August 31 - Interview - Business Advice - Tax Accounting

Meet Animal Carpentry

Service, standards and quality

In such a saturated industry, finding a labour-hire company that guarantees and delivers excellence in service, standards and quality can be a hard task. Our clients, Animal Carpentry, do just that.

In 2014, Mike Sanders and Mick Gunn caught up over a beer to chat about the carpentry industry, which they had both been a part of for many years.

Mick had started Animal Carpentry 8 years earlier in Melbourne, with his brother Dylan and Mike owned a small carpentry business and was looking to broaden his horizons. The three of them were looking for something more out of an industry that rarely challenges the status quo.

Seeing the value in one another, a new partnership was born and the Gunn brothers signed Mike up as the third director, to take over the operations of the business.

Fast forward four years and Animal Carpentry are bigger and better than ever. With over 50 team members covering regions all over Melbourne, they have established themselves as one of the leading carpentry labour-hire services in Victoria.

carpentry big Meet Animal Carpentry

Premium labour-hire

“We saw an absence in the industry for a premium labour-hire company that offered short and long term carpentry solutions,” says Mike.

“Hiring Carpentry Australia certified carpenters exclusively took the risk and effort out of the hiring process and meant we could guarantee the quality of our guys work and stand by it.”

Inside Animal Carpentry, camaraderie and mate-ship on-site is non-negotiable and Mike believes that the benefits of hiring skilled tradesman mean there is mutual respect for one another amongst the team.

Mike’s tips for how to grow a carpentry business?

  • Create a good culture. Workers who enjoy their job, will put the effort in and go the extra mile when it matters
  • Know what you’re good at and outsource what you need help with. Never do something that you can pay someone else to do twice as well and twice as quick. (That’s where we come in 😉)
  • Understand your figures. Keep your cash in the bank until you work out what you’re going to do with it, it not only helps your cash flow but also your personal tax situation.
  • Be smart with your business. Cashflow is a huge issue in our industry and you need to find a payment structure that works for you and your business growth
  • Be a pioneer, do things differently, and embrace technology

Looking ahead

The Animal Carpentry team have high hopes for the growth of the business in the next few years.

“Essentially we’d like to double in size and grow our workable regions,” says Mike.

“We currently do most of our work in metropolitan Melbourne, Bayside, the East and the North but we’d like to look towards servicing a much larger area, including the Mornington Peninsula.”   

Although the Animal team currently only offer carpentry, they are hoping to branch ours into other trades in the future.

Find out more about Animal Carpentry, and if you’re a tradie looking for advice on starting your own business or a current business owner get in touch with our team or pay us a visit in Melbourne CBD, Perth, South Yarra, office to see how we can help.