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The Martinus Approach: Culture, Growth, and Conquering North America
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Will Thompson and Mitch Corrigan traded the predictability of Australia's tier-one contractors for something most people said was impossible: helping build a rail business from scratch in the United States.
In this episode, they pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to compete in one of the world's toughest construction markets and why the approach that's working might surprise you.
We explore the uncomfortable truths about why talented people leave construction, what happens when you strip away the layers of approval processes, and the counterintuitive hiring strategy that's attracting people from completely unexpected backgrounds.
If you've ever wondered why some companies feel completely different to work for, or what it really takes to break into a new market as an international contractor, this conversation will give you answers you won't hear anywhere else.
Topics covered: Breaking into the US market, building culture that retains top talent, unconventional hiring approaches, fast-moving project delivery, and what makes some contractors fundamentally different from others.
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Transcript
Old vs. New Company Practices
00:00:00
Speaker
That ownership piece, do you think with some of these big old contractors that like some of them are like 1500 years old, Do you think the layers and layers of approvals are like a reaction to screw ups in the past? And maybe because you are a modern company, less than 20 years old or 20 years old this year, you actually have visibility of things through technology now. It's not like old school where you need layers of whatever. thought you going to say that you haven't had the time to make all the mistakes. Make all the mistakes. That's not right. That's also that question.
Introduction to Episode 103
00:00:37
Speaker
Welcome back to the Offsite Podcast, episode 103. I'm Jason Lansini, joined once again by Carlos Cavallo, and this week by two special guests, as we're diving into the story of how an Australian privately owned rail business and contractor grows from a spare bedroom in 2005 to over 1,700 employees globally, and Australia's leading rail business with operations in multiple countries, including now
Meet the Guests: Will and Mitch
00:01:05
Speaker
the US. So Super pumped to be joined but by Will Thompson, who's a general manager projects for Martinez North America, of a company we're talking about as Martinez.
00:01:17
Speaker
And Mitch Corrigan, who's pre-construction manager for Martinez North America, two Aussies living their best lives in Austin, Texas. Guys, thank you very much for giving up the time.
00:01:29
Speaker
Thanks having us on. Great to be here. We did have a little preamble about what life is like in in austin Austin. If you could do the PG version, what what's the highlight of the the move so
Living in Austin, Texas
00:01:41
Speaker
far?
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, for me, just Austin in general is is is a really cool city. it's got It's got a lot of things going on. They've done really well here. i've I've brought my young family over. Yeah. They've set it up really well for families. They've got a lot of lot of good sporting events here with with the Texas Longhorns and the University of Texas. And then I'd say like a a big highlight is actually finding out that it was really green and a lot of water here. So a lot of swimming holes, a lot of different springs to jump into and all the rest of it.
Cultural Adaptation in Texas
00:02:18
Speaker
So sort of thinking in your head when you're moving to central Texas. I thought you were turning to a desert. that Yeah, thinking that you might be turning up to a desert or something like that or, or you know, somewhere that's just... Yeah, that's it, that's it. But um sort of like Landman or whatever it is out in West Texas. But no, it's's um it's a great town. The southern hospitality is ah is a real thing. Everyone here is just so friendly. Yeah, that's very welcoming, very welcoming place.
00:02:46
Speaker
Nice. and And Will, have you got boots and a hat Yeah. I do. I've got boots. I've got a hat. There's a lot of cowboy shops shops around. But, you know, to to reiterate Mitch's point, the people are so friendly.
00:03:00
Speaker
lot of similarities to to Sydney, Australia, where I'm from. No beaches. However, there's watering holes. So lots of... They're called watering holes. yeah they're called watering holes um springs and springs a lot of natural springs that flow up and and they've captured them in in pools that that recycle the water consistently so there's a whole whole bunch of areas around that have these different springs and some of them are cold some of them are warm so you can get You can get your fix really anywhere. Yeah. And we're both, we're both new Texas Longhorn supporters now from the local college football team.
Overview of Martinez Company
00:03:37
Speaker
So unfortunately and they're not, they're not having a great season.
00:03:40
Speaker
um But you know, we, we both watch the games most Saturdays, you know, having a few beers together. So that's great. Have you been to one of the, like the stadiums are unreal. Yeah. We have. and so yeah the the local stadium here is, i think it's 102,000 capacity huge stadiums. I think we we we looked it up. Of the top 10 largest capacity stadiums in the world, eight of them are college football stadiums. Yeah, right.
00:04:08
Speaker
It's a bucket list thing to do. Yeah. So you guys, ah yeah. What a, what an awesome opportunity maybe to like frame the conversation and give context as to to what we, what we can dive into for
Martinez Culture and U.S. Expansion
00:04:21
Speaker
those that don't know. And for those in other countries of the world, Martinez is, I think about a 19 year old Australian company. 20 this year. Okay. this year. Right. ah Yeah. uh and uh is it was founded and it's australian founded and and led and owned um and it must be one of australia's largest privately owned or is australia's largest privately owned rail rail for our contractor which like i think is a you know the the world of like locally owned and operated contractors in a world of like international firms buying up all of the the contractors in different countries is a
00:04:58
Speaker
is an increasing rarity. I think there's like two things that make Martinez really unique in in my perspective. One is culture. In our, you know, Carlos and I and our in our job get the pleasure of talking to most of the largest contractors in Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand.
00:05:20
Speaker
And you kind of immediately get a sense of the culture of a company through talking to the the folks that work there. My sense of from the very first interaction with any person from the Martinez businesses, is everyone feels very connected to the direction of the company. They feel very engaged in what the business is trying to achieve and also feel like they have high ownership in the in the company. so I think the culture of Martinez is super unique. And then the other thing that I think just to frame this up is really unique is I can't think of many other Australian construction based businesses that are exporting work to to the US. So yeah, a really unique a company that's that's obviously got big desires and plans for the future. And and you guys are at the spearhead in in North America. So what a real interesting opportunity.
The Ownership Culture at Martinez
00:06:15
Speaker
So a bunch of areas we could dive into, but I'd like to maybe start with putting that in context and that journey. I think, Will, you've been at Martinez for like eight odd years. my Mitch, seven, six, seven, I think. if Seven is it? yeah and I don't want don't want to sell you short there. on So yeah, maybe Will, if I hand to you first, just like your observation um through the the the journey of working at Martinez, yeah um how and what that kind of like leads to in terms of like the North America movement. Yeah, so my journey and observation, I suppose, one thing to note is Mitch and I actually worked together prior to Martinez and we met prior there. We actually played rugby together.
00:07:00
Speaker
so and then So we've been friends ever since. And you know my observation from you know, being at two larger contractors in Australia and then coming over to my team, so it was just a real breath of fresh air. Everyone was so friendly, you know, um your your mates with their everyone.
00:07:18
Speaker
It's a really flat organisational structure. Okay. So we really reiterate the point of ensuring that everyone's got a voice. Everyone's got the right to make a decision. You know, if it's commercially right, safe and morally right, we, we,
00:07:34
Speaker
We give them some ownership to and accountability to make those decisions. The right people, You know, people, people, people, it's the core of the business here. It's not just a hierarchy. if If we've got the right people within the teams, then that leads to a very good culture, okay, and a success.
00:07:54
Speaker
The other thing is very rarely will someone say, that's not my job. Everyone's got a job and role to play within the business. um So we really drive that.
00:08:07
Speaker
um We really drive that culture to making sure that no one ever says that it's not their job. um So but yeah's that's my feedback on Martinez here. you you've You've been there for some time and, yeah, you'd worked at large tier one contractors or both of you had before. What like what is the the root of that cultural difference at Martinez? Yeah. I think um the the root of it is that we are we're given accountability and we're given um ownership. So you don't have to, for every decision, go up the the chain um to ask for permission for for things. you know Again, what Will said, is is if it makes sense commercially, financially, if it's morally the right decision with the information you have at that time, you're backed to be able to make that call and continue on. And so it was really nice coming from, um you know, ah the Sydney light rail and and a few other projects like that, where we got bogged down pretty heavily in in those approvals, having to go up the chain, signed off and then back down and and all the rest of that. So...
00:09:20
Speaker
you know, moving from that into a company where it's okay, go, go, go, go. A quick decision is better than no decision. Even if even if it's slightly wrong, just go and and make it work. It meant that I think that a lot of the the time and effort was spent then by everyone doing the construction and making the construction go as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible, which is then enjoyable. I mean, that's why we're engineers. We want to build stuff. That's why you've got the site team They want to be on site building stuff. You don't want to be twiddling your thumbs, waiting for approvals or um or whatever else it is that you've you've got in in a lot of the bigger companies.
Efficiency Through Technology
00:10:01
Speaker
That ownership piece, do you think with some of these big old contractors that, like some of them are like 1,500 years old
00:10:08
Speaker
Do you think the layers and layers of approvals are like a reaction to screw ups in the past? And because maybe because you are a modern company, less than 20 years old or 20 years old this year, you actually have visibility of things through technology now. It's not like old school where you need layers of whatever. I thought you were to say that you haven't had the time to make all the mistakes. Make all the mistakes. It's not right. Yeah. That's also that question. But like back in the day, you can imagine why you needed these approvals because you have no idea what people are up to without tracking and audit trail. So do you think because you have built the company the modern era, do you think that's part of the reason why you can be so individual focused? Yeah, definitely. But I also think that it starts at the top with Martinus. If you bring systems or processes, those words,
00:10:59
Speaker
Or the word org chart in front of Treban Martinez, he'll get upset with you. You know, he doesn't like systems and processes. He doesn't like org charts. He wants he wants us to to be working and pushing and nimble and agile so that he doesn't want these structures in place to to avoid that from happening.
00:11:18
Speaker
So it starts from from him and and and and you know the C-suite and and all the rest of it in Martinez. it's it's nice down here yeah let's let's Let's not get bogged down with these. you you know we could We could put them in place and and it and it could provide a better you know look, I guess you could say. But does it make the boat go faster? And that's that's the big thing is that it it it it doesn't.
00:11:42
Speaker
it doesn't make the boat go faster. And yes, there might be some mistakes along the way, but you learn from those. You make sure the individual learns from those and make sure the teams learn from those and then make sure the company learns from it and and you keep
Project Timelines: Australia vs. U.S.
00:11:54
Speaker
plugging along. So it really is, it's it's a big thing that's come from from the top and pushed into the the the full full team.
00:12:02
Speaker
I think those those layer of layers and layers, it's also a form of micromanagement as well. um And yeah we we cut all that out here. We we give the ability it for all workers to make their own decisions. and And I think that's what we're trying to drive here in the US today.
00:12:20
Speaker
um Projects kick off so quickly here. You're you're bidding a job that takes four weeks, probably on average, Mitch, would you say? Probably four weeks on average to bid. Two weeks later, up you need to be on on site doing works.
00:12:34
Speaker
It's a very, very quick turnaround. There's no red tape here. It's all it's awesome. Yeah, it's great. It is. And that was the one of the biggest culture shocks for me personally. it's yeah know In Australia, you could sit on sit on in an office for six months prior to doing anything on on site. Here, you're doing stuff on site within two weeks. um So us being able to be mobile mobile and agile is what's going to work for us here.
Recruitment and Talent at Martinez
00:13:03
Speaker
Your point around like everyone having accountability and this like, it's a form of micromanagement, Will, it is really interesting. I think previously, like a few weeks ago, were talking about a similar topic and, um you know, you you can see how these like systems or processes get built up to protect against, let's say like lowest common denominator or like the, you know, let's assume we've got a totally hopeless person in this role and what do we need to like build around that so they can't fuck up?
00:13:33
Speaker
um yeah yeah uh and and it seems like ah like almost the flip side so how does that that probably drives to like hiring good people and you're both great people like yeah how does like the hiring thank you and hi great people that deserve pay rises uh yeah yeah How does like, yeah, how does like hiring recruitment and talent and stuff work at Martinez? Is it different to other contractors? There's certainly not as many interviews and it's not as formalized.
00:14:09
Speaker
um I, when I, went often when I recruit someone, i want to get to know the person. want to get to know the individual. Yes, you need to understand whether they've got the experience, the knowledge,
00:14:20
Speaker
that they've got the experience for that role but I also want to get to know the person you know former boss often said to me you want to come to work every day knowing that you can get along with that person yeah what about yourself Mitch yeah I think I think a big one for us is that um we don't necessarily look just at experience we don't necessarily look just at you know knowledge we sort of we very much look at attitude and potential ability so you know the biggest thing in my mind is attitude do you want to you know sit down and rip in do you want um you know give everything and and have a red hot crack at it or or are you just here to chug along and and do the standard sort of work And um I think Martinez does really well at making sure that we attract the people who are, you know, willing to dig their heels in, willing, willing, willing to really give it a really willing to give it a red hot crack. yeah
00:15:21
Speaker
And then on top of that, what what it does is, you know, it brings other good people across. So all of a sudden you get a you crack it with a few, you set up the culture, everyone's enjoying it because everyone's, you know, has each other's back working hard, working together. And then other people peer over the the fence and go, oh hang on a second. That looks that looks good. That looks great.
00:15:43
Speaker
I'm going to I'm going to jump ship. And then it just builds from there organically. So I'd say Martinez, we we hire through our our people so yeah you know people know people in the industry already people know what what they're like who they are how they operate and so we're able to to to be able to make that work and and entice them over it's a really interesting point mitch because we've got people here who who aren't even engineers.
Martinez's North American Expansion
00:16:14
Speaker
Someone someone was an ex Navy SEAL, someone was an ex chef, um but they've got the right attitude, don't they Mitch? And they were the right fit for our company. And now we're just teaching them and and it seems to be working.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, I, uh, give great people like autonomy, responsibility and resources. And, uh, what do you know, they, uh, produce the right outcome.
00:16:39
Speaker
So I think there's a lot of parallels to like, uh, building like, uh, you know, any company may say like, a' A's, hi A's higher A's and B's higher C's and C's higher D's kind of thing. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Our mantra is sort of an A player is worth three B players ah and and a B player is worth five C players. So let's make sure that we get all of the A's and and keep lean and keep agile and and keep moving.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, Will, you were halfway through telling the story of like your journey through, you know, at Martinez and and the the expansion that you've gone through and and then the push to North America. so yeah, yeah. So we we purchased Bottom Line back in 2023. At that stage, yeah we always want to grow. Martinez, we want to grow, grow and grow. um but We bought bought this bottom line company back in 2023.
00:17:33
Speaker
What we did by buying them, we bought an established business over here that had all these licenses in all the different states. So it's just not a federal license here. You've got to have a license per state. So that business already had them. We bought an established team that we've we thought had huge potential.
00:17:51
Speaker
um At that stage, they were very much more of a subcontractor and a maintenance contractor. um which is what we're going away from now. We also bought an established fleet of equipment, so specialised rail equipment, which is what we do, of course.
00:18:07
Speaker
you know Fast track two years now, we've we've gone away from doing the subcontracts, the maintenance jobs. We're now becoming more of a general contractor. um which is which is where we want to get to.
00:18:20
Speaker
um Even this year, we bought a job with approximately $25 million. dollars So we're leaning towards more of those kind of works. The Australian business has a bunch of different like verticals within it. It's a fairly like diversified rail business. Is the goal to to mirror that over in in North America? de Definitely, right? So there's a lot of, um where we want to be in five, 10 years time as a key turnkey contractor. So youre we're designing the project, we're we're doing civil works, we're doing rail works, signaling, overhead wiring works, all all of
00:18:57
Speaker
the scope within the rail corridor or the railroad, they call it here. not not It's not the railway, it's the railroad. So we want to that's where we want to get to. Obviously, we get there's a journey and there's a lot of you know stages to get to that um to that ultimate
Challenges in U.S. Contracting
00:19:15
Speaker
goal.
00:19:15
Speaker
um first being becoming a general contractor, which which is what we're doing this year. And we've obviously got to deliver yeah a successful project as a general contractor.
00:19:27
Speaker
The next steps is we're already looking at becoming a a build and kind of and a design and build contractor. So we're already looking at a couple of projects. Hopefully that hopefully we win and and we can deliver on that. But we're always already looking at some projects to design and build the build a job as well.
00:19:45
Speaker
And then eventually we're looking at, you know, potential opportunities for signaling overhead wiring and ultimately becoming that turnkey contractor. I guess there's probably like only a handful of people in the world, at least in Australia, that have done the job of trying to stand up from scratch or near scratch a a contracting business in the US that's moved over from Australia.
00:20:11
Speaker
I wouldn't even know where to start in terms of like winning work and what that takes. Mitch, what what does it take to kind of like bid and win work as a new entrant internationally and in the US? Yeah, um for sure. It's it's it's ah it's an interesting interesting concept because it's it is very different to Australia. So, you know, in Australia, you've you've got three, four, five, six months long um ah RFP or or bid submission timeframes and whatever else. Here, the projects tend to drop out of the sky and you get four to six weeks. And and that's, you know, things from...
00:20:49
Speaker
$1 million dollars up to 30, up to 60, you know, all all the way up to to hundreds of millions of dollars. is They're these really quick, sharp turnarounds. um The great thing about it is that ah most, if not all of them, are price and schedule or program. So you get your price, you get your schedule together and that's what you get assessed on.
00:21:13
Speaker
A lot of them will have you know your capabilities and and sometimes your CVs to ensure that you do have the right people and the ability to to deliver the work. But that if you tick those boxes, then at all just it is all schedule and and and price. Which is really cool because, I mean, for again, for engineers, we like to build stuff.
00:21:35
Speaker
We don't really like to write huge long management plans yeah or bid submissions and everything else like that. We like to do price program and say that's how it's going to be done and back yourself to be able to get it that way. And they like drop when you say drop out of the sky, is that because that's the way that the pure process happens there or... Yeah, I think it's, um you know, 50 states all individually doing doing their own stuff. Within those 50 states, you've got class ones, you've then got also the short lines and you've got some, you know, private ones.
00:22:09
Speaker
companies that are doing it as well. And so to be able to have your finger on the pulse for everything is near impossible. So you track certain jobs that you can see a strategic that you you know you want and you track those ones. But in the meantime, there are there are just you know multiple a week coming and and dropping into our lap that we then have to scramble for and and and put a price together as well.
00:22:35
Speaker
yeah And then on top of that, you know you've you've got then um in each state, you've got different licensing and registrations and and you know be just business registrations or you've got different labour rates.
00:22:49
Speaker
um you've got to you know do do certain things along those lines with with not just different states, but also then within different counties, you might have different tax exemptions or not yeah in certain counties. So it's it's a really it's it's very interesting. It's a very technical thing to be able to to be able to get that and then quickly turn around the price that includes all of those differences between different areas. And it's it's a bit of an art form over here, I'd say. It's something that we're we're not quite yet nailing perfectly, but we're we're getting a lot better at.
00:23:22
Speaker
And in that sub 100 mil, 100 mil sort of category, is the majority of the competition US firms, the sort of smaller jobs? And then is it tough against them? Because like everything we see in the UK is America is trying to promote their own organization, their own companies, their own and industry. Is it yeah tough going against them?
00:23:40
Speaker
um it is It is in terms of um if you can imagine like where we're growing and we've got certain overheads that need to be covered and whatever else and within ours and and then if we're going against companies that are that are focused on those let's say 5, 10 million, 15 million dollar jobs that are smaller, smaller overheads.
Martinez's Operational Strategy
00:23:58
Speaker
probably own their own gear and so can lease out their own gear to them for free and whatever else. It's it's tough slog. yeah You struggle really hard to compete on price with those with those companies, which is a big reason why we're sort of trying to make that step up and and go into the more complex, bit more difficult projects. When you're getting sort of over 30 million where you need pre-qualifications and a few other items, the the competition thins out pretty significantly. You know, there's there's there's quite ah quite a, probably a handful of of good established contractors over here that that play in that 30 to 100 million. And then there's quite, a you know, a few of them drop off when you get over 100 million and into the into the sort of more mega project type style. And then what's the delivery model of your bidding work in different states, Mitch? Is the is it is it your subbing or self-delivering? What's the delivery model of the projects and you that you then bid?
00:24:55
Speaker
um Most of it, I would say, if it's if it's the rail specific, then we would self-deliver. So we've got ah a few crews, quite a few crews that we'll run and and they will do travel and FIFO essentially to to the certain jobs.
00:25:13
Speaker
um And then, you know, at the moment we don't have the civil capabilities, is what we do back in Australia, so we would sub sub- a lot of that work out. yeah we've got We've got a few good little partners now that that are working on on multiple jobs with us and that we'll continue to work with in the future. But yeah, I'd say any of the rail stuff is self-deliver for sure. Any of the the civil, it it goes to subs.
00:25:40
Speaker
We've then also got a really, really very well-established bridge um division here in in the US. So um it came with bottom line and it's been built up since then. And they do, you know,
00:25:55
Speaker
Over here, a lot of these bridges were built 50, 100 years ago and they're getting to their end of life. yeah so there's a lot of work, a lot of money going into the rehabilitation of these bridges. And that's what these crews do. So we've got timber bridge rehab crews and we've got steel bridge rehab crews that that travel all around the country and do do that work. and we We talked about hiring and recruitment ah generally before, but yeah, how does how does hiring and recruitment work in in North America? how do you do Do you find yourself like hiring folks away from the equivalent, like tier one contractors, where do you find people in in North America?
00:26:33
Speaker
I'd say um at the moment it hasn't been that easy. Martinez bottom line over here were were was was one of those small maintenance contractors. yeah so um There is a reason why we've sort of brought myself and and Will across. and and and a few other engineers and and a couple of site team members from from Australia. So yeah we've brought those in as a core team to be able to then build around. So it's going to be, as Will sort of said, you know winning the projects, delivering them well, building ah a name, a culture here, and then being able to reach out. and And yeah, I think it'll be... reaching into the T1s or the general contractors and and seeing who wants ah a fresh start in in a pretty cool company. It's pretty incredible. Like I said, like very few people have done this, like build ah build a contracting business from scratch, like transplanting country and everything at the same time. So the set of people that you can probably call on for advice and the opportunity that's kind of in front of you is is pretty
Goal-Setting and Leadership at Martinez
00:27:42
Speaker
incredible. And it takes a certain like entrepreneur entrepreneurial uh spirit so yeah how are you enjoying but you guys nothing's too big for trevin nothing is too big for trevin um and that that flows down into into the rest of the teams into me and mitch you know nothing's too big for us let's just keep growing the business let's a set the bar high and keep going for that
00:28:11
Speaker
One of the things that I got introduced to when joining Martinez was the big, hairy, audacious goal is something that is well known throughout the company. And each year, well, actually, it's probably, yeah, each year, every second year, maybe it gets updated with a new, big, hairy, audacious goal because we've either achieved it or we're looking likely we're going to exceed what the big, hairy, audacious goal was last year or the year before. yeah. So circling back to culture, like that idea of those goals, even that in most T1 contractors doesn't really exist. So it'd be good to double click on like, yeah, what are the other bits of the culture that are very different from what you experience at your...
00:28:55
Speaker
your sort of vanilla. I like vanilla. Vanilla, that makes me sound negative. Vanilla is longer. But... That's what Mitch was talking about there. Like at previous companies, you wouldn't even know what the goal and vision are is of that company. Just get this project done. that's the figure you just just yeah just Do your job and that's it. right You're just another bum on the seat. um The equivalent of whoever Ryan and Treven are at at another company wouldn't even know your name.
00:29:25
Speaker
Here, they get around, they know your names, they get to know you, they get to know you as a person. they we Everyone knows the vision and the goal of this business and everyone's given a voice essentially, right? And and like ah I've seen or I spoke to one of your colleagues a while back who, you know, you just recently done a bunch of like leadership ever off site, everyone getting together. Again, these are like, these are things that like software companies would do, but, um,
00:29:56
Speaker
construction contractors, it feels like that don't run that way. We had ah we had a leadership um get together here in Austin. So when we moved here, we didn't have an office yet, but we we've established this office now. and And soon after we had the leadership group all flying Austin and spend most of the week here. um and treven flew in for it and and so we had two days sitting in a room going through you know his vision and then the vision of the company and and and setting out not just the big hairy audacious goal but the the five yearly the three yearly the one year the quarterly and the monthly goals and we broke it down into into the individuals and that's something that we work pretty hard on um you know weekly
00:30:39
Speaker
Toby Briggs, the the Vice President who who's come over here as well, he now runs a weekly leadership meeting with us where we go through our you know monthly and quarterly goals on the week to see how we're tracking. Are we going to achieve it? knowing that those then feed into the the yearly goal, knowing that that then feeds into the three year goal and then so on and so forth. So everyone everyone's really, and then, you know, I've i've done the same with with my pre-construction team. So then weekly after that one, I go through and say, okay, these are all where we're at. This is what we need to focus on. So everyone seems to then be able to get aligned with it.
00:31:17
Speaker
with the overarching culture, the overarching mentality where we're heading. And I think that gives a great foundation for people to buy in, to then feel like they have the accountability and why they have that accountability because it's going to make a difference to the overall goal of the company in the future.
Team Bonding and Company Culture
00:31:38
Speaker
Carl, so I'm here taking notes on getting team alignment. You missed an important part, Mitch. We also... Went to the Texas Longhorns game. All as a team. I think there was at least 20 of us. And that was interesting to note. It was 11 a.m. kickoff. So it was 10 a.m. beers, wasn't it? Or 9 a.m. beers, Mitch? Not for me. I was still managing the kids, but I think you were in there a bit earlier. Robert. Throw me under the bus, Mitch. Hey, that's just jealousy speaking.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah, but Treven there. and Yeah, everyone came. It was great it was a great day. and and it goes back to my earlier point. You want to be able to come to work each day, knowing that you can enjoy who you work with and simple things like that going or going to a a college game on a Saturday that, that just supports that, that idea. Right.
00:32:41
Speaker
I see a lot of people and I talk to a lot of people that that think about leaving construction get disillusioned with working in construction because they feel disconnected from any sort of progression or bigger set of
Career Path and Company Culture
00:32:56
Speaker
goals.
00:32:56
Speaker
And in fact, we happily hire a bunch of people from... from yeah I won't even, I won't try it to hire you on a podcast then, but we hire folks from, uh, construction, uh, with that, you know, they just, they, they go I'm in this thing and I, you know, uh, it's not, I'm not passionate about it anymore. Um, and I'm not connected to like what I'm, what, what I'm achieving. I'm just going, I'm just on the same sort of solve the same problems on the next project.
00:33:23
Speaker
journey um and yeah that way of leading people and getting them connected and motivated to achieve something kind of bigger than just come to work and go home yeah it's really really unique I don't i don't see that at too many contractors funny you say that it's a really good point because because I think I was in a very similar scenario after I left the Sydney left the cinney Light Rail project I was at I suppose a bit of a loggerhead at my point in my career. I was, you know, in my twenties and I just didn't know whether this was the ultimate career path for me. And, and that was a tough slog, but, um, it was just a tough environment to be in. Um,
00:34:08
Speaker
You know, I thought it was a bit toxic, that environment. And then I came to Martinez and it was a really breath of fresh air. And I've never looked back since. So it's a really good point you make. Will and I have been on some really, really tough projects since the Sydney Light Rail with Martinez, but it hasn't ever got to the point of wanting to walk away.
00:34:29
Speaker
And that's because of Martinez and the culture here and and the support that you get, but also the the accountability, the you know the the free reign to to run it and do do things your way and and see how it goes. so Yeah, in many ways, it feels like it feels like we're like tapping into the same thing, which is... You know, there's there's so many talents and things that construction people bring to the table. They're like hard grinders, really strong work ethic. Many of them are very, very quick and smart, and they're kind of just often drifting in like a career.
00:35:06
Speaker
um and giving them like a purpose and space to be have autonomy and ownership and be entrepreneurial and they want to build something and it yeah feels like you know i know some other folks that have joined martinis and and it's like a it's like like a new lease on life kind of thing exactly exactly breath of fresh air well it it was for me in any case it was a breath of fresh air and I'm still loving it Awesome. So what that's the pitch for folks that are that are looking for their next their next role, whether that be in Austin, Texas, whether they're a long hauling supporter or not, or or in in Oz.
00:35:40
Speaker
But I think that's how you get good people. Carlos, final question to you. Now I was going to say it's, um, there's a lot of companies that would say our culture is different, but actually hearing that it is different and that's, it's, it's refreshing to hear like the companies I I'm used to the connection to like the company goals of the vision is an annual roadshow with some slides and. Some like horrible slogan about building tomorrow today.
00:36:04
Speaker
Not to actually name one of those slogans. so It genuinely does sound different and it sounds great. and it's ah yeah It's good to hear because um everyone will say that line, but very few actually like have the substance behind what they're saying.
00:36:18
Speaker
one of One of the big ones that I think you can see, you can visually see we're a bit different is is because of our management suite. You know, there is very few people that have grey hair in our management. I'd say most of them would be 45 and under, including Treven.
00:36:37
Speaker
So you look at that and you go there is like, ah there is still that energy. There is still that real drive. Haven't been grinded down by the industry just yet.
00:36:48
Speaker
You know people ah people are looking and and and trying to to find ways to grow and and to better and to do all the rest of that within the
Merit-Based Opportunities
00:36:56
Speaker
company. So it's pretty cool, you know.
00:36:58
Speaker
And then the other thing is that, like, you know, Will and i you know, we're with're both fairly young, especially Will, and been put into these roles. And there's no one nowhere else that that would do this. But it's because Martina's do it on merit, not on how many years are on the page.
00:37:16
Speaker
They do it on merit, on your ability and on your own potential ability, which is really cool. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I think, um, that conversation, uh, entirely matches the observations that I'd had before knowing, a ton about Martinez through just interacting with folks across the company. So it's not like we just picked the two best spokespeople to like talk about it. That's like, it does feel like it's broadly across the business of like, As someone that is trying to like build a team and a culture, it's pretty impressive to have to see such a big company where that my culture is there. so yeah, to to to you guys and to the wider team, it's it's impressive. And folks that are thinking about what their next role is should should think about teaming
Closing Remarks
00:37:59
Speaker
us.
00:37:59
Speaker
Yeah. ah Cool. That's going to be time for us. Carlos, can you you're gonna wrap us up? Yeah, no, thank you very much, guys. Appreciate you joining us today. And thank you everyone for who has listened along. Please do think about liking this video or following us on your chosen podcast platform. We appreciate your support and we'll catch you all very soon.
00:38:20
Speaker
Thank you very much, guys. Bye-bye. Lovely. Thank you. Thank you, guys.