What Saved This Builder? Hiring “Dead Wood” vs. Brave Leadership (With Simone)

Crystal sits down with Simone (Majority Shareholder) and Brooke (Operations Manager) from Core Refurbishments, a company specializing only in retirement living refurbishments . Simone shares her raw, vulnerable journey from taking over the business to facing imminent closure just 12 months ago, when she was losing “hundreds of thousands of dollars a month” and felt hopeless.

They discuss the pivotal moments that turned everything around: the “brave” decision to get builder-specific coaching, firing “dead wood” staff , hiring Brooke as a key operational leader , and finally implementing proper margins. This is a powerful story of resilience, honesty (“the numbers don’t lie” ), and the strategic decisions that resulted in a massive shift to profitability, rapid client growth from 1 to 7 , and a major contract to expand interstate.

🕒 Timestamped Key Points

• [01:24] Niche: Refurbishments only in retirement living
• [03:36] 12 months ago: “looking at shutting the doors”
• [03:46] The low point: In tears, “I can’t do this anymore”
• [04:22] Coach’s advice: “get rid of your dead wood”
• [04:29] First change made: Hiring an Operations Manager
• [06:48] Being “brave”: Firing staff & fixing margins
• [07:07] The payoff: A 12-month QLD expansion contract
• [07:40] Rapid client growth: 1 to 7 in four months
• [07:56] The turnaround: From losing $100k+ monthly to profit
• [09:17] The hard truth: “Simone, the numbers don’t lie”