Jimmy Talks
Jimmy Talks
Podcast Description
The Jimmy Talks Podcast dives into unfiltered chats with business owners, operators, and industry movers—sharing raw stories, lessons learned, and the stuff most people don’t talk about.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a range of topics centered around entrepreneurship, leadership challenges, and industry-specific experiences, with episodes detailing stories of overcoming adversity, lessons learned in business, and the hidden realities of running a company.
Jimmy Talks Construction is an Australian construction podcast focused on real conversations with builders, contractors, tradies, and business owners across the construction industry.
Each episode dives into construction business growth, civil construction, earthmoving, excavation, leadership on site, hiring subcontractors, scaling trade businesses, and the real challenges of running a construction company in Australia.
From infrastructure projects and heavy machinery to cash flow, management, and lessons learned the hard way, this podcast shares honest insights from people building successful construction businesses from the ground up.
In Episode 51 of Jimmy Talks Construction, Jimmy sits down with Garath Vella from Lorden Vella to talk about the real business of building: margins, risk, hiring, subbies, COVID, cash flow, and what it actually takes to start and grow a construction company in Melbourne.
Garath shares his path from plumbing, site supervision and project management into co-founding Lorden Vella during one of the most unstable periods the construction industry has seen. He opens up about starting with no work lined up, navigating COVID, dealing with shut-down businesses, and building a company from the ground up.
This episode digs into why builders take on work at low or even negative margins, how subcontractor pricing changed after COVID, why relationships matter more than contracts alone, and why culture, communication and good people can make or break a construction business.
They also cover hiring in construction, why resumes don’t always tell the full story, the difference between site-based and tertiary-trained project managers, education and childcare projects, apartment work, government work, and the pressure builders face when the market gets tight.
If you’re a builder, subcontractor, project manager, site manager, developer, apprentice, or anyone trying to understand the commercial construction industry, this episode is packed with honest lessons from inside the game.
Connect with Garath:
🌐 Website: https://lordenvella.com.au/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lordenvella/?hl=en
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lordenvella/?originalSubdomain=au
Connect with Jimmy:
🌐 Website: https://starbuckgroup.com.au
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyTalksConstruction
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starbuckexcavation
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starbuckexcavation
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-starbuck-13336546/
Sponsorships + Guest Enquiries: [email protected]
Send in Business Problems: [email protected]
Disclaimer
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