26. Association of Professional Builders

Revenue: $3.2 million
Growth: 103.5%
Founders: Russ Stephens (57), Sky Stephens (27)
Head Office: Brisbane
Employees: 20
Industry: Construction
Website: https://associationofprofessionalbuilders.com
Year Founded: 2014

How it started

Father-daughter duo Russ and Sky Stephens founded Association of Professional Builders (APB) in 2014 after seeing a gap in the market for business planning specific to residential home builders.

Russ, a former building company owner, and Sky, a marketing consultant, created a system to support residential builders with best practice processes to increase sales and profit margins.

APB now provides systems, templates and training covering advertising, marketing, sales, pricing, and operations to 505 members, all residential home builders across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.

Growth

While struggling initially to sell their method without proof of concept, collecting evidence, case studies, and a benchmark of 10% profit helped APB break through the fixed mindset of builders with significant industry experience.

In the company’s experience, hearing their method works from another builder or knowing that a previously struggling colleague in the industry had been helped, is a strong determinant for trust and credibility.

And the focus on case studies and testimonials has worked, with APB growing from $93,000 revenue in 2015 to over $3.2 million in 2021.

Where to next?

With the goal of 50,000 members and further growth across international markets as well as Australia, Russ and Sky Stephens have outlined a growth strategy for the next 12 months. 

That includes partnering with complimentary service providers in the industry for online events, estimating software, buying groups and magazines, and looking for acquisition opportunities.