Fifth generation of Hutchinson family has joined the construction heavyweight

The fifth generation of the Hutchinson family has donned the hard hat and joined one of the country’s biggest builders.

Jack Hutchinson is the fifth generation of his family in the construction business.

QUEENSLAND’S apartment boom has turned one of the state’s most successful family companies into one of the biggest builders in the country.

Brisbane-based Hutch­inson Builders landed a phenomenal $3.258 billion worth of non-residential construction contracts in the 2015-16 year – about half of which were for flats and units.

The latest HIA-Cordell Construction 100 report saw the firm, affectionately known as “Hutchies”, storm up seven places in two years to become the fourth-biggest non-residential contractor in the country. The company, which became a multibillion-dollar turnover proposition under current chair­man Scott Hutchinson, has now seen in its fifth ­generation, in the form of his son Jack.

Named after his grandfather, the 24-year-old Jack Hutchinson has come in as a contract administrator after two years with quantity surveying firm Slattery in Sydney post-university.

He is not daunted by the legacy so much as determined to do his part to keep the firm strong.

“Of course I have a fear of failure and do not want to be the one who sends us broke after over 100 years of business, but my father nearly sent us broke twice,” he said.

“But I will be surrounded by talented people and just have to take it in my stride.”

His goal was to keep the Hutchinson legacy going “for another generation”.

Mr Hutchinson Jr said day-to-day being the son of the boss did not matter.

“It has very little impact … I think once everyone around you realises that you are there for the right reasons, that you aren’t an idiot, and that you are not afraid of hard work, then everyone treats you really well … if I had come in with a massive ego, then it would definitely be different.”

He said that working ­outside the business first was valuable.

“It gives confidence to know if I didn’t have this ­opportunity I could always be a competent professional quantity surveyor. My father was an engineer before he came back to Hutchies, so he always stressed the importance of this to me.”

He believes his father and grandfather would have accepted if he had not wanted to join the family business.

“There was never any pressure to choose this. They would have been pragmatic about it and the opportun­ity that I was given would have gone to my brother or my cousin.”

It wasn’t until he was 18 that he decided construction was what he wanted to do.

“I don’t think I was naturally interested in buildings like some kids are, but I was always naturally interested in business and people. As soon as I got a taste for what Hutchies really was, I was addicted.”

Read more about succession planning for family business in Queensland Business Monthly, inside The Courier-Mail this Friday