Crushing It In Construction

#63 Facing The Labour Shortage Head-On With Tim Mead

• Jordan Skinner

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Welcome back to the Crushing It In Construction Podcast.

Joining this week from Adelaide is Tim Mead, General Manager for LCS Landscapes.

Tim's career began in the oil and gas industry, building up his experience in logistics and management before making the switch into construction.

He shares how LCS has grown into a multi-armed operation, and reveals the steps you need to take if you're looking to make the move into management: self-development, mentorship and tactical job-hunting.

Touching on the challenges posed by the labour shortage and what could be done to combat it, today's conversation is a dive into what's going on at LCS!

Let's get started.

CONTACT DETAILS

Tim Mead
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/tim-mead-04796261
Website: https://www.lcslandscapes.com.au/

Jordan Skinner
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-skinner-685439178/
Website: https://moonshotmedia.com.au/

Is your company attractive to potential employees? Take the scorecard: https://moonshotmedia.com.au/scorecard

Hello, everybody. Jordan Skinner here with another awesome episode of the crushing it in construction podcast. A podcast that is dedicated to the construction industry, where I interview amazing guests from within the industry that all share their experience, their wisdom, and their insights. That'll help you, the listener either grow within your career or grow within your business. So. No matter where you are in this industry, there is always something valuable to learn from our guests and their stories. And this week is no different because I am chatting with Tim Mead from LCS landscapes. A company that is based here in Adelaide. And in this episode, we talk about Tim's career. He actually come from the oil and gas industry before he came into. LCS. And we chat about some of the different challenges that he came up against when he was making that transition. we talk about the whole labor shortage. and what they are putting in place to try and appeal to more employees and actually retain those employees because here in south Australia, We have the submarine projects coming online. And Tim is very aware that that is most likely going to put even more strain. On the labor shortage in this state. And it's something that they're trying to work on and, mitigate, you know, potentially losing people or finding it even harder to attract and retain people. Once those projects come online. but anyway, we speak about a whole heap of different things in this episode. I think you're really gonna find useful. Let's get into the episode.

Jordan:

day, Tim. Thanks for coming on the podcast, mate. How's your day going?

Track 1:

Really good. Thanks, Jordan. Excellent. Thanks.

Jordan:

so could you just give us a little bit of a background your own words, who is Tim Mead and, uh, is it that you do?

Track 1:

Yeah, sure. Uh, yeah, Tim Mate. I'm the general manager of the L c s group of companies. Um, the c SS group of companies is three entities within the L C SS group. it's l c s landscapes with its, its traditional roots, uh, the business, that, created back, 21 years ago. That was sort of known as, uh, landscape construction services. So short for l c s. so yeah, that's, its construction arm. then we have, uh, l c s maintenance, which separated that company a couple years ago. sort of, uh, c s maintenance has sort of four different entities, the maintenance division. Uh, predominantly sort of do, grounds and garden sort of horticultural, maintenance in the, commercial, sector. then we have a, a small, uh, works division, which sort of, construction division, uh, sort of doing large open space projects. but then we sort of have a sort of a smaller construction division in the maintenance area. there's a bit of a separation from. Bit of a value to the technical, aspects of commercial landscaping that, separated there. they do sort of fencing and, work as well. then we've got, turf division. So we do turf renovation, uh, installation, uh, the commercial space as well. And that sort of like, local government education sector. then the last one is our, environmental sector. So that's, uh, environmental group, sort of doing revegetation projects. we're sort of doing, a lot of, um, preparation for fire season, that sort of thing for local councils, and the Department of Environmental Water. we've got some projects there as well. woody weeded removal and olive, in sort of, high risk, fire spaces. and then third entity is, uh, a, a wholesale nursery, Edinburgh Park. predominantly supply, to the group. that's its, uh, main client, but we do also supply to a lot of cancels we do a lot of grow on contracts as well for other growers here in the state. we, you know, grow trees, um, we don't grow mature trees. We just sort of grow sort of the, I suppose, smaller varieties, that then can be sort of homegrown.

Jordan:

So were you much of a green thumb before you came into the industry? Did you know much about gardening and soils and all the rest of it?

Track 1:

No, very much not. I spent 10 years in the oil and gas industry, so the different, I very much had a, always had a passion for, gardening and landscaping in the background. sort of when I was, in the oil and gas, I was sort of two on, two off. So having that two weeks at home sort of, allowed me to get in the garden. So I did enjoy that bit. so, that sort of came to an end in the oil and gas, I sort of, looked to the opportunity. landscaping came up. was based in Brisbane at the time and bit of a change in career path and, uh, decided, uh, hey, I'll give landscaping to grow. And, uh, here I am today.

Jordan:

So give, give us a little bit of a, a background. So you said you were in the, the oil and gas industry, so before you came into the construction space or the landscaping space. So what was it that you were doing in, and gas?

Track 1:

oil and gas was sort of my entry, um, the construction industry. Um, to that I was sort of in the manufacturing area and sort of got a bit of a niche into sort of looking at, how we can do things cost effectively in the manufacturing industry? So I, I would be looking at, ways in manufacturing how we can effectively do things more cost effectively, be it through scheduling, material usage. So then I sort of got involved in material handling and material movements. and that's sort of where I'm, up, uh, in Santos. Um, I. So I worked for Santos, uh, seven years, um, in Adelaide. started off in their, uh, uh, head office, was biggest building, uh, King Williams Street. was my first sort of venture into the big corporate world. worked sort of for smaller, um, companies prior to that, small to medium. that's sort of that, that was more material, control material management. From, distribution, places here in South Australia or, supply chains, uh, across the world, get up into the Cooper Basin. so I was doing material movements, predominantly for, pipeline division, the, we call the artificial lift. So that was the areas of where, gas and oil, coming from the wellhead. to the pipeline. a lot of, uh, components that, come into that. you know, getting them up from Adelaide, up to the Cooper Basin, or into southwest Queensland, I suppose is a big logistic, uh, I started in that space. did that for a while. And then, sort of had a chat to my, manager at the time and said, look, I'd be keen to get into the field.'cause I thought that was a, opportunity for me to learn a lot more about the business. Um, that's sort of where I got into construction. sort of moved into sort of a construction supervisor role. Uh, yeah.

Jordan:

was there much of a, I suppose the overlaps not a good word, but I mean, what was it that you learned? Was there any carryover that you could take into the construction industry and, and innovate in some way? Like bring things that you learned into the industry that were actually relevant? Or was it just like, wipe the state clean and start again?

Track 1:

when I sort of got in involved there, that was sort of new. was some systems, basic systems in place there. but there, at the time there was a big ramp up, oil and gas, predominantly oil at that time. Uh, there was a big oil program outta Southwest Queensland that was happening. there a base infrastructure in place, but there a much larger mass of, material movement. So, that's sort of, where cost is very heavy the oil and gas sector. I. bringing things online, to, bring oil, into the business was, you a key component to suppose looking at, how, supply chain, uh, set up and structured right to ensure that on time deliveries that, for long lead time items, is a challenging feat.

Jordan:

Yeah. for sure. And so when you came into landscaping side of things, I mean, was winding up as a general manager something that you had ambitions to do or was it just a, a happy accident as to where you've ended up? I suppose

Track 1:

I'm not sure about general manager. I think I, always had intention to sort of push my up the management chain. I think, when you get a little bit older, you get a little bit wiser as to Who do I want to work for that can allow me that opportunity to get to that point, of just taking another job. So I was very more particular about, hey, where am I gonna go? Is that gonna give me the opportunity to, to out to that role? And, and l c s sort of gave me that opportunity. I sort of walked into a, an operations role at that time, and, chat to the directors that they sort of, uh, felt that they, know, Roger wanted to sort of step back as, was the managing director at the time, um, wanted to sort of take a bit of a step back in the business in, the future. so I saw that as a, you opportunity for myself come into the company. Um, And, and look at how they're doing things. landscaping industry completely different to, I suppose, uh, the oil and gas. But, how you manage things and how you operate things is, is, not much different. Um, that's

Jordan:

I suppose that leads me to my next question, which, you an industry, and I think you and I spoke about it when we were having a chat last week or something, is, finding people is a massive issue at the minute. And as somebody that come from outside the industry into the industry, what can we learn from say, L c s or the industry as a whole, as to how did they lure you across? And is there anything we can learn from that, that we can take and use, broadly?

Track 1:

I mean for me, um, Lua was the opportunity to take necessary steps, get into a role. You and those things for me, I, I understand that, take time. they're not something that can happen in six months. You you've gotta earn your stripes in the business. you've gotta work hard to get that role. it's not something, you can sort of, um, a nine to five, uh, you've gotta come into the business. You've gotta go a little bit above and beyond, be able to sort of make your mark and, those, necessary changes. Yeah. Prove

Jordan:

Prove that you got what it takes.

Track 1:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's, think that's critical for anyone that wants to sort of progress their career. you sometimes you do have to go a little bit above and

Jordan:

It's cause I, I, I, find it an interesting subject because we as an industry, you haven't got as many people coming in at the bottom as we did maybe 20 years ago. So, you looking at, luring people from other industries that are somewhat in the same realm, you there's overlap in skillset. I think it's something that we as an industry and, as companies need to start looking at.

Track 1:

it's definitely, uh, you know, we've got a lot of challenges, especially in South Australia. you know, we have got, submarines coming into South Australia in, the future. gonna suck up a lot of resource. Um, and as an industry we need to be fully aware of that. and we need to sort of have our own strategies in place to lure People into the construction industry so that, we're not, losing'em to, other industry. And, uh, we experience that a little bit here in landscaping, in civil. you, you get the guys that earn a little bit money from, uh, here in South Australia and do into the mining industry and stuff like that. So your machine operators particularly, might lose, one here and there into mining industry. I think we've got a bigger problem in the future in the construction industry where, in South Australia, the submarine, corporation type of work, is gonna really take some out of potentially outta construction

Jordan:

How many people are they expecting to try and recruit and employ with those subs?

Track 1:

quote me on these numbers, but I understand it's, you know, it's up to, 7,000 people in time. might be over x amount of years. Uh, um, know, I'm not too close to that space, but, we're aware, we've got a base down at Larges, our maintenance division. So we, we a bit of work in that space.

Jordan:

I do think that. there's heaps of good businesses in the construction industry that do good things for their employees that are great places to work. But I don't necessarily think that we are that good at communicating that value, like, say, other industries are. I would imagine that, you know, when subs come online, that they're gonna be doing, you heaps and heaps of work to make whatever it is that they offer ex look extremely, appealing.

Track 1:

Yeah.

Jordan:

same thing's gonna happen where we are on the York Peninsula. There's a mine that's starting up, down towards Roen. I was chatting to my old man the other day saying, you know, it's gonna be great for the community because the people in the community are gonna have, are gonna be flush. But then for the businesses in the community, like, you know, old man's civil construction company, or the local bullies or whatever, actually finding people to do the work is gonna be an absolute nightmare.

Track 1:

that's right. you have a good construction industry or a business, your town, how many people are you gonna lose, that mine because they're gonna, you know, potentially pay that little bit more. Um, we have to find innovative ways, as a business to sort of retain, our current staff, and certainly potentially retract, and invite new ones either into l c s or, or into the construction industry as a, as a whole. All

Jordan:

I, know we're getting a little bit off track here, but I'm en I'm enjoying this. Like, what are you starting to look at or put in place as a way mitigate losing some of these people and do exactly what you just said.

Track 1:

look, we do a little bit, as much as you can do a business to try and, do that. Um, we know that we're gonna have to go above and beyond and we, we, are we putting in strategies at the moment to try and do that? just might be little things that I'm looking at, a, a barbecue, a trailer, I mean, we do that every now and then for our staff, but we need to perhaps keep that consistent. Um, workforce is, you getting larger now. so it's harder for me to get around to different divisions. I'm sort of focusing more on, growth of, of departments. Um, I need to get to the people. so it might be just sort of, yeah, barbecue day once, uh, every so often different departments, where we can sort of talk to staff and, a chat about sort of what's happening, uh, the business, what's coming up in the future. So, you know, they're getting, um, idea of, what's happening. And there's other things that we're looking at too, technology, to try and communicate to our staff, around what's happening in the business as well. Um, That, becomes challenging when you've got large

Jordan:

yeah, one of my biggest concerns is around the whole benefits thing. A lot of the people that I'm talking to at the minute are saying, you know, we need to offer, a four day work week, or We need to offer X amount of benefits and. To me, benefits aren't the answer because there's, you No. different than the race to bottom on price. There's always going to be somebody more desperate and that's going to be either willing to do something more extravagant or something. So finding ways to retrain talent and attract talent based on qualities other than monetary. I think is, the trick and, and the way to move forward. And, um, was doing some research with a client that we are working for at the minute who kept saying, you know, only reason people stay is the money. They, if we paid less or we didn't pay more, our employees would walk out the door and, you know, money's important.

Track 1:

Yeah, it

Jordan:

but we are doing the research for this company and we're, interviewing their employees and money actually isn't the reason that they're staying because they're not overly chuffed with the money they're already getting. It's the culture that's keeping people.

Track 1:

absolutely. Yeah. Culture's king. don't have a good culture within your workplace, uh, gonna struggle to hold that talent. traditionally, you the turnover rates, uh, businesses at the moment have been high since Covid. you know, we have to find innovative ways, uh, as a, construction industry or as a business

Jordan:

Yeah. and then it comes back to the point that I just mentioned before, which was even if you do have a great culture, you can have the best culture in the world, but if you're not great at communicating it to actually attract people to you, you've got, you've got the same problem.

Track 1:

Yeah, that's right. And they're, they're the sort of things that we're trying to fine tune at the moment. And so yeah, we've gotta go above and beyond and, and identify ways to, do that better as a business. Yeah. We've got some, fundamentals and we've got the backbone there, but we, go a little bit

Jordan:

Yeah. Well, so I've derailed this conversation enough. Let me get,let me get back on track. since inception or, or since the business, uh, has started, what are some of the different stages that the company's actually gone through to get to the size that it is today?

Track 1:

Yeah. So yeah, as I mentioned, years ago, c s Landscapes, uh, born, And, um, over the years has grown in the construction industry. It's sort of, traditionally in the construction industry, in landscaping, you have, a 12 month maintenance period. So that sort of started the, maintenance arm of the business. that's grown over time. And think back in 2009, we, uh, introduced the, uh, Edinburgh Park nursery into the system because, company was struggling to get good quality, stock, within the current supply chain. so, you know, we still buy from our supply chain. don't get me wrong, was certainly a niche market there for us to sort of, introduce good quality stock.'cause, uh, quality is, certainly is a key point, our business. And what separates, you've gotta try and find separation your competitors. Uh, quality and service is, is absolutely key, our business. Um, that's sort of where we, that back into 2009. and, in 2020, we saw there was a need in our company, we were known as the landscape construction company. we had this, maintenance arm that, you know, was 60 to 70 odd people. Um, it wasn't well known within the industry that, hey, we do fencing, security fencing. We do, environmental projects. We do turf. Um, So it was sort of, we did separate the company, a variety of reasons, but, particularly to market it. and that's sort of, where we are today. we've been trying to, I suppose in the background trying to market the business, um, our brand and we feel that we have a strong brand. but, in my opinion, you know, we've gotta really push that'cause uh, things are evolving so quickly in, the marketing space and,

Jordan:

So strategies did you start to use when you wanted to up things in that particular arm with marketing? Like did you do?

Track 1:

I suppose this is sort of, we started off with, you creating brochures and, trying to create content, around that. suppose Jordan, what we struggle was that a lot of the, marketing and social media sort of fell back on myself. Um, late at night, trying to put, posts together. Uh, not the ideal situation, you know, as a business, sometimes you do what you do To, bring work in the door. we've got to the point now, we've, we actually have a marketing person starting, next couple weeks. So that's exciting times for, us. that will help us sort of, define the brand, um, sort get the word out there our community that, these are things that we do. we do'em well. And we do have a large resource, capable of, uh, delivering, you high quality, services.

Jordan:

once you get that person in, are you gonna be sort of putting it on them to come develop a strategy or is that something you guys have already put in place?

Track 1:

so we sort of recently had a five year business plan, review, a whole group of, our key staff, ranging from, all businesses. Um, know, marketing was one of those things that we felt, you know, gotta do this better. Um, yeah, we're relying on, a couple people in the business to sort of bring in marketing brochures and stuff like that, and that's taking'em away from their roles. So that, that's, a, a great addition to our team. So, that's sort of where we'll sort of just, amp that up a lot

Jordan:

Yeah. And so I, I'm also curious, like when you came into the industry, there ever a point, that transition, it was your first exposure, I suppose, to coming industry where you ever kind of like, oh shit, what have I got myself into here? You know, this isn't what I was expecting. You industry itself.

Track 1:

my transition from oil and gas into construction here in Adelaide, I was probably blown away with the safety, from, Santos, where the oil and gas industry in particular, a very high element of, safety. you know, it's drilled into you in the morning, every day. it's a 24 7, day a week operation there. so safety is king. we're inspecting and auditing and checking and, into, construction in Adelaide is a little bit, whoa, geez. Uh, this is a bit different. that's sort of where I've tried to push that back into our business that, safety is, is our number one, quality is important. Absolutely. It's, of the ranks, but safety is very much up there. was a bit of a shock. And that not just, business. It's throughout the, industry. I felt that, perhaps, uh, from that strong background, you take it, uh, things a lot more serious in that space. Yeah. and that's because, you know, oil and gas is at a lot higher risk, but there's certainly a lot of risk in, our construction industry as well.

Jordan:

Absolutely. I suppose since coming into a senior management role, has there ever been any sort of, big screw ups that you've made, that have ended up teaching you a valuable lesson?

Track 1:

back to safety again. you the oil and gas sector I wouldn't call'em big screw ups, but, near misses where you are playing in a, a space that, got high pressures, you've got, lot higher risks. Um, know, there's a lot more near misses, uh, space that, not a lot, but People can get killed in, your work environment. and there's a few things there you see in your time and, sort of step back and go, Hey, you know, that, we must do more, uh, industry or, company to sort of, uh, things to the next level to ensure that, you everyone goes home, the way they came to work. Uh, really what's important at the end of the day.

Jordan:

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I don't know what it has been going on lately, but on LinkedIn, I, there's a certain few people that just keep sharing, like, you people in a, trench that hasn't got shoring boxes and all this sort of stuff, and you just look at it and you think like, I can't believe people are still making those sorts of silly mistakes. And I, I don't think, I don't think they're in this country, but. doesn't make it any less, jarring to see, um, people doing dumb shit on sites that just, isn't called

Track 1:

Yeah. It shouldn't, be happening. No, that's right.

Jordan:

this has been good fun. Is there anything I haven't asked you that you think our audience might really benefit from? I.

Track 1:

got, um, that are trying to get into management, what sort of strategies can they take, to, you a management career if, you've got an audience there that, might be listening, that sort of says, well, how do I, um, make my way, uh, the ranks. And I, I think, for me, I suppose that was, know, that's a long journey, doesn't happen, a short time that, you taken me 20, 25 years to get where I am today. Um, strategies I've suppose used is sort of, um, try and find to see if there is a mentor, your business. you can, utilize to help you and guide you, into, the role that you're doing. And if you can't find that internally, um, try externally. there are some different programs that might be out there that, uh, can find mentors that, help you guide you in your career. then I think it's just a lot of self-development. don't rely on, the business, you know, rely on own self-development

Jordan:

you mentioned that you also pretty, big into listening to podcasts for doing exactly that

Track 1:

Yeah, Yeah, for sure. I mean, I, I, do that on the way to work or on the way home to work. know, if I'm want to learn about a different area that I'm perhaps not super strong on. You I'll listen to someone that's, focusing on, that, a whole range of different things from, it's leadership or, any facets of, uh, So, yeah, that, that's important I think, to, to do that self-develop.

Jordan:

don't punch in and punch out. You know, was chatting to somebody the other day that was interviewing for a position. It was like 22 year old straight outta uni that was like, I just want a management job. And he's like, well, have you got any experience? He's like, oh no, but I'll be good at it. And it's like, you gotta crawl before you can walk kind of thing. You know? Be prepared to put in the hard yards first.

Track 1:

And you've gotta be patient like, If you come into a company, you do need to be patient. you'd need to do all those things that we're talking about there. But, opportunities you're in the right business, I think. And it's important to identify when, you are looking for career path, to really investigate, look into the company, uh, into their, um, they're structured and their background and as much as you can, and, ask people in the industry, ask questions of, other people, or, you know, you might know someone in the business. And, before you jump, into a role, you, I think it's important to sort of understand where you, where you're going to, and, even at the questions, you, you might sort of say, you know, what are my, potential opportunities in five years time, this business, subject to your skillset. But, uh,

Jordan:

always like to end these episodes on a bit of a, personal note so people can get to know the guests away from what it is that they do. is there a weird or interesting fact about yourself that most people won't know?

Track 1:

yeah. Weird or interesting. too weird, but, um, interesting perhaps. But, always a bit of a joke of my kids that, I was growing up, played football, and, I got a concussion, back in my early years of football. I refused to wear when I was growing up. Headwear wasn't also great, so I refused to wear one. So I, transitioned to a completely different sport. I went to play badminton, which I thought was a bit, Um, and so it was always a bit of a joke with my children that, dad used to play Barrington. But, I'd try to say, oh, yeah, because I had

Jordan:

yeah. It's a, it's, it's a bit different.

Track 1:

bit different. Yeah.

Jordan:

you were gonna say like a transition to darts or something, which

Track 1:

Uh, no. No. That's a, you know, Yeah.

Jordan:

Yeah,

Track 1:

it was fun, but

Jordan:

Well, has been fun. I, I appreciate you taking the time to have a chat. Me. Where can people reach out to you, learn more about l c s and just generally get in touch if they wanna learn more about the company, wanna apply for a job, wanna learn more about services, all that sort of jazz I.

Track 1:

Yeah, sure. So, far as, knowing a little bit about L c s, landscapes or group of companies, websites probably the best, uh, avenue there. So there's l c s landscapes, Edinburgh Park nursery website and there's l c s maintenance website. I. and yeah, I'm on LinkedIn, myself personally. so, uh, can message through there or connect through there. and yeah, we've got, access, you know, if you're interested in Korean landscaping or horticulture or, you know, environmental sector. Um, we've got, access through our website, for jobs. So, that's probably the best way to contact

Jordan:

Awesome. No worries. Well, thanks very much for your time. You have a good rest of your week.

Track 1:

Great. Thanks again, Jordan. Appreciate that.