Case Study: Dash Build

SUMMARY

A high-end residential construction company with 60 employees across five businesses needed to turn great builders into great leaders. The PX3 online learning system keeps everyone focused and accountable, and the business owner says there has been exponential growth since beginning working with EXCC.

BACKGROUND

Scott Yearbury, Director of Dash Build, established Dash Build in 2017. The main target areas are Waiheke Island and North Auckland, and Dash Build will soon expand into New Plymouth. 

Scott encountered on-going problems with sub-contractors – something he can ill afford with his high-end residential clients, who demand the very best. 

To regain control over quality, scheduling, costs, and availability, Scott founded four other businesses in 2021 to tidy up the supply chain. EXCC has been working with all these businesses, as well as Dash Build:

• Weke Infrastructure: Earthmoving, haulage, and logistics.
• Weke Electrical Co: Top-end residential electrical, home automation, audio – and solar installations soon, too.
• Weke Scaffolding: Industrial access solutions, including shrink wrap, temporary structures, shore loading, and scaffolding.
• Yardsman: An importing sales company, e.g. for scaffolding and safety fencing, as well as any temporary supply solutions.

These companies primarily supply Dash Build, but also other clients. The key objective is to ensure that Dash Build has the strongest foothold in the top-end residential building market. 

There are a total of nearly 60 employees working across all five businesses, which are growing and expanding at a rapid rate. Scotty is responsible for the management and growth of all businesses, and creating structures so each business can run independently. Scott is supported by Craig (General Manager), Lochie (Scaffolding), Dylan (Electrical) Lauren, La and the rest of the admin team, and site managers – many of whom have come from a building background.

THE PROBLEM

The key challenge was around developing leaders. Says Scott: “We had amazing guys and such a good culture already, but we’d put all these good builders into roles where they’re managing a team of eight or nine people. I am still learning to manage people myself, and teaching that to others is a whole different game.

“At Dash Build, not only do we believe in delivering top end work, but we also believe in up-skilling and growing our people. Therefore we felt it was important to back our site managers by providing them with the support and services available to us, and making the management journey something to enjoy whilst keeping our strong team culture alive.”

THE SOLUTION

Scott met Jason of EXCC at the NZ Certified Builders’ Conference. Scott says: “The session was quite involved and everything that we talked through was all so true, I could really relate to what Jason was talking about. It was a very inspiring workshop. He did a really good job of opening everyone up and making people feel comfortable.

“The part around leadership really spoke to me. I’d already been trying to grow the managers and crew in our businesses, but what Jason was offering was next level. It was on-point and just what I needed, so I decided to engage EXCC.

“I must admit I was a little bit apprehensive about working with coaches, as I didn’t really know what to expect. We went from attending a session at a conference, to a 90-day programme, to signing up for another year.

“It’s turned out to be really awesome and I don’t regret a single thing that we’ve done with him. And being able to call on Jason and Grant to help and inspire me across all my businesses is really cool.

“The whole team’s taken to working with Jason and Grant. Some of the lads had their guard up at the beginning, but they’ve definitely warmed up. Grant and Jason definitely have really good rapport with all the site managers. They’ve now done a bit of work with the whole crew, and I can see that after a few more sessions things will be even more solid.”

OUTCOMES

The coaches are an extended part of the crew

“My favourite part of working with EXCC is knowing that they’re an extended part of the crew, and part of the culture we’ve been trying to grow. It’s really cool that any of our site managers and everyone who’s involved knows they can reach out to the EXCC coaches if they’re in a tricky spot and can’t get hold of me or are needing some additional guidance and advice.”

“They’ve really gone above and beyond for us. For example, we were trying to work out some branding decisions and ended up ringing Grant at five o’clock on a Friday night for some guidance, and he was so happy to help, even though he’d already knocked off work for the week. 

“Both Grant and Jason are fully engaged with what we’re doing. It’s cool being able to bounce ideas back and forth, and I don’t think there are many coaches who you can call at any hour and just talk about whatever drama is going on and know that you’re going to get some really sound advice. Any of our crew, whether they’re in the office or any of the sites, can ring Grant and Jason if they get stuck with anything. And I know that whatever’s going to be said is going to be helpful.

“We were really lucky to have found these guys. Having this kind of help is like another line of defence to make sure that an already hard job is a little bit easier.”

The PX3 online learning system keeps the team focused on their development

“The PX3 online learning system is really cool. The team’s really enjoying it, it keeps them focused, and everyone finds the follow-ups and reminders really helpful. It starts the discussions all over again, which solidifies what we’ve learnt. In such a busy company, where we’re all a little bit overworked with the kinds of roles and responsibilities we’ve all got, it’s holding everything together. We can hold the team accountable and see what they need to do, or if they’ve missed a meeting. 

“It’s also been a platform for helping our leading hands manage the participation of all their site managers. We even incentivised their participation with a prize. By having the leading hands step up, the site managers feel better supported, and it’s the PX3 system that’s enabled all that.”

Improved communications with Extended DISC

“Extended DISC was new to me – I never even knew that there was a framework for personality types and communication. I knew that you had to change how you talk to different people, but didn’t realise there was an art to it, and that you could prepare for a conversation instead of just going into it.

“The whole team had their Extended DISC profiles done, and when Jason debriefed the team and gave everyone their reports, it was quite an eye opener. A few of the lads said, ‘no, that’s not me’, but everyone else said, ‘mate, you’re 100% like that’ – it was really cool, and the results made perfect sense. It was a great eye-opening bonding experience with the whole team.

“Extended DISC taught me to change my perspective on how to deal with certain situations, how to deal with different personality types, and how to best communicate with them. Extended DISC has helped everybody, from site managers to apprentices. It gets us all on the same wave length. It’s awesome.”

Clearly defined values help with internal and external communication

“Working on our values with EXCC was really good. We’ve had issues where employees haven’t been playing ball, and don’t understand what you’re trying to get them to do. We can now pull them back and go through all the values, and where we’re going as a company, and where their behaviour isn’t aligning. We’re not directly calling them out, and this method is so much stronger. They either step up or they eliminate themselves pretty quickly after that.

“We also go through our values with our clients so they can qualify or disqualify themselves. For example, we won’t waiver on our values or integrity, so if they want us to do that, they’re better off finding another builder. 

“By talking about our values, it often turns a conversation around, and people align with our way of thinking, because it resonates with them too.”

Exponential growth

“We’ve learned to deal with people in the right way, instead of beating your head on the wall and blaming it all on them. We’re taking more responsibility for the way we work and communicate. We’re working towards a common goal without butting heads on minute details. Compared to where we were 12 months ago, there’s been exponential growth.

“The initial 90-day programme went really fast. Myself, and all the leaders in the companies, learnt a lot of things, and we weren’t sure they’d really sunk in. But when the time came to put the things in practice, for example on a sales call, it all came back to us. And we’d notice each other using the techniques we’d learnt, even if we didn’t notice it ourselves. Looking back, we saw a whole load of growth in those 90 days: both personally and in our leadership skills. We’re definitely operating a couple of clicks higher than before we started the programme.

“I really rate what Jason and Grant are doing, what they’re putting out, how they’re customising it, and how they’re delivering it. I really rate the value they provide. I’d definitely recommend EXCC, and have already put him in touch with quite a few people.”

If you’d like to find out more about working with EXCC, please contact us.