What exactly is James & Co?

If you asked me at a barbecue, the short version is probably:

We’re a licensed builder, and we fix and improve older houses around Epping and the North Shore.

The longer version is basically the reason James & Co exists in the first place-

What we actually do

We do smaller residential building work.

Roof and structural repairs. Masonry. Concreting. Window replacements. Plastering. Painting. Fascias and eaves. Cladding. Decks. Remedial work. And quite often some strange combination of three or four of those things at once.

Most of it is on houses built anywhere from the 1930s through to relatively recently.

And many of our jobs aren’t projects somebody has spent six months dreaming up-

They often arise because the house has sprung a problem.

Something has moved. Something’s leaking. Something has rotted. A tree has hit something. Somebody repaired something years ago and now that repair has failed. Something has deteriorated and now presents a safety issue.
Often the owner knows something isn’t quite right but doesn’t really know who they’re supposed to call.
Alternately, just as often, the owner’s done extensive research on their problem and have already thought up a thorough plan - and just needs someone licensed, qualified and adequately tooled to quote it and execute it.
Often there might be urgency, as if whatever’s come up isn’t resolved correctly in a timely way then that causes follow on problems.

That last category, particularly, has become a pretty big part of what we do.

And you do this work mostly around Epping / North Epping?
Yes!
I used to work all over Sydney.

I hated it.

Leaving the suburb to, transport self + tools to site, complete full day’s work on site, losing anywhere between 1-3 hours / day sitting in traffic, burning all this fuel, paying tolls and eventually getting home late sporting the 1000 yard stare.

Anyone who drives across Sydney for work knows exactly what I mean.

So years ago I printed some flyers, did a few letterbox drops around North Epping and started advertising locally as CJ Carpentry, to try to target what I was best at as well as reduce my commuting burden

A few decks. Pergolas. Fascia repairs. Bits and pieces.

Then we had kids, and being close to home went from being a nice bonus to pretty much the entire point.
I studied and gained my builders licence as that had always been my goal and helped incorporate additional trade work into our projects

So the challenge became:

Could I actually make a proper living as a builder and keep most of my work in and around Epping, without spending half my life driving around Sydney?

In summary, ehh- kind of.

But not by trying to build exactly the same business as every other builder.
I’d found competing against handymen fairly easy up until this point as many were less organized / structured than what I was trying to operate
but competing against large established building companies with established workflows, pipelines, relationships, facilities, assets, processes, marketing budgets etc felt impossible.
What is one to do?

[PHOTO: An early CJ Carpentry deck/pergola job]

It became apparent I had to start listening to what people actually needed

I try to listen to an unreasonable number of business audiobooks while I’m working

Most of them eventually tell you some version of the same thing: If you don’t know what niche to pick, start as generalist, listen to your customers, and pay attention to the most frequent problems they are actually asking you to solve, then, go design your business around that.

Once I started doing that locally, I really took note of the kind of phrases I kept hearing over and over again.

“My handyman said this one needs a builder.”
“I’ve called three builders - I think because its small, nobody will even come and look at it, and the one guy that did, never got back to me”

“I actually paid this other guy to have a go at it last year, and as a result, it’s worse.”

“It’s our forever home. I know it’s not a massive job, but we want it done properly.”

“My house painter said this should be replaced rather than attempting a cosmetic repair”

Another increasingly common one:

“It’s my elderly Mum and Dad’s house. I’m just trying to get this sorted for them and off my plate.”

Eventually I realised that was the niche.

I didn’t really invent it. People around here were already telling me exactly what they needed.

It was the awkward jobs in the middle

I noted there was a strange gap in residential building.

At one end you’ve got good handymen and individual trades, who are perfect for straightforward maintenance and repair work. They also have limits relating to the value of projects that they can take on legally under current fair-trading frameworks.

At the other end you’ve got established building companies geared around renovations, additions and new homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And those businesses are generally very good at what they’re set up to do.

But there is this big, awkward category sitting in between them.

Imagine a tree branch comes down and takes out part of an older home’s eave and fascia.

You’ve got damaged asbestos-containing sheeting that needs to be handled correctly.

The power connection to the house is in the affected area, so a level 2 electrician has to be coordinated around the repair.

The fascia needs replacing. The gutter needs repairing or renewing. There might be damaged framing/ roof structure behind it.

Then you’ve got a moulding that hasn’t been sold since approximately 1958 that somehow needs to be matched, and the whole repair needs to be prepared and painted so you don’t spend the next twenty years looking at the patch.

And because the house is now partly open to the weather, somebody needs to actually organise all of that fairly quickly because the possums are eyeing off that lovely big entry hole into the roof space

But here’s the thing - this is not a $300,000 building project.

It might be $8,000. Or $12,000. Or $20,000.

But it still needs someone to come out, inspect it, work out what’s going on, scope it, price it, prepare a detailed proposal

For most big building companies, It’s very hard for their operation to recoup the investigative and internal costs associated with all the above necessary detailed upfront work on such small projects, before even considering needing to coordinate everybody, order the right materials and take responsibility for the finished result

That’s where these jobs become awkward.

They’re often too involved for one trade to own from start to finish, but too small to make much sense for a building company set up around six-figure projects.

Not because those builders are doing anything wrong.

They’re just built for a different kind of work.

So are we.

[PHOTO: Tight-access / opened-up / propped structural repair]

The bit that’s actually difficult

The interesting thing about small works is that the building itself often isn’t the hardest part.

It’s everything around it.

A $15,000 repair can still need an enquiry, site assessment, estimate, written scope, contract, scheduling, suppliers, material orders, subcontractors, client communication, invoices, photos and records.

Then next week you do it again.

And again.

And again.

That’s why plenty of very capable builders don’t particularly want this sort of work. The administrative effort doesn’t shrink in proportion to the size of the job.

So we’ve deliberately built James & Co around handling that volume properly.

The systems, the quoting process, the way we schedule work, the way our vehicles set up, the subcontractors we use - all of it is geared towards being able to take a relatively small and slightly complicated building problem and actually see it through properly.

That’s the less glamorous part of the business, but it’s probably the most important part.

[PHOTO: Ute fit-out / organised tools / tidy site]

So, when should you call us?

If you’ve got a building problem that’s a bit beyond a straightforward handyman repair, that’s probably us.

If somebody has already had a go at it and it hasn’t worked, we’re comfortable looking at that too.

If the job crosses a few trades and you’re thinking I don’t even know who I’m supposed to call first, that’s very much our sort of thing.

Look- if it’s genuinely a simple half-day task that doesn’t need a builder, one trade or a handyman could probably handle it, we’re probably not the right people - and I’ll tell you that. I’d likely be able to price it for you but with our overheads we won’t be competitive.
Usually I can point you towards the sort of trade you actually need.

We’re based in North Epping and work mostly around Epping, Eastwood, Beecroft, Pennant Hills, Cheltenham, Carlingford, Ryde and the surrounding North Shore.

It’s a good little part of Sydney.

And given the choice, I’d much rather spend my working life looking after houses around here than sitting on the M2 any day of the week

Built with Love.

A few common questions

What is a small works builder?

There’s no special licence called a “small works builder”.

It’s just how we describe what we’ve chosen to specialise in: repairs, remedial work and smaller residential building projects rather than large renovations and new homes.

We’re a licensed residential building company. The difference is mainly that our business is set up to efficiently manage lots of smaller projects rather than a handful of very large ones.

Do I need a licensed builder, or can a handyman do it?

It depends on the work.

In NSW, residential building work valued at more than $5,000 including GST generally requires the appropriate contractor licence. Certain specialist work also has its own licensing requirements.

Some smaller, straightforward maintenance jobs absolutely don’t need us.

If you’re unsure, just ask. I’m quite happy to tell you that you need a handyman, carpenter, plumber, electrician or somebody else instead.

Will you look at something another builder has already quoted or walked away from?

Yep.

A decent chunk of our work starts that way.

Jobs get declined for all sorts of reasons, and often it has very little to do with the homeowner or even the job itself. Sometimes it simply isn’t the kind of work that particular business is set up to do.

Is there a minimum job size?

Not really a hard number.

But we’re generally not good value for a straightforward half-day maintenance task because our process is designed around work that needs proper assessment, scoping and coordination.

If I think you’re better off calling somebody else, I’ll tell you.

What areas do you cover?

We’re based in North Epping and deliberately stay fairly local.

Most of our work is around North Epping, Epping, Eastwood, Beecroft, Pennant Hills, Cheltenham, Carlingford, Ryde and the surrounding North Shore.

Got one of those jobs?

If something at your place has you looking at it and thinking “I don’t actually know what’s going on here or who I’m supposed to call”, that’s pretty much what our Home Assessment is for.

I’ll come out, have a proper look at it and give you an honest read on what’s going on, what I think it needs and roughly what you’re dealing with.

And if it turns out you don’t need us, I’ll tell you that too. (though I do try to establish if that’s the case before I come out haha!)

James & Co Residential Builders

NSW Contractor Licence 326336C

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