28/10/2026
Founder’s Thoughts | I used to want to be the biggest fitout company in New Zealand. Now I want to be the best.
Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how you grow without losing the standard. When it was just me in a van, it was real easy. I was in every part of the business, every job, every client, every detail.
We’re bigger now. Not huge, but bigger. We’ve got an amazing team and specialist subcontractors who are better at their part than I’ll ever be. To be fair, I still do my bit, but at some point the business has to be bigger than you.
The hard part is you’ve gotta let go. If you’re paying good people to do their job, you need to let them own it, while still holding everyone to the same standard we had when it was just me. I won’t pretend I’ve nailed that yet, but it’s what I’m working on.
That’s where my thinking has shifted. I don’t care about being the biggest anymore. I want people to say “you know that guy? He’s f%*^ing good.” You only get that by picking up the small things on every single job. That’s the level of service people are paying for.
I got asked recently if Build is a construction company first or a service business first. Honestly, they go hand in hand. Construction is what we do. Service is what sets us apart.
Founders, are you building to be the biggest, or the best?
-Sam
