April 17, 2015
by Marcus Priaulx
Barambah PaCE
Murgon businessman Jim Adcock was raised in the Gulf but has thrived in the South Burnett and his business Sellwood Constructions is also going from strength to strength.
He attributes his success to hiring keen people, and refusing to take government “perks”.
Jim has 23 employees, and more than half of them live in Cherbourg.
They are qualified carpenters, plumbers, painters, plasterers, trade assistants and labourers.
Jim, who moved to Murgon six years ago with his family, puts workers through apprenticeships but will only hire those that personally approach him.
“We receive no government incentives as a matter of company policy,” he said.
“All those incentives are a tax burden upon the people of Australia.
“If workers find out you’re getting something for hiring them they’re less likely to perform well. They don’t feel part of a genuine team. We hire nobody on a charity basis. They all have to be keen and good workers.”
Jim’s beliefs stem from being raised and working for himself within the vast Gulf region since he was 19.
The isolation meant all his tradespeople would travel to a site and complete the work in one hit because Jim could never guarantee when a contractor would show up.
“The answer was to train home-grown men so we could head to a job and complete it,” Jim said.
He transferred the model to the South Burnett and gets 85 per cent of the work he tenders for.
This involves building houses and doing renovations, extensions, sheds and anything else his troupe of workers have the skills to do.
“Because we do all these trades we’re really competitive and we’ve got great staff; a good balance of qualified and keen workers,” Jim said.
Jim is grateful to Cherbourg Council for putting faith in his company and he now does a lot of work within the town.
“We’ve provided the skills and the workers it was looking for,” he said.
He would like to encourage other businesses to look at Cherbourg as a place to invest and draw staff from.
“We need some kind of industry to provide opportunities for Cherbourg people to get some kind of employment,” he said.
“It would be good if that was in Cherbourg but it wouldn’t have to be … just close enough.
“There’s no shortage of people in the town that are keen and capable of doing the work.
“I’ve shown no prejudice and ended up with a good team. That shows the success of it.”
 |
 |
Congratulations Jim – your way is the right way! Hiring people on merit and giving them the chance to prove their worth to a business is good for everyone. Hope your business continues to thrive!