Episode 78: Transforming A Building Company Overnight With Keiron Moore

Professional Builders Secrets brings you an exclusive episode with Keiron Moore, owner of CKS Projects based in the South Coast of NSW, Australia. Throughout this episode, Keiron shares his experience transforming CKS Projects, and delves into the impact working with APB’s coaches had on him, and his approach to branding, marketing, and sales in his business.

Episode 78: Transforming A Building Company Overnight With Keiron Moore

Show Notes

Transcript

Inside episode 78 you will discover

How Keiron took the leap to start his own building company
When he realised he needed some structure and how he discovered APB
The impact coaching had on him and his business
Keirons new approach to branding, marketing, and sales and why clarity is essential when running a building company
And much, much more.

Listen to the full episode to learn how you can transform your building company with the help of APB’s coaching and understand the importance of having a clear path laid out for your business to grow safely and securely.

Keiron Moore - Owner of CKS Projects

Keiron Moore is the owner & managing director of CKS Projects, specialising in luxury custom home builds in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions on the NSW South Coast. CKS Projects is a boutique small family operated design and construct company targeting new custom home builds for people in their local community and has been operating for over 7 years.

Connect with Keiron

Timeline

1:24 About Keiron and CKS Projects

6:17 When Keiron realised he needed structure and how APB helped

16:10 Keiron’s new approach to branding, marking and sales

17:46 Why it’s hard for building company owners to change their ways

19:10 Why clarity is essential when running a building business

21:24 The main contributing factor to the growth of CKS Projects

Links, Resources & More

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Keiron Moore:

I just didn't want to be one of those builders who is tied to the desk more than eight hours a day.

Keiron Moore:

I always considered myself a bit of a numbers guy, but I soon learnt that I wasn't across my numbers as much as I should have been.

Keiron Moore:

I was definitely naive, thinking as long as there's money in the bank account, we're doing okay.

Keiron Moore:

I wanted to grow the business, but not in a way where I had to be doing everything.

Keiron Moore:

My main aim is to be able to step back from the day-to-day running of the business and focus more on the business as a whole. That's something that the Association of Professional Builders (APB) has definitely taught me.

Bosco Anthony:

We've got another exciting episode from the Professional Builder Secrets podcast. Joining us today is Keiron Moore, Managing Director and owner of CKS Projects, Australia. Keiron, welcome to the show.

Keiron Moore:

Hi, Bosco. Thanks for having me today. I'm really excited to chat with you.

Bosco Anthony:

We're excited to have you as well, my friend. So, tell us a little bit about how you got started and your journey as a builder, and what CKS specialises in. I'm throwing you three questions all in one go.

Keiron Moore:

That's okay. We're a small boutique custom home building company here in the Illawarra Region, which is on the New South Wales South Coast [Australia]. We have a staff of seven people, including myself. So I think the second question you asked was, so how did we get started on our journey?

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah.

Keiron Moore:

Well, Bosco, going right back to high school, I loved woodwork and making things with my hands. I remember in the school holidays I used to go and work with my cousin, who had a commercial building business doing commercial fitouts, mainly large leagues clubs and that kind of thing. I would just basically tag along, labouring and doing what I could to help, probably just getting in their way, looking back now, but I really enjoyed being in that building environment. So from there when I was old enough, they offered me an apprenticeship, which I was lucky enough to get, and I completed the apprenticeship working on commercial building sites.

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you've been in the space for a while and it sounds like you organically just fell in love with this particular career.

Keiron Moore:

Yeah. That's true. I have been around for a while. I’ve been in the industry for a while. I think I’m going on to my 27th or 28th year now, and I still love it.

Bosco Anthony:

When did you decide to start your own building company? Tell me a little bit about your mindset going into this new daunting adventure where you're no longer working for someone and you're doing it for yourself. What did it take for you to take that next step?

Keiron Moore:

I guess in my senior years, being an apprentice, working in those large commercial sites and working with bigger builders, I was around site foremen all the time and dealing with site managers, and I remember just looking at them when I was younger, thinking, "Wow. I want to be that guy on site." So, that really entrenched in me that I wanted to get into running my own business one day. Then I guess I just set the task going forward. I finished my trade and I went on to do my builder's licence course and also a diploma in project management.

Keiron Moore:

From there, that led me into the management side on commercial building sites. So I got to start as a sub-foreman, which is I guess which is one step under running the site. As the years progressed, I then got the opportunity to become a foreman, and then I moved onto higher-level management as a project manager. I did that for 10 years, and that really gave me the experience to see how a large building company operates, and I really enjoyed that. For about a decade I was doing that.

Keiron Moore:

But I think the time came when I was starting to get a bit bored Bosco, and I knew I had to venture out and start my own journey, and that's when CKS projects was born. When I started the building company, it was me and my father-in-law, and actually my brother-in-law was involved as well, and we were just doing small townhouse developments and spec building for ourselves. That was around 2014. Working on these types of buildings, I was working on waterfront and high exposure sites, and I started to get clients or people just coming past and asking me if I could quote on their home that they were looking at starting, and that's really where the company took off, and that was around 2016.

Bosco Anthony:

So tell me a little bit about your ambitions with your building business, and perhaps we'll cover the era before you met APB. What were some of those ambitions and what are your ambitions today as far as your building business as well?

Keiron Moore:

I'm a very all or nothing guy, Bosco, and you could say I was probably too ambitious with thinking I could build everything at the start. So coming from that commercial background and then starting a residential building company, I guess at the start, I thought I could do it all. I could build a commercial building, I could do industrial buildings, I could do residential. So I was very ambitious when I was younger in my business years.

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah. You said you were very ambitious, you wanted to take on more projects. Tell me a little bit about at what point did you realise that you needed to have some structure? Was it the fact that there was just a lot going on at the same time? Did you just bite off more than you could chew?

Keiron Moore:

Yeah. I just didn't want to be one of those builders who is tied to the desk more than eight hours a day, working during the day, coming home, quoting at night. It's all too common with builders these days. That's just how they run their businesses, particularly with small builders. They're on the tools during the day and coming home and spending their nights quoting and doing the management side of things. So not wanting to do that, having a young family, I knew that just wasn't going to work for my lifestyle. I definitely wanted to have a good work life balance. So that was the real awakening for me. I knew that I wanted change and wanted to do things differently. I guess I started researching and looking at ways I could improve myself or improve the business.

Bosco Anthony:

So tell me, how did you discover APB? Was it at a critical stage in your business career? What were you looking for at the time?

Keiron Moore:

It was around March last year. We'd just been through the worst of COVID, and I was at a stage where I wanted to grow the business, but not in a way where I had to be doing everything, wearing all the hats, as I say. So as we all do, I started Googling to try and find the answer, and I came across some advertising for APB, and at first I sat in the background just following their social media and email campaigns for a few months. Then I saw a familiar name of a person who was a member of APB, and I started researching and seeing what success they were having. And I think for me, that was the catalyst. I thought, "Okay. I'll take that leap and join APB," and never looked back.

Bosco Anthony:

And what's it been like working with APB? What have you noticed about yourself and your business as well in the time that you’ve been working with them?

Keiron Moore:

Look, it's been great. It's definitely been a real eyeopener. As I said before, with me being an all or nothing guy, once I became a member and then I heard they had a Private Mentoring program, I knew this was the right choice; just what I needed. I needed some accountability to follow their programs and their systems. So like I said, all or nothing. So I joined APB, and then I also joined their Private Mentoring program, and that was a real game changer for me. I'm a pretty impatient person, naturally, my wife will tell me anyway. So I just wanted to make sure that if I was going to go down this path, I wanted to do it right the first time.

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you've transformed your business working with APB. Tell us a little bit about how you may have transformed your business since you started working with them.

Keiron Moore:

I feel like we've transformed a lot in such a short time period. So prior to APB, we had no marketing at all, zero. So now we have a marketing strategy. We’ve created social media accounts: we've got Instagram, Facebook, a website and LinkedIn accounts. We even have our own YouTube channel now where I do monthly video blogs. So yeah, this was all very fine to me. I wasn't a very tech-savvy guy; I was more from the school of hard knocks. When I did my apprenticeship, there was no such thing as a mobile phone, and the internet was very new. Social media didn't exist, so that itself has really transformed the business. Just prior to APB, we didn't have any of those things. So that's been a game changer for us for sure, just getting our brand out there.

Keiron Moore:

Also equally important is financially we have a clearer path forward on what gross profit and what net margins we should have. We have better financial reporting every month by doing and knowing our current liabilities every month, and revenue forecasting, and particularly watching our overhead costs to make sure they're in line with the revenue. I didn't know any of this information prior to APB. So they’ve been massive changes. We've also developed a company vision statement and some core values. So that's also been very important for us moving forward.

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you've really transformed your building company overnight with all these different teachings. I'm familiar with a lot of these concepts because we've had a lot of them brought onto the podcast as well. So I'm smiling internally because you've just listed about seven or eight different things that we've covered in past episodes that you've gone through. So it sounds like you've had some quick wins and some fast transformation as well.

Keiron Moore:

Yeah, I like to think so. I've certainly immersed myself into the APB world. I'm definitely a big fan of the podcast. I don't think I've ever missed one episode, Bosco.

Bosco Anthony:

I'll take that as a compliment, my man. We've had a few seasons of it. But let's start off with some technology. You talked a little bit about marketing and vision statements. What type of technology are you using today? You talked about the fact that there was a time and era where social media didn't exist, so how did you go from that to all of a sudden now looking at CRMs and systems like that?

Keiron Moore:

Yeah, definitely. Look, like I said, I never considered myself to be a super tech-savvy guy, but I could see these younger builders coming through the ranks and having these great social media accounts. And for us, not even having one, I was like one of those old school builders where we thought a referral was all we needed to get by. But I soon learnt very fast that it's not very good to rely on that or to put all your eggs in one basket. That's essentially what I was doing. So as well as all the social media accounts, now we've introduced some project management software that manages our budgets and also keeps clients informed of progress and scheduling in contractor management.

Bosco Anthony:

But you've become really proactive in everything you're doing. It sounds like with your communication, your marketing and your technology, you've gone from a reactive business to a very proactive business.

Keiron Moore:

Yes, 100%. Before APB, I didn't know what a CRM system was, and we've now got a CRM system implemented and we're using it to track any new inquiries and nurture our leads. And with email marketing campaigns, it's just amazing. We're also using overseas virtual assistants to help out with admin tasks, copywriting, 3D rendering, you name it. We've really implemented a lot of things fast and we're just seeing the changes happen.

Bosco Anthony:

You weren't kidding about going all or nothing.

Keiron Moore:

Yes. I wasn't kidding. I think I'm getting a bit of a name for myself in APB: “Mr Implementation,” I've been told.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, I'm sure that's coming from one of the coaches, that's for sure. Tell me a little bit about some of the critical impacts. You've obviously done all these things. You're seeing a lot of activity happening. If you think about quick results or quick wins, can you tell us a little bit about where you're seeing the most positive impacts today for your business?

Keiron Moore:

Yeah. I would say the most critical or positive impact is definitely in the financial side of things. That was the biggest one for me. I always considered myself a bit of a numbers guy, but I soon learnt that I wasn't across my numbers as much as I should have been. So knowing my numbers and being able to benchmark them to industry standards was massive because I didn't even know what the industry standards really were until APB explained and showed what they should be. I was definitely naïve, thinking as long as there's money in the bank account, we're doing okay. I mean, that's important. Don't get me wrong – there are so many other metrics involved, and to truly see how we're operating monthly, quarterly and even yearly has probably the main critical impact.

Keiron Moore:

And then also niching, getting a clearer direction for the business moving forward, setting quarterly, one year and three year targets. Just having a business plan and tracking our progress against it was a big improvement. Like I said, when I first started the business, I thought I could do it all, in commercial, residential and industrial. But now we are specifically niching the high-end custom home new builds, and that's the market we want to be in. So that's the market we're really focusing on at the moment.

Bosco Anthony:

How have you approached your marketing and sales specifically? You talked a little bit about revenue, and typically, that associates itself to pipeline perhaps, or your CRM as well. So how have you approached your branding and your marketing and sales? Your website looks really clean and fresh as well, I can see from the research I’ve done on it.

Keiron Moore:

Yeah, thanks for that. I appreciate that comment. Well, firstly, after joining the private mentoring group and working with my executive coach, Jacob, I quickly realised we had no marketing. It just didn't exist. So that was one of the first things that we knew we had to work on. So like I said, I was a bit off. I thought that word of mouth or referral was how everyone was doing marketing, but as I said, that was definitely wrong. So with the help of APB and their rewards partners, I used Smarter Websites and we engaged them to build us a new high-converting website based on APB’s model. It's been a real game changer for us, Bosco. Just having a site that we can refer people to rather than going through the spiel of trying to sell ourselves to every new potential client has been great for us.

Keiron Moore:

But in addition to that, we've started Instagram and Facebook accounts, and then later on we joined the world of LinkedIn, which we are still just navigating, and we're in our early days with the LinkedIn side of things. We’re just really focusing on building up our social channels and getting our brand more known, letting people know what we do and what we're about.

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you took a leap and you jumped all in, and it sounds like it takes a lot of what some people would call bravery; it takes a lot of courage to say, "Hey, I'm going to put myself out there, I'm going to invest in myself, in these systems and in the coaching." Why do you think it's so challenging for building company owners to change their ways or to take that leap? Is it more fear that you have to conquer or is it just that your role is isolating and you don't have a lot of people to talk to?

Keiron Moore:

All the above.

Bosco Anthony:

You can tell I've been hanging out with way too many builders.

Keiron Moore:

You have. Fear is definitely something I feel that a lot of builders face. You don't know what you don't know. Most building company owners come from a trade background and the education we receive is more focused on the product, not so much running a business. I also don't think the principle of building has changed much, if at all in my time. There's certainly new material technology that's evolving, but other than that, I feel there needs to be more education on running a successful building company like APB delivers. So yeah, I definitely feel that's the challenge for most builders out there.

Bosco Anthony:

So Keiron, tell me a little bit about why clarity is so important when it comes to running a building business?

Keiron Moore:

Clarity – I feel making informed decisions and data driven decisions rather than emotional decisions has been the most important for me.

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you've been empowered to make those decisions now, and you make them a lot better and more confidently as well from what you’re saying.

Keiron Moore:

Yeah, definitely. Mindset's been a huge thing for me also: just having a good frame of mind and having a clear direction for where I want to be. Having that business plan that I can keep going back to and having that focus to strive for those milestones that I've set for myself have been so important.

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you've built a roadmap now that you can refer to. So here's a question for you. You talked a little bit about when you first got in there, you had all these different ambitions and you had all these different directions. But I've got a question now that you've got this clarity, now that you've got this roadmap and you seem really motivated with the direction you're going and it seems to be pretty focused. What do you think you're transitioning your business into today? Where's your business going? Where do you think it is? Because it sounds like you've got a new vision now.

Keiron Moore:

Yeah, definitely I have. Hopefully, as it's only early days for me with APB, my main aim is to be able to step back from the day-to-day running of the business and focus more on the business as a whole, now working on my business rather than in it. That's something that APB has definitely taught me. Having more flexibility for the business to operate seamlessly in my absence, being able to have some time away, spend some time with family or go on a vacation and just knowing that the company can survive without me. So that's definitely where it's transitioning into at the moment, and that's certainly a big goal that I'm striving towards. I haven't quite got there yet, but like I said, it's only early days and I feel if I continue on the trajectory I am, I'm sure I'll get there.

Bosco Anthony:

So if you had to look at your overall success factor so far and the reason for your immense growth as well, what do you think that would look like? What's the main contributing factor that's causing all of this to happen?

Keiron Moore:

That’s a good question. Obviously joining APB has been the overall success factor for me. Part of that is having that support network of other members also, being able to swap stories and issues that we're currently facing, especially as the last two years have been pretty tumultuous in the industry as we all know. Getting that help from other builders, which was obviously foreign to me before APB, has been part of that success factor. It can be a lonely place sometimes running a building company.

Keiron Moore:

I also think equally important is being in the right mindset, wanting to make these changes and actually implementing the things that I'm learning along the way. It's one thing to learn, but it's another ball game to actually implement. So I feel that's been my success so far. Then also knowing my true financial position at any given point, like tracking and constantly monitoring my financial KPIs and having the tools that the Private Mentoring program has developed for the members is helping me grow for sure.

Bosco Anthony:

So what are you seeing as a trend right now in the industry as a builder? You talked about a challenging two years, and you talked about finding comfort in talking to other builders as well, but what are you seeing – positive or negative – as a trend in the industry right now?

Keiron Moore:

I'm a very positive guy, so I'm definitely only going to give you positives, but obviously I'm seeing that the social media side of things has become very popular in the building industry. It's certainly taken over, and so if you can't beat them, you’ve got to join them. But on a building side of things, talking about the project sort of things, in my particular market, I'm seeing swimming pools have definitely come back in. A few years ago, the projects that would've come across my desk didn't really have pools in them, but almost every project that comes across my desk now has a swimming pool. So that's certainly a trend that's come back in, I guess in the last few years.

Keiron Moore:

I know green living is also starting to get more popular with the rising cost of utilities and more people are now installing solar and having that battery storage system. That's definitely on trend. And another thing that we use in a lot of our houses is home automation. So it's become popular, especially in a very short time. You can pretty much run your house from your mobile phone now, Bosco.

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah. There's an app for everything, isn't there?

Keiron Moore:

There is. I think, it might be in my lifetime, but I think definitely 3D printed homes will be a thing of the future. They're doing it now, but it’s probably not as economical as it can be or will be. But I'm sure that will definitely take a fair chunk of the market in the future.

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah. I think I just saw a video of a robot that was working on site through artificial intelligence and robotics to actually do some construction work. This robot was lifting things and going up the stairs and coming down, and I was thinking, "Oh my God, this industry is changing rapidly."

Keiron Moore:

That sounds great. That means no more sick days.

Bosco Anthony:

No more sick days. Yeah. Well, listen, I could talk to you about innovation all day long, but for the sake of time, I'll ask you one last question. It really goes back to the heartbeat of this transformation for you, and that is, what have you learnt about yourself during this entire quick transformation process? So much change has happened for your business, which I'm really excited for, but if you look back now, what have you learnt about yourself?

Keiron Moore:

Yeah. I guess, I've learnt how determined I am to make changes for the better. I do love building and design, and that's why I got into the building business originally. Like I said, I think for 27 or 28 years I've been in the trade or in the building arena, and I'm still wanting to absorb more to improve myself and my customers’ journey as well. That's definitely what I've learnt about myself: how determined and focused I am.

Bosco Anthony:

Do you feel that's really what's fuelling you every day to embrace all this change and not shake your head with fear?

Keiron Moore:

Yeah, definitely. Fear is something that, like I said, we all have in some shape or form, but for me, my fear was failure. The fear of failure has always been there for me. I've always been a high achiever. So I guess at the start, if you don't improve or grow, there's less fear because there's less to lose. But just changing my mindset and staying focused have definitely been the best things for me.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, Keiron, I really appreciate your honesty and your candid insights on your story as well. Thank you for telling us your story as well, and we look forward to bringing you back as your systems and transformations create an even bigger ripple. We’re wishing you all the success in your journey and we'd love to have you back again in the future.

Keiron Moore:

Thanks, Bosco. It was a pleasure. Thanks for talking to me today.

Bosco Anthony:

Cheers, mate.

Keiron Moore:

Cheers, mate.

Bosco Anthony:

Thank you for listening. Remember to subscribe to Professional Builders Secrets on your favourite podcast platform and leave a review. To learn more about how the systems at APB can help you grow your building company, visit associationofprofessionalbuilders.com. See you next time.

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