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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.
I'm really proud to say that we didn't run out on any of our customers. customers during that time, all the roof there on Icebergs is UniCote, the way it's sort of just sitting in the water. I don't think it gets more green thans than that. And that's what creates trust. That's what creates loyalty. It's not just a house, not just building a product, creating their memories in there. They're growing their kids up.
Good morning. Welcome back to The Good Builder podcast. I've got a really exciting episode for you today. And I've been wanting to talk to this gentleman and the brand he represents for a long while, actually. Truth be told, two years ago at the Sydney Build exhibit or event there. I tried to chase them down. We did a bit of a video. We, we learn a little bit about their products and I'm really impressed with what they do and have been for years. to be honest, we had a little chat out the back. We talked a little bit about risk mitigation and a few things like that. All things that will be brought up in this podcast. Joining me today is Jason Voglis, national sales manager oficoat. You've probably heard of Selection Steel and all that sort of thing.
And, and UniCote, they've been operating in Australia for about 12 years back by Selection Steel, as I said, and they've got 50 years of industry experience. There's some really interesting stuff that they've got going on and some great product that they have. I think some of the best product in the industry. But if you think about it, they've put about 200,000 tons worth of this stuff out there, and that's about 170,000 roofs around Australia. You know, there's a lot of trust in this brand. We're going to actually dig into this brand because I know that there's a lot of you out there that have probably looked at it and gone, oh, is this the right stuff for me? I'll tell you what, it is the right stuff for.
And we're going to find out why today, because we have this amazing gentleman on, we're going to talk about where it comes from, what you can get the INSPIRE part of the business and what that does for builders and roofers and how they work with architects and all the stuff that you'll know, they are iconic. I've seen if anyone could jump on the website, we'll put the links below. You can go and have a look at some of these projects, but you've just got these, um, you know, the material that you supply and the way that you make it easy for builders is something that I think considering what's going on right now, um, you know, supply sometimes is hard to get in what goes on in the market industry.
I think people should have, uh, uh, a backup every now and again, or if a primary. , it may be a better primary than what's out there, um, material. And that's why we've got you on today. Jace, couldn't agree more. Yeah. Well, first of all, I'd love to start chase with, um, where diddid you come into the industry and what are you actually doing over there at UniCote? Yeah. So I've been in the industry now for about just over eight years. Um, I actually didn't start, uh, I was, I came from real estate. So, um, it's a completely different industry. Uh, I was managing, managing a small team. We were doing, it was great. I knew the, uh, the Gregory family. So that's the family behind Selection Steel and UniCote and saw all the exciting things that they were building and doing and thought, this is pretty cool and it's pretty exciting.
And the opportunity came to jump on board and I took it, but it meant sort of starting from the ground up, learning a completely new industry.. Um, I guess taking what I'd from real estate, which was negotiation, uh, relationship building and having that customer forward mindset really helped. And so today I'm the national sales manager at UniCote. So I work for INSPIRE, which is a division of Selection Steel. Yeah. Uh, effectively we manage, I manage a team across the country that deals with builders and architects, uh, and effectively there's, there's so many different products and profiles and solutions out there. It can be quite confusing for the industry. So our job is to effectively assist with those builders and architects and installs and roleformers to make sure that they're choosing the right material, um, for their project.
So it's really exciting. We get, we get to deal with good architecture. Architecture and assist by choosing products for, um, suitability.. Wow. And, and considering you, you've been there for eight years, that's nearly two thirds of basically, you know, since UniCote have really entered the market 12 years.
Uh, the brand I represent or the company that I represent is, is fresh in the market. Selection Steel has been around since 1974, um, supplying steel into the straight market. Um, so we've been around for a while and we've been supplying, uh, painted product into the market for about 45 years, but 12 years ago, Selection saw an opportunity to have their own branded, uh, painted product. And so coming in sort of, you know, it was quite young and seeing what we've accomplished and achieved today, it's pretty cool. Yeah. Well, that was one of the things like that I spotted, um, when I was in the building game, you know, I was looking around at material and, um, I saw what you guys do over there and, and I was highly impressed.]..
Warranties, guarantees. I think they're the best in the market. If you actually, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, Jace, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but along with this podcast, what I want to say about is a, a like for like comparison of different painted steel products and you haven't looked at it. Your product specification is probably higher standard in the country. Am I being correct there? Yeah, I think there's a misconception in the market that all product is the same because it looks the same, you know, you might have a couple of pieces of painted metal and they've all got the same monument or monolith or, or, or gray paint on them and you go, Oh, that's just painted metal.
But when you actually break it down and the different substrates and the coil coating technologies and the paint systems, they perform very differently. Uh, and what that means for,. I guess the customer is that the different I've got will come with a different set of performance and a different warranty and a different price. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And, and that's the steel, but it opens up a selection of varying levels. And that's what I found fascinating about the range that you sell. It does, it, it creates a lot of choice out there in the industry choice around price, you know, it's competitively priced. So that that's always welcomed in the market, um, but choice around different warranties, different performance solutions, different aesthetics and just giving the wider industry more options.
Yeah. And if you don't mind, I might talk to this is, um, I'm very close with a lot of builders, as you'll be saying across the industry and, and one thing that I found is you've really got to try and de-risk having a hole in, in that supply chain, you know, you've got to be able to fill that supply chain. And if you're only looking at one particular product at times, it can bite bite you in the butt. And I saw that recently, Jace, um, you don't definitely don't have to comment about this mate, but I saw this recently, probably would have been a month or two ago by the time we dropped this, I had volume builders, small builders coming to me going, how built six to eight weeks out. We cannot get what we're trying to get.
And I was always like, have you looked at UniCote? Have you looked at Selection Steel? Have you looked at different alternatives? And I think the shift in that mindset is changing. I think, albeit it should be earlier and they should should think about these things before a situation like this happens. But I think that's a really good lesson for most builders out there that you can't always put all your eggs in one basket. And I guess that's a saying for a particular reason. Absolutely. Az, I think if we look back at the last six years, particularly sort of, you, and, there, there was a, there was a lot of supply issues that the, the industry faced. We found that customers were loyal to a particular brand and potentially that brand wasn't loyal to them.
And shortages arrived and ultimately that meant that delays on site. Which cost the builder. It's ultimately the builder that pays for that. And so I think it's, there's definitely it's worth having a conversation around a second player or a credible alternative.. We're not asking everyone to sort of drop everything and come on board. It's more about risk mitigation and having that conversation to explore what other options are out there, because we've seen, like you just mentioned a few months ago in Queensland, there was some, some issues with supply and a lot of builders got caught out there. Yeah, yeah, 2300 build. And I think the industry is tough, tough at the moment, builders are working on very slim margins, delays could mean make or break.
We're finding, we found in the history, but probably more so now with, with supply shortages that have hurt builders that they're coming to us and asking us a little bit about who we are and what we are doing and how we might be able to assist their business. I love it. Yeah, I love it. I, you know, at The Good Builder, we, we, and I know you too, at Selection of Steel UniCote, you guys love builders, we love builders. So in the end, you don't want them to be, you know, the, the result or the, you know, cop the brunt of not their forward planning, but supply planning as well. Do you know what I mean? And I'm not having a dig at anybody. Of course, it just like the, I could see the frustration in one particular builder.
When I sat down, we had lunch and we were talking about it, 2300 homes delayed six to eight weeks, maybe, you know, imagine the cost of that it would have been millions of dollars because those jobs are all held within that mean in the back office and all that sort of thing. So it was just like, yeah, someone had to happen again, man. The frustration that you would have~) witnessed is the frustrations that we've witnessed in the industry with builders coming to us going, we've, we've been doing things a certain way for so long. and I guess we, we just have been doing this because that's the way we've been doing it, not realizing that there's actually a credible alternative out there and I guess the way that our business is set up is that we're not immune to but we've, we're, there's a number of benefits that we've put in place that we can assist when the market does suffer a supply shortage that we can draw down on our stock and help fill that gap.
And that's been really good to one assist the builder, but also then it creates a bit of a relationship and sort of cements, I guess, starting a partnership with these builders that may have been in. They didn't consider us, but now they're going, well, the product's great, the reliability is there, the service is there, the price is competitive. Why wouldn't we at least have a conversation? Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great thing out of a bit of harm and things like that. I think things come a bit of pain sometimes, so we'll, we'll get away from the pains. We don't want to talk all about pain. I did, sorry about that beginning to, I just wanted to talk about, you know, we try and stay relevant.
Of course we can build about what's going on in the industry. And that was one of the biggest things we would talk to about over the past couple of months. And there's still chatter to this day from from a few builders. So thank you for cleaning it up. You've now got eight years in the Cristian, 12 years at UniCote,. 50 years at Selection Steel. There's a lot going on there, but you sort of seen in the market how builders and buyers have changed their tastes. Have you seen a lot of that happen in c? In the way they're buying their steel or what they're looking for? What's trendy? Yeah, there's definitely a big change in the last handful of years.
It also creates innovation and also service. And so we initially started as offering just a standard everyday equivalent to a color one material when I looked at it. Oh, you put these things side by side. It's pretty interesting to have a look at. I think if you look at it side by side and you actually drill down on the specification and the technical data, I mean, I'm biased because I work for the company, but the proofs in the pudding is objectively.
Well, it's objective. You can't deny the fact that on some of our products, we've got enhanced corrosion resistant properties on there to protect it from corrosion and give that durability, that longevity, and ultimately a better warranty as well. Yeah. Well,. We're going to talk a little bit about these later on, but you look at those iconic projects, you know, and I've seen some stadiums and buildings that are right next to the ocean. Yeah, yeah. You know, and obviously they're built by, you know, big, amazing commercial builders. You do commercial industrial, we should talk about that as well, but, you know, and obviously you would have to be pretty critical of the material you chose. Well, iconic projects like that, that are right next to the sea.
That's what kind of, I think, I think what happened to me, I was, when I had my little building business, I remember stumbling across your website and the first header banner or something like that. And I was like, whoa, look at that, look at that, piece it together. Yeah, absolutely. Like if you look at some of the projects that we've supplied across the country, country, they're landmark projects, numerous stadiums. Some beautiful high-end architectural homes, government buildings, schools, hospitals. I would say you dominate that space, actually. I think we- In the major projects. Well, we try to, it's, you've got, when you're going up against the incumbent, and I don't think we'll be giving them any more air time by saying who they are.
It's obviously Blue Scope and Colorbond, everyone's aware of it. First of all, hats off to them. They do a great job and have a great product. product. So you can't deny that. But we like to think that when there's a project that requires something a little bit extra, we do dominate that space because there's really no other painted steel product in the market that can come close to the performance and the warranties that we can provide. So for example, the Portsy Pub, a really iconic project down in Victoria, backs onto the water. Stunning. That building has got to be over a hundred years old, very high profile project. The builder wouldn't have chosen a product that would be inferior for that project.
So projects like that, excuse me, do give credibility, Icebergs in Bondi. You know, it's basically in the water and all that roof. Yeah. Yeah. So all the roof there on Icebergs is UniCote. I was there Monday. So it's a pretty cool project. The way it's, sort of just sitting in the water. I don't think it gets much more extreme than that. It doesn't. And that's a testament to the durability of our material. Obviously Townsville stadium, all that roof is UniCote. We've done a large project up in WA, which is one of the world's fertilizer plants, sitting on the water and all that is UniCote coastal. And we're talking multi-million, multi-billion projects, so they're not going to go with the material that's inferior.
Yeah. So that's one of the, I guess, key points that we try and focus on winning landmark projects across the country. We, we just finished another surf club in Victoria, the, uh, the Toronto surf club, just across the, down the road from Portsea. And again, very high profile job, uh, the builder looked at it and said, okay, what are the options or really in that environment, unless you're going to go with something non-ferrous like a stainless or an aluminium, UniCote coastal prepaid, it's a fantastic option when you're looking at, I guess, the warranties, the longevity, but also a budget. Cause obviously budgets are something that builders need to work within. , and UniCote out coastal has that the ability to, you know, tt are a great looking product and there there's also flexibility around the finishes available.
So withtalk, obviously they've got, you know, six or seven colors that they keep in stock and colors that we keep in stock. But one of the benefits that we've. Is short lead times, small order quantities, and a really large pallet of 60 or 70 colors that you've got in stock. Yeah, and it's really accessible from price point and, um, and, and, and actually getting the material. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, we'll put all these links to the projects below. I think they're builders to have a great to say, oh, and, and they will go that's what it did for me too. going through your projects. And I'm like, yeah, that is stunning is that that's UniCote. Yeah, I've been there. That's stunning. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Well, we just did anotherly just did another project in, um, in, in Ballarat, which is the Eureka stadium or Mars oval, um, bulldogs, they built a new pavilion and all the underside was UniCote, extreme aluminum. So, um, you can imagine it's not getting a wash down from rain. So they wanted to go-with a, with a really high performing product. That's not going to rust out, uh, and on the top of the roof, it's just our standard UniCote because the rain will wash it down and wash any biggest corrosive elements to it. And again, it's, this is another large project that we've done. We've also done Witten Oval, which is another bulldog. Any of the viewers and listeners that are Bulldogs fans, we've supplied your, your stadiums, um, any builder that's a Bulldogs fan, talk to UniCote.
And if you're not, plus every other thing of any other sport, absolutely. Now, absolutely. And this, like I know, builders know, builders know of you guys and you've had a record month as we were talking about it. Well, like, people know who you are, but I just also wanted you to kind of expose like a bit more people can kind of have a look around and see, and they'd be like, Oh, I didn't realize that. If you look around, it's all around you. Yep. You wouldn't be selling 200,000 tons. If it wasn't all around you. Absolutely. Um, we've got some really long standing relationships with builders across the country, volume builders, smaller builders, but some of the bigger, builders that, um, have been loyal to us from the start is a testament to, I guess, the relationships and the partnership in the service that we provide, um, you know, if it was no good or we didn't provide that service, they wouldn't be loyal to us.
So when we go in and we talk to builders and they see a number, a list of all the names of the builders that we've got relationships and we supply, they sort of go, okay, well, if it's good, we've got to at least have a conversation early days. I think the conversation was different, but now we can walk in sort of, I guess, have that confidence to say, well, guys, we've been here for a long time now and there's been other, um, and go, it hasn't worked. It's not easy. It's definitely not easy, but we've got that, that street credibility now with the relationships we've got, the projects that we've supplied and our range of products that we offer to the wider market. I love it. And you know, what's also interesting for me, and this is my personal experience again, Jace, I still a bit of consulting and I used to consult in the roofing world, not a rotalk, but went out there and, and there's a gentleman, I forget the gentleman's name, but he's that, um, Northern metal roofing here in Brisbane.
Amazing fella. I tell you what I sat down with him and we'll talk about marketing and a few things and talk about a bunch of stuff that I can't really talk about right now on here, but he was a Selection Steel guy. Yep. He's a UniCote guy. And for me, he would not, it would not move away from the product. Frickin loved it. Love the product. It was his reputation. It was his point of difference. It was kind of everything. Right. And the other thing that struck me about that type of Rufa, um, and I'm sure it kind of goes down to that type of builder, going with the flow and you're looking at things in your business and trying to see how you can improve it, you can see choosing the right material and they're better at what they do because they're kind of more focused on how do I deliver the best best possible~" solution for my customers.
He was very customer focused and I walked away.
You know him, but I promise I'm going to get you on here. Actually, I do not forget the conversation we had. I assure you that I reckon he was one of the smartest Rufas I've ever met. And it was so cool. And he's thriving. Well, I think it goes to that point of, yeah, it sort of talks to that point of difference for, uh, a company that if you're doing something different and you're offering a quality product at a competitive price that can only benefit you. Um, and so we, we have multiple stories similar to that where we've got large roofing companies that their reputation is everything and they're not going to be putting on a tin roof that's of inferior quality because the building industry has a pretty, uh, hard way of forgetting about stuff.
I've seen, you know, I'll speak to builders. Well, I speak to builders and they go, oh, you know, 15 years ago me on this one. I'm like 15 years ago, so they won't forget. Um, and so your reputation is, is everything. Yeah. So I think, yeah, having that point of difference, offering a quality product at a certain price point can only be beneficial. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was a, it was a great roofer and, um, yeah, I saw his name spring up the other day and it just reminded me when you were coming on the pod, but now the supply side of things, how have you grown your supply chain? What does that sort of look like? Could we talk through like maybe not delivery times, how the certainty behind that is where you deliver to who you're working with and how it kind of works.
Yeah. So the supply chain is quite large for, for roofing and cladding and the like, so obviously we've got our supplies that we've partnered with. Yeah. Uh, and then obviously we've got the role form is that supply the market is we go into a builder, they're not ordering, a coil directly off us, they're obviously ordering real form goods. So if I just touch on, I guess, our supplies, um, first, so we've had relationships with these suppliers for 25 and 45 years respectively. So South Korea and New Zealand, and they're on a world stage. They're class leading, um, South Korea does a lot of paint work for Samsung and LG, so their paint technology is incredible. So we've partnered with these two, um, mills that have ISO accreditation, um, and they, they work to a specific specification that we've given them.
So they make our product that we've asked them to make, and we have it independently tested quite regularly, which is important for us. because if we tested, obviously we, there might be some biases there, but we have it independently tested, um, by, uh, organizations such as the CS-IRO to make sure that the product that we've specified with that mill, yeah, correct. And talk that way, we the ability, I guess, well, the reliance on one supply is probably not ideal. . So thats why we've got dual supply and that held us in really good stead during COVID when, um, yeah, there was absolutely, there was, there was issues issues having that ability to, um, have that dual supply and, and mitigate that risk, uh, was great from a, for us.
Then obviously we've got, um, the role forming network. So that's the, the businesses that, uh, supply the market with your role Ateya, it wasn't easy trying to, break in to, to the,. in, to that market because, um. There's a lot of relationships and supply arrangements that have sort of kept out any players entering the market, but we did a lot of work to build the trust with certain role form is and supplies versa and supplies, A having that.
.
Yeah, it's really cool that we've got that ability to just have that extra hand in control. Yeah, absolutely. So I guess summing it all up, you know, really strong relationships with our suppliers that we've been dealing with for decades. They know the product that we want. They know what we're doing here in Australia and they work to give us steady supply. Even when there's been issues around, you know, on a world stage with shortages and wars and price fluctuations. Having that ability to lean on both suppliers and mitigate any risk and control price has been really good for us. And then obviously developing those relationships nationally here in Australia with the suppliers out into the marketplace.
You know what, I just wanted to make a point about South Korea if you don't mind. I know a gentleman named John Davis. He's one of the biggest supplier of steel chassis for modular building. Yep, stuff like that down on the Gold Coast being in the industry. Excuse me, John, I know you're going to be listening to this mate, but I reckon you. You've been in this for about 70 years. You're a legend. He's experienced. He's a legend of the industry. Everyone knows him in that space and we had him on the pot a couple of times. Everyone loves him. He's he's he's he's he's he].. He's he's he's he's he's hetalk to him. I guess where he gets it steal from. I'm going to say South Korea. Yeah, well, and you know what does independent testing.
He was the first man to launch a steel framing business in the US even though he's Australian. Years and years ago. So this is the breadth of experience and legendary tales of John Davis. But he's done all the research in the world. South Korea is where he gets it from and he spoke at length on our podcast. South Korea makes some exceptional products, not just stealing. I mean, you look at their mobile phones, you look at their TVs, you look at their cars. True. They lead the charge. And I would say the last decade or so, they really leapt forward in the quality and the technology and the innovation that they provide. Yeah.
Now, when you, you know, I kind of knew where the steel had come from, but it's everything that he's kind of, you know, was talking to us about. Very interesting. And even in the industry as a whole, I think, JC, if you don't mind me saying, and I'm not harping on about this. This point of, you know, bringing in product or whatever, but more and more builders are going over to China, for example, resource all other materials. I know very good builders that build high-end boutique, custom homes and commercial. They're over there in a five-story building. They're sending me pictures, we'll run a whole article on it, and they're getting their material supply from China and outsourcing it. Because they're going, yep, not only is it cheap and nasty, you know.
Phenomenal things like this, or anything you guys do, but they also have the highest end of the highest standards. Well, you've gottalk to not forget that because of their managment. Absolutely. I think there's a misconception in the marketplace, and I reckon it's slowly changing. We don't come up against it as much anymore. The misconception is that imported equals inferior, and it's not the case. Now, sure, yes, there is imported material, that is inferior. Of course there is. But if you're dealing with reputable mills that build to a certain specification that have advanced technologies, of course, it's going to be superior. Yeah. Absolutely. Very cool. Well, mate, the other thing I want to talk to you about, we've talked a little bit about it in the beginning, but you talked about how you guys mitigate risk with South Korea and New Zealand.
Do you you want to talk a little bit more about how you've seen builders do that with working with you guys?
I guess if we look at how a builder operates, they want price locked in for as long as possible. Some of these builders are signing up a contract and not building for six to 18 months. So for them, price is a really sensitive topic. And then also supply. So they want to make sure that one, they know what their pricing is going to be, but two, can I get the material? So we've had a lot of builders approach us and they've said that they want to maybe just have a discussion about what we can offer totalk themselves from any supply shocks that might come in the future. We're not going in and asking builders if they ve had a long relationship, and things are working. Working well that they should tear that up, but it's not what we're doing.
If things are working well, then that's fantastic. I think what we want to do is work in and say, well, how can we complement what's already working? How can we sort of slot in, start a conversation, and at least at the very minimum, you know who we are, what we're doing. And if you need to have a chat, we're open to it. I think it's just about that initial contact, about knowing that there is credible choice. And why wouldn't you risk it? I mean, if COVID was anything to go off, there was shortages across multiple products. I'm confident and I'm really proud to say that we didn't run out on any of our customers during that time. The way that our business... Yeah. You didn't. No, no. And I guess there was a number of factors.
There was a number of factors factors, obviously having the dual supply helped us. But then the way that we're set up is that we we've actually got months and months of stock holding nationally around the country. And so we hold stock based on historical usage, plus a little bit of a buffer for growth. !".
Like we had here in Queensland recently, we can lean on the other states that I guess use the stock in those states and we're buying steel each month. So we're replenishing that stock. So every month we've got a new boat that's arriving with stock on hand. We've got months and months of stock in the country. And then that way that sort of it just provides that security against supply shocks. I love it. I love it. I'm so glad that I re-asked that question, because I think we've gone on for another like benefit of working with you guys. So number one, you never ran out over COVID. I think 90% of the supply world did. We had builders coming to us saying, can you help out? Now obviously we needed to make sure that our regulars were looked after It's competitively priced, warranties are great, performance is great, quality is there and it's reliable.
Indycoat Coastal is then another product that we launched. So initially it was, I'm just going back, we had the standard range and then we spoke to the wider market and as we grew and as we started seeing what's the market wanting, is there any gaps in the market and what opportunities are there? We identified. Maybe there's an opportunity to provide a product that sperior to the likes of Colorbond Ultra. It was fortunate enough that the partners that we've aligned with overseas have thetalkability to produce a product that is superior. And you can just put it in Bondi Beach if you want. And it's on Bondi Beach. Absolutely. And what that does, it's got an enhanced coating on the steel to protect it from corrosive environments.
So that's our UniCote Coastal product. Our UniCote Lux product, which allowed us to enter that architectural space. It's stunning too. It's a gorgeous product and it's sort of unrivaled in the market really. There's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. From what the aesthetic provides, if you n to have that same finish, you'd need to use use the natural material. So UniCote Lux is our architectural range inspired by natural materials such as timber, zinc, copper, and brass. Now, those materials are beautiful. I love them, but they come with a lot of drawbacks. So for example, core 10 will rust and bleed and drop rust everywhere. And you got to worry about runoff. , Timbers obviously warp and crack in a combustible and you have to maintain them.
Zinc, copper and brass are quite prohibited from a cost point of view. Once they look fantastic, they're quite pricey. And there's also the specialized installation of those products. So we listened to the market and the market said we love these natural materials, but so many drawbacks, it's just, it's prohibitive to use them. So we then developed a range of UniCote Lux finishes to resemble these materials, but have the, I guess, the benefits on a pre-painted steel product. Wow. And to answer your question about new products launching, depending on when this comes out, we would have just launched our, our new range. So we've got seven new finishes that have just landed. There's a couple of timbers.
There's a brass, there's a couple of coppers in the Lux range. So initially we started the Lux range probably 10 years ago, and we sort of picked out a few patterns that we thought would do quite well. Now your weathered iron, your Cortan Red, the maple, the ashwood, they look great. And we've done a lot of projects in them, but we also had a few niche finishes in that range that probably looked cool at the time. But, you know, looking back, you sort of think, well, yeah, it's how do you use that? So is that disconnect there from the product and then how do we put that on a project? So we've launched, we listened to the market. We got the feedback from builders and architects and said, well, if you're going to launch new.
New And then UniCote Extreme Aluminium, which is our Marine grade 5000 series aluminium, which performs exceptionally well in marine environments. So UniCote Coastal is a is a painted steel product. It's great in marine environments. Obviously we've got a number of landmark projects and residential jobs on the water. But if you're looking for that extra next step in longevity and durability and warranty, then UniCote Extreme is the option for you. So aluminium doesn't succumb to red rust. So it can't can't corrode in that manner. And there's a number of different colours that we provide. So if you look at our product offer, we've really got a product or material for each individual need. Yeah, yeah.
And I love all your product offer, but I've got five names for you that I'm calling out right now that I want to check out the Luxpring because I've checked it out plenty of times. I love the brass and the colour like and I can see this on your build. Robin Andrew Greyer. Number one, the Greyer build build crew in Brisbane, who the most amazing architectural builds and iconic buildings in the world. Yep. You guys, if you're not working with UniCote, I'll give you Jase's contact. Please go and have a check. Yeah, yeah. Craig Stewart, Dwayne, Paul Construction, Stephen Vandwaal. You three should definitely check out that. This range rolls right down what you do and you guys build with a point of difference.
And you want to build architectural builds with a build of difference. Go and check. We'd love to. I can see your material on their builds and they always look at things better. How they design it different. How do they give it a different perspective? How do they give it a different aesthetic? But then what len what I love about those builders and there's a few more, which I'm going to send over to you actually, Jase. Just as you were talking, they'd gone through my head. The thing is what I love about those guys too, is they actually give a shit about what the material is like, how durable it is and how it will thiorm. And all of them have said to me, I don't want to build homes for seven years.
I want them to last a hundred. And if you want us to last a hundred, you work with materials that can last a hundred years. You need a quality product. And pretty much you guys have got the best, lasting, most durable product in that space in Australia. We do mate. I think it's wonderful. Check them out guys. You rattle off that list of builders. We'd talk the chance to get in front of them and show them some samples and have a look at s they're working on. Buyers roll around the countries. We work in with builders and we'll go in and we'll do a bit of a consultancy role for them and say, okay, well, what aesthetic are you trying to achieve? Because that's, I guess, one of the main things. And the next thing is what budget are you working to?
Because we would go to architects and builders and they'd say, we want VM zinc or we want copper. And you go, okay, beautiful. What budget are you working to? And then when you, I guess, push comes to shove. Okay. Well, I'd like a few more of those builders, please. They don't have a budget, but yes, sorry. Keep going, Jax. And when we spoke to these builders and architects and they wanted these natural materials and these natural finishes, didn't have the budget maybe at the start of the project, but then like anything costs blow out. And then the first thing to sort of. On the chopping board is, guess the nice finish outside. So now we've got the ability to say, well, you can still have that aesthetic.
You can still provide those beautiful natural finish colors, but at a more cost effective price point.
Yeah. Wow. Well, that's definitely a project that we'd love to be part of. May I'm going to put you in touch and I'll show you this project. Excellent. And I just look at it and I go like, you know, I don't want to go on about the good builder, but we're for the building industry and we care for the builders. Like let alone if we don't know you, we care for you. But the ones I do know, I really care for like, and they become friends. Yeah. And you look at them like, man, you've given me so much good builder. You told your story. You've given your experience and you're trying to be better. So whenever someone comes on like you, I'm always happy to introduce them and go, well, you've helped me.
Here's something that can help you. And I know what you're trying to achieve because I understand what you're doing. And I think this will give you a point of difference. Plus get you to where you want to be. Yeah, thank you. No problem at all. I think it's super cool, man. I can't wait to see some UniCote on a $50 million building. Brisbane, mate, I'll be sailing past every month. Taking bitches. That would..
.. So I think when you're doing a project that's not in a specific type of roof on there and it corrodes, the cost to replace that roof is significantly more than if you had to pay that little bit extra at the start to get the right material. So we always look at it as a case-by-case scenario because each project requires something bespoke. So what we recommend is if you're doing a project near the water or in any corrosive environment to reach out to us, we can get you written warranty confirmation back within 24 to 48 hours. And typically we will provide a UniCote Coastal warranty and a UniCote Extreme warranty and they can make that judgment. So they might get 25 years or 20 years with UniCote Coastal or 30 or 40 years with Cristal Extreme.
They can then look at the cost difference and say, yeah, you know what, I'm happy to spend a little bit extra. So it really depends on case-by-case project suitability.
Well, around here, it's playing airball. So yeah. So we do supply a lot up here. Wow. I've been picking the light crystals off my freaking aluminium door or whatever it is. I think it's rustic. Yes, and I live Mountain Creek. I'll put it out there on the pod, but I'm kind of maybe bleep that out. Yeah, I'm about five ks from Malulua. Az the Crowfrock flies. Yep. Still getting it all over the walls. Beautiful part of the world.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just because you're a K away from the water doesn't mean you're entirely safe. So we'll look at all the different factors and we'll see if there's a prevailing wind that's blowing a lot of salt into that specific location that recommend whatever material suitable for that environment. And I think that that's also something that can catch builders out is that they've been using product for forever in the day. And that's just what they use and they don't realize that probably incorrectly used where you are. So always reach out. Let us have a chat and see. Yeah. Yep. And have a chat about warranties and what we think would be suitable for that location. Love it. Well, talking about getting the right information, what are some of the misconceptions you see out there with prepainted steel out in the market that builders have?
I think we touched on some points earlier about the misconceptions about imported. So there's that misconception that imported stufftalk is no good. We know that that's not. I think there's also misconceptions in, I guess, when a builder renews an agreement, they don't actually review it. And so they might be looking at an arrangement that's not that ideally suited to them. Yeah. You know, if you're doing, yeah, I mean, when you're doing multiple homes, you know, if you're doing 50, 100, 150, 200, 300 plus small benefits, really compound. So I'd say they're some of the biggest misconceptions. Yeah. I would rather a supplier that can supply me and bump out my freaking build date by eight weeks.
Yep. Rather than a, I don't know, some sort of weird support or whatever I get provided, I would rather continuity of supply and knowing I can trust my supplier at a red hot price point because you're competitive in the market. Yeah. PETER You know, it's kind of like, why wouldn't you go for the right foundational, you know, things to keep you going? And that's what, yeah, what will I had you guys on because it's so like, it's trust in the end. Can I trust that brand, that supplier to deliver and all I hear in the market and every conversation I've had with you guys and all the people that deal with you guys has been, these guys deliver. They do the job. Well, we're a family owned business and we operate like a small.
Huge difference. It's nice. Like obviously we've got 150 odd staff nationally across the country. So we're not small, but we're run like a small family business. And that provides that trust and that level of service and that partnership to allow builders to continue building. One last point on misconceptions as well is we see in the market, let's say, for example, the matte finish. Yeah. It's a premium offer and sometimes there's a misconception that because it's a premium finish that you can use it right on the water. And the reality is that with some of our competitors, Matt finishes, they're not really suited to the next of the water. They're on a standard AM 100 substrate, which is great inland.
It's a fantastic product. But when you start getting into more aggressive environments, it's not really suitable. So we made the decision to offer our matte colors as standard on UniCote Coastal. So then that way, the matte and the premium finish is also backed up by a premium substrate. Yeah. Well, we're talking about premium and I have a couple more questions for you. You know, UniCote talks about being Australia's premium supplier and I truly believe you are. That's why we've got you on and been looking at you for years. And if I still had my building company, it would be UniCote. But you know, the word premium gets used a lot. What should it actually mean to a builder? Yeah, that's a great question.
So there's no doubt word premium does get thrown around here. It gets thrown around a lot. I think initially you've got to have a premium product. So that's the first thing. First and foremost, g product has to be a high quality product. But then I think the things thatthe factors that contribute to the word premium is in also around the reliability, the credibility, the technical advice, the ability for a builder to get someone on the phone if challenges arise on site. They all contribute to a premium experience. So you've got to have a premium product and then couple that with a premium experience for that customer. And that's what creates trust. That's what creates loyalty. I should just get out of this chair, mate.
I think you should do the good builder. That is everything that we preach at Good Builder from a good builder's perspective. That's what we want our builders to do. Offer a premium building solution and product, and then a premium service and really give a crap about your customers.. And then you've got a premium offer to the market. Yeah, it's a premium outcome. I think you've set it up beautifully, mate. And that's why the word premium, as we said, people are just throwing it. It's a marketing word for something. Yeah, premium material. So show me what constitutes premium in your eyes because from the points that I discussed before, that's what we offer. And I guess that's why we have loyal partnerships with builders because?
They value that premium service that we provide. That northern metal roofing gentleman that I was talking about, he name nearly got on the tip of my tongue. And I had so much respect, as I said, for this guy. That was what he said to us. I was consulting for a different brand and just having to chat into different roofers. Not we, not me, but they were trying to get different roofers on it. And he said, I'll never leave them no matter what was thrown at him. And I found that fascinating because what was being thrown at him would have been pretty lucrative. Pretty substantial. He was like, no matter what you throw at me, you could throw me a million bucks. I'm not doing it. He's not the first.
He's not the first. And we come up against that every day. Like there's, there's relationships that we've developed with customers and they've got. The competitors knocking on their door and you know, dangling some pretty. Arrangements. Yeah. Carrots. But I, you know, it's a testament to the service that we provide to the marketplace and it's obviously valued, which is, which is great to say. Valued beyond what you think. Like I was, that was one meeting I sat in and albeit I love your material. If I was him and he's an, he was a fairly young fellow at the time. But he was flying along. Right. I would have,. Would have put my ears up and I would have gone build me a website. You're But he was like, Hey, I like you guys and get out now.
That was basically. Yeah. Well, there's no doubt that when an attractive offer comes along, it's you'd consider it. Sure. But then. Well, what, what, what, what, what? I think, well, I think the compliment also goes to you, the Gregory's selection Yeah.
Because he did that because of . that they're probably making at the time if not the whole life and like anything on site there's always challenges that arise its ability. It's ability to communicate to the client. communicate to the supplies. So we really value communication with our partners. So I think that's one, one thing that makes a really good builder. The other thing is, is the passion having a passion to deliver a beautiful It's not like, OK, OK, we'll just step up this house and move on. It's you you're creating the families that buy these homes. They're creating their, they're growing their kids up. They've got massive life moments that happening in these homes. And so you want to have a builder that's passionate and then obviously doing things when no one can see short, a beautiful facade with lovely cladding and a nice kitchen is going to bedazzle you and wow you.
But it's the things that potentially the customer doesn't see that I think creates that builder. And I think ultimately it's a builder that gives a damn. And I think that makes a builder. And they're the builders that we like dealing with. Man, that was one of the coolest answers I've ever had on here. You talk so holistically about what makes a good builder. You talked about personality traits. You talked about the technical aspect of being a good You know, when nobody's watching, you're making suretalking about you're making sure you're making the right selection material. You're making sure that you're, you know, doing your trusses right. The reason that's in my head was I was out with a roofer yesterday and the trusses weren't right.
But anyway, you know, you're making sure that all those are right before the sheets go on the roof. Of course. I don't want to talk about, I think you broke it down really. Nicely to technical aspects, the integrity of things and also the personal. And I think, the gentleman from Northern Metal Roofing, because now I'm hell-bent on getting him on. And I know I can call them and I'll get him on the integrity side. That's what that showed me. Because he wasn't a roofer that was, you know, shut down in his brain of we always have done it this way. We're only doing it], He was a roofer that actually had a really open mind. went through, did all that work behind the scenes. Like you said, about a good builder, all the stuff that you do when nobody's and then made the best decision for his customer.
And that was very cool. And then that brings on the integrity with you guys and how you've handled that relationship. Yeah. Oh, man. Absolutely. Can use the drop-head, mate. I'm so happy that I've had you on, Jace. Thanks, as I've appreciated the time and it's always nice to have a chat about how the market or the industry works. There's a lot of misconceptions out there. And at the end of the day, it's just exciting what we're doing, what we're building. And we really? We would love to have a chat with you if you're doing a project, you're a volume builder, if you're an architect, whatever you are, you're doing a project. We'd love to have a chat and see how we might be able to help. Yeah. Well, I've at least got five builders.
We've already come in your way, mate. Excellent. Thank you. I'll send over more. And I'm sure all the bill there. Please, we're going to put all the details below of Jason. Oh, maybe not Jason, because he might be in on data. We'll talk to Jason to find out, but we're going to put the website details, all the project links. Go and check those out. Yep. Blow your freaking mind. I tell you, if you have a look at it, you'll see it'll click for you. And yeah, we'll put all the, how they can get in touch with you, Jason. Thank you. I'm really passionate about not only put out some entertainment through our podcast and education, but more so good people working with good people.
Thank you. Do a freaking legend, man. Thanks, guys.