Why “Word Of Mouth” Is A Dangerous Construction Business Model

Marti sits down with Nick Avery from Avery Construction, a Victoria-based building company specializing in high-end architectural new builds ($2M–$4M+). Nick shares his journey from starting out “flying by the seat of his pants” after being denied a pay rise, to running a sophisticated operation that no longer relies on hope marketing.

They discuss the massive bottleneck of estimating complex jobs and how Nick reduced his quoting time from 50 hours down to just 10 hours using a Quantity Surveyor (QS). Nick also reveals why he stopped relying on “word of mouth” and proactively targeted 25 local architects, and how implementing a “Default Diary” stopped the daily chaos of being “available all the time.”

🕒 Timestamped Key Points

• [02:29] Starting the business after being denied a pay rise
• [08:40] Why staying in the office stops “lag” on site
• [12:00] Current margins: 22% markup vs 12.5-15% cost plus
• [13:05] Why 95% “word of mouth” is a bad business model
• [13:35] The strategy: Sending “Wow Packs” to 25 local architects
• [15:51] Cutting quoting time from 50 hours to 10 hours using a QS
• [16:30] The value of a QS report labeled “A to Z”
• [19:25] Advice for stuck builders: “Be a sponge”

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