PD Concreting Pty Ltd was founded in early 2017 when career concreter Paul Deans decided that Canberra’s concreting industry lacked a level of professional quality that the growing city deserved. Transitioning from tradesman to business owner presented multiple challenges but together with his partner, Stephanie Lawrie, and support from Nexia Canberra Paul has set PD Concreting on a path to success.
Since its inception, PD Concreting has grown into one of the leading Domestic and Commercial/Civil concreting operators in the ACT, building itself into a well-known company with a solid reputation for providing exceptional work and reliability.
With a hands-on management approach, Paul found one of the biggest challenges was keeping up with the rapidly growing business and ensuring it was well positioned for growth.
Paul turned to his partner, Stephanie Lawrie, who has a wealth of practical experience from a range of industries in business policy, planning and finance, for advice on the basic foundations of running a trade business.
“To begin with, I probably underestimated the ins and outs of effectively running a business, and the fundamentals were missing,” Paul said.
“I was like many craftsmen who started working straight after graduating from high school. I was great on the tools but had a very limited knowledge about the fundamental aspect of running a business.
“We saw our business was on course for growth and profit and we knew we needed a strong business plan in place to help us avoid key start-up mistakes.”
PD Concreting’s vision became more solid when they were hired to work on the home of a client who turned out to be a Nexia partner. Paving a driveway turned into a critical business partnership that has helped Stephanie and Paul turn their entrepreneurial passion into a thriving practice and business.
“Nexia protected us by constructing a carefully conceived plan that reflected our business conditions, ensuring we are in a comfortable and secure financial position leading into the future.
“They have been very patient in teaching us how to run our business and have made sure we are on task and are not falling behind.
“It’s fair to say Nexia’s help with management, as well as ideas, has made this process markedly easier.”
Stephanie knows when it comes to starting up a business, it’s all about identifying and embracing new opportunities. PD Concreting have expanded beyond concreting, and now design and market specialty indoor and outdoor furniture for personal or business use.
“Alongside these services we design and create fully customised and one-of-a-kind specialty furniture, made from a combination of concrete, resin, and timber.
“This really adds a new dimension to our business and while having dual segments is yet another challenge, it’s worthwhile. Nexia’s help in that sense has also been critical.”
PD Concreting is always seeking a better, faster, safer approach to improving their products and jobs using advancements in the industry which has earned the company a reputation in the trade world.
“Our commitment to setting new benchmarks in quality and service; our products, services and designs are created with the customers success in mind, to build long lasting beneficial relationships,” Paul said.
