporting our our ex installers to make more money.
Being contractors. good on you. So we've got three or four of them as well. So like we average about yes, seven to ten installs a day. Obviously, none today with the rain out, but but yeah, we we filter through. So if if our guys are not polite, if they're not showing up in the proper atur, if they're doing something on site that gets back to us, that is dealt with because customer service is at the forefront of what we do. Like we what we
Yeah, we we're so community driven. Like we're we're partners we we're platinum partners with Sunny Kids. Yes. Steps. we're The life saving chopper that I saw. Westpac, we've done a bit with Nippers. We we give a free system away every year to a charity of choice here on the on the coast. that was cool. Yeah we recently with DevCon with the guys at DevCon they've built
A home for Sunny Kids, which they sold about a month ago for over a million dollars. What they're doing is they're building five or six transitional homes. So we put solar on boat. Like we've done the whole Sunny Kids fleet of of homes. Yeah, we do certain things. But where I'm going with that is we'll go to a lot of events with these charities and stuff. And I I can't be at an event if I know somebody could approach me and say, I've had a really bad dealing with you. You guys were so rude on site in the morning or things like that. It's just
I'm so afraid of that. So that's why we're so high on our list of priorities to to make sure they're polite. We're we're telling them we're gonna show up at this time and and we're doing the right thing with them. We're trying to do it as neat as possible. We're trying to knock the power off at a time when they're not in a Zoom meeting. All those things go into consideration when we're doing it. So
And then we're calling three months after install when they're getting their first power bill. We're trying to go through it with them, see if we've done right, like you know, if there's any queries and things like that. So that's that's how we do it, yeah. Wow. And still getting five star reviews when you turn off their Wi Fi. Imagine that, Gary, like, man. Yeah, yeah. You know, that's one of the toughest things. It's when you don't have Wi Fi, everyone breaks down, you know, like it's I I'm not trying to bring it down to like a little thing, but No, but Aaron as well, like we're not doing that sort of volume and we're not we're not
five star on it every install. I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm a firm believer that if you make a mistake or you have a bad day and so it's how you deal with it. And that would usually be followed up with a with a phone call from me, from one of our managers internally who
Hey, we we realized there was issues on install yesterday or what day. This is what we're gonna do. You know, one of our guys has slipped, they've put a hole in the wall, they've done something. We've already got it that fixed, that's happening tomorrow. That's the only like that's how you I'm a firm believer that mistakes happen, it's how you deal with them. That that makes you Yep. Builders talk about it all the time. Like we you know you never build a home flawlessly. No, yeah, you don't. You're you're a lawyer if you say you do. yeah. Yeah. mate, that no, this is really, really fascinating, Gary. Mate,
How many installers do you have again? So at the moment we'd be probably running off six or seven internal teams. Yeah. So that a team would consist of head electrician who's CEC and battery accredited. You've got an offsider for him on the ground usually who's a third or fourth year apprenticeship and he's learning how to do it to come on.
Then you've got two to three roofies depending on the job. The apprentices or or experienced roof labourers who know how to string a system up. Yep. so we've probably got six or seven of those teams, then we've got three or four subby teams more or less who are who are embedded within the industry. We've what you probably aren't aware of is we've opened up in Nudgy Road Hendra as So we're we're in Brisbane two years now. so we we're running teams out of there as well. So that's probably where you're thinking, how are they running? I'm sure everyone on the podcast has driven past Hall Call at some stage and
And they've they're saying how are they fitting all of that out of there? you've got a big but but but Brisbane is yeah, we're we're keeping old in Brisbane as well. mate. Absolutely. We'll listen to all your projects. You've got South West Brisbane, ninety three units with frickin' EV all over and thing, mate. That that is so cool. The reason I asked you in person isn't like I know you're a good business and I know you've got like a great team. Yeah. The reason I asked is actually how do you manage those people, Gary?
Because we're you know we're the good builder. We try and like I think there's a lot of parallels, as I said, between you and a builder. Yeah. Really. You're doing construction, you're managing a whole heap of subbies and your own team and you're constructing stuff out there which is the hardest job in the world. Yeah. How do you frickin' manage a team of forty to fifty and making sure they're doing the right job? Do you have a someone who organizes them in the office or we how does it all work? So we we've got a
in internal office team that are amazing. So like like our our our upper management team are are
second to none. Like they they yeah, yeah, you know, we we're we're across that. But I think taking it back to what we said half an hour or so ago, if me and Rosie are hiring somebody, it's not what's on paper that's in front of us. It's the attitude that we see in front of us. And we've had it on both ways. We've had s we've had people in who absolutely on paper are the best like how are they coming for a job with us? They should be they should be running AGL. Like that's what we're thinking. And they come in and then we see the attitude and we're like we can't employ
We know why you're not running. Yes, correct, yeah. So I d I think it's easy when you have people with the right attitude. They they manage themselves. We try and instill in Halcol for everyone to have their own business within Halcol. So each department is incentivized, which I think is important because the cost of living in this day and age we want we're not obviously you're running a business, you want to try and make it as profitable as you can. But we're we want to share with it within the company. We want we want our employees
To do well as well. So each person kind of runs their own business within alcohol. They concentrate on that. They're given responsibility. There's there's opportunity to to then succeed into different roles. So we've got a good team, a really good team. I love it. Yeah. That whole bit you just said then, Gary, I don't think anyone said in three hundred and thirty podcasts, mate. Yeah. Like in terms of you know, hiring for attitude and don't worry so much about the skill on paper. Yeah, yeah. Like I think that's a great clue to running a
Extremely successful business. Yeah. And you're doing it right now, Gary. So mate. That's mate. Hats off to you. It's super cool. I've got one more question for you, and it's kind of in relation to builders. Yeah. But you can relate it to yourself, mate. You know we're called the good builder. Yeah. What do you think makes a good builder? So I've I've heard you ask this question before, so I was kind of prepared for it. And my answer's a bit boring, but it's it seems to be. I can't wait. A good builder is a planned builder, in my opinion. So
You know that the phone call you get saying, Hey, we forgot to tell you the slab's going down on Friday, can you get your guys here tomorrow to do this job? That that's what kills me. A builder that sticks to the plan and and and yeah, plans the whole thing out and and you know you're on top I know things change. No. But as much planning and as much detail as we can possibly know that will affect our part of it, that's what works for me. That is cool. I think w again, three hundred and thirty plus episodes, no one's ever said that. Yeah.
It's critical. Yeah. If we if you have a plan and and and I think our our industry, unfortunately, not not your industry, but construction industry, home resident industry, is very reactive. Yeah. We're very reactive. We make rash decisions on the day. We we change and chop and look at things. I think like for me, for example, and and I know you're sitting right here, but I am so passionate about a builder planning to become someone who does standard solar is standard. And
Smart homer standard. Yeah. It takes planning to do that. Yeah. And stick to the plan. If someone did that, I reckon you would just rock it. I that's talking about business planning and marketing planning and all of that, but I just don't think we have enough planning at all in this industry. And I think you're completely right. And that's where the relationship deteriorates between builder and their partners. I think as well, like relationships and and what you're saying there is key. Like we it's if here on the Sunshine Coast, for example, if we could all work together and and we had an
You know, if builders work with suppliers, we've worked with, you know, industry professionals like ourselves and each I'll I'll give you an example. We've we we'd buy all of our stuff you like everyone else, through Bunnings and through Sun and then we got wind of trade suppliers, NUSA trail suppliers. They opened up last year, I think. Glenn up there is amazing. Yeah, why? we feel we're giving stuff back
to them now. But we're dealing with the f person force and we're not dealing with somebody in Bundes who's just answering the phone to us and doesn't care. Dealing with Glenn picks up the phone, delivers the stuff to us that day, the next day, and we're supporting local. He's got a family here in the coast. Is he a family owned business? Yeah, yeah. And and and not a a lot of people are aware, I've been try I've been singing their praises where I can. But good on you. You know, things like that. If if if the coast supported the coast, it would be so much more profitable for everybody here and and it would work so much better because we all see each other. We all
We all go to different events and different things and know that's so and so and that's so and so and I wonder who he's using. We should all just there should be a network of some sort, and you're the man to do it. A network of trades on the coast who we all like talk to each other and and and do it.
I think so. Well it's the purpose of the good builder, Gary. Like the reason we've got you on here today is because number one, we've never talked about solar, but number two, we want we want to expose the really good people on the coast and and Australia wide as well, but with you know, the builders and and builders we want to form those partnerships. So make your own. Let's let's put on an event. I think yeah, I think it's I think we should and and do it. And what you're doing here, like it's it's unbiased.
Yeah, that's why I I likely listened. Yeah, it's unbiased and it's just factual information that you're getting from. That's all we're trying to do. And that's why thank you so much for your time because we talked about you were so open with pricing, yeah. How you do things and all of that. Yeah. That's all we're doing. Like we're just putting it a point forward and going, you know, I I will always provide my recommendation. Yeah. And my recommendation honestly for builders on the coast, I know I know a lot of you guys out there is to, you know, start looking at solar. Yeah. You see everything coming through. What we're trying to help. We're trying to help you
plan to your answer of what makes a good builder for what's coming and what people actually want. one thing I actually said in this podcast, we in we actually surveyed the customers on our database. So we got about fifteen hundred customers that subscribe to the Good Builder just because they want to see what builders are talking about. And so we we've got them in little buckets and we sent out a survey and we're like, what you know, the the evolution of homes and and what would you like to see? Solar, smart home. Yeah.
We're top always. Yeah, yeah. So we're just trying to go, hey guys, like you said, plan for this because your customers want it. It's coming twenty twenty nine, it's already in Victoria. You might as well start. Yeah. Dealing with someone you can trust. And and it's bringing that. It's in Victoria. How many times do you hear of stuff? It's available down south, but here on the coast you can't get it. You have to sell if it is. So we're already ahead of the game and that we are looking at that. To be fifteen years established in the solar game in particular.
is quite hard to do. Over you're talking over five, six hundred solar companies a year go host and and don't honor their warranties, don't do anything like that. So we're very careful on the products we choose to use. And so we'll hold off on introducing something a year or two because we know something is coming down the track that's safe. That if it's a five year warranty, they'll honor that five year warranty. And we won't be left helding the baby because I agree what what one builder said. A good builder is a profitable builder.
A good solar company is a profitable solar company because you purchase solar to to have that twenty five year warranty, to have that twelve year warranty. You know, you you want the company that you go with to be able to withstand the test of time to to honor that warranty. And that's what you're doing. Yeah. So that's that's what you have to take into consideration as well. Wow, mate.
I could talk to you all day because I have one more question. Yeah. What else is coming up for you, Gary? Because you've got an I forgot to mention this, but you've got an exciting move coming up, or you're in the middle of an exciting move, and we are going to come down and do a video and show you guys I'm gonna fly a drone. I'm gonna show you guys where to find how coal. So down nickel and way behind the good guys, but I'm gonna drone it. I'm gonna show shit, I just gave away the whole scene. No, that's that's it. So it's it's it's caused turmoil in our house. myself and my wife, Rousey.
So I'm in love with Nick Linway. It's so small for what we do at the moment. Like we're we're all crammed in. We're all but the the footprint and it's it's like anything on the coast. There's thirty thousand people a day drive past it. Yeah. You know, it's a mainstay of the coast, Hal call. They they and we get so many people everyone knows it. Yeah, we get so many people saying, I've been driving past you guys for years, so I just have to come in and get me solar off you guys. So I was against the move, but I do see the the
the benefits of it and do think long term it's the better solution for us. We have expanded our operation and we've moved into a a warehouse. We're soft moving at the moment, so we're moving into a a a warehouse and a bigger showroom that's probably four or five times the size of Nickelan. Wow. So yeah, we're gonna we're gonna bring in it's gonna be an experience. So we're gonna have at the moment our showroom is is there's nothing better here on the coast and arguably in Portland in Queensland. Yeah. This is gonna be better. This is gonna
wow. T V charging. This is gonna this is gonna be exceptional. it's like nothing you've ever seen before. So we're we're in the we have moved a lot of our operations there. so yes, it's just right, it's behind the good guys in Premier Circuit, or sorry, in Technology Drive. Yeah. so yes, that's where we are. And it's gonna be the world's best show. That was the other thing. We needed to talk about that. Sorry that I I forgot about it, Gary. One of the things I remember
You know, I I'm always really up front on this pod. Like I went down, I took some headshots for Gary of his amazing staff. And the amount of people that come in because there is not a showroom for solar and batteries was phenomenal, man. That day there were probably four or five people that come in, people waiting there to talk about batteries. It's phenomenal. And and in my head, I haven't seen a new premises, but we're gonna a video. I'm like, imagine a builder could bring a customer down there. Yeah. And go, What battery would you like? What what fits with you? Or or a builder come in.
And and we're quite open to this because builders are welcome to come in and nickel now at the moment. I'm I'm currently doing a build, someone else is doing a solar, but I need to see the dimensions of what they're doing and
I would say ninety eight percent of solar companies are still using PDFs supplied by suppliers and makeshift brochures to sell some people stuff. A thirty to forty thousand dollar investment should be not sold off a brochure. You should be able to see what you're buying. And touch it, feel it. Yes, touch it, feel it. I don't like that. You know, I I like that. And I was so proud when we opened up the showroom on Nickel. We had guys driving from South Brisbane all the way up to see like SIG energy stuff 'cause we the the main product in the solar industry arguably
Sig Energy would be their dueling it out at the moment. Okay. we were the first installers of SIG Energy in the whole of Queensland. We had the first battery there. We had people driving from all over Queens and to come up and see it. Like it was it was And they're operational too. You can see them work. Everything is they're not dummies. Everything is live. Yeah, everything's live. So we take you out and and look, there's there's we're trying to get a bit of permission here and there. We we want to put solar on the roof. A dream of mine is to have a
a handrail experience where you can go up and see the panels on the roof, like harness yourself on, see the mounting kit, see everything.
No, there's a lot that goes into that. We won't have that structure. No, no, no, no. That that is the goal down there. I'm trying to push for a bar, but I'm getting some hesitancy on that one. But we're we're working towards it. Yeah. I love blokes like you, Gary. You know what I love about you, mate? Like you put it all in. Like what I've seen over since you've taken it over those last few years is you you put it in, you invest in your business. Yeah. That makes a good builder, that makes a good business person.
Yeah and you offer things to your customers that no one else does. Like it's it's an experience. That's that's it. It's just it's an experience and if you're investing that sort of money I love you should not be bound to to to just be in the limited and and hoping it goes well. Well, mate.
That was phenomenal. we're gonna have Gary back on and I'm gonna head down to his new premises. And I might even, if you've got the battery set up in the old premises, I'll go there, just do a video to show everybody because I've got to get owe you some more headshots and I'm fine with that. So I'm gonna go and do some more headshots for Gary. That is not the reason I had him on the podcast. It is because soul is a way of the future. Yeah. Every customer wants it. Hardly any of you builders out there, put it in.
as standard or in the new build, I would really start talking to Gallery, especially if you're here on the coast or in Brisbane in Hendra 'cause he's got the new one there. and if you didn't hear it, he's got a little offer which was, you know, if you want to do a install, it's Let's just it's it's the cost to us. We'll pass it on to you. See how the experience try us try us for free and and see how the experience goes.
Yeah. Well mate, if you don't mind, we'll put it out in the database to our eight and a half or nine thousand builders and anyone who picks it up. Yeah. I'll tell you what, anyone who picks it up and does it, I want them on the couch and we'll do a podcast with them after the experience of going How cool was that?
Our customer now has solar installed during construction. Everything's hidden and looks beautiful. The home is functioning like wild. You know, this is this is what I want to do for the I'd be great to hear what their feedback would be. What could we do better as well? Because, you know, that's the big question you ask. What could we do better? Because that's how you learn. Everything that I'm telling you today, we've made those mistakes. So that's that's how we learn. And and so you if you're a builder out there, don't let somebody else learn off your back. We've already
you know, learned and made those mistakes. So we'll we'll treat you right. Do it. Do it. And yeah, I'll leave one thought is mate, you were so honest during this podcast. You know, like I was probably spitting out there five stars and all that, and you were just going, This is how it is, Alice, you know, I I I love that about you, mate. But you are a very
Not very good, you're probably the best solar installer. And mate, we are gonna be pumping you out there and the first builder that does it, or I don't care, the first ten that do it and and give it a shot, jump on the couch. I wanna hear about it because I think your customer will be happy, you're gonna be happy, you're gonna be earning more money. And you know, you're you've got a great partner in Gary's. Love the relationships, mate. Awesome. Thanks, Aaron. That was fucking cool. Yeah, that was awesome. Thank you so much. Cheers.