From nothing to billionaire: Mal Pratt reveals how he did it
The Coast’s private billionaire, notoriously reserved Mal Pratt, has opened up on his path to success from humble beginnings.
Business
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EXCLUSIVE:
A billion dollar-plus net worth wasn't on Mal Pratt's mind when he left the family business with just a shovel, a ute and a hammer to pursue his dream of being a builder.
It was a different time then.
Unemployment could be solved with a trip to the Maroochy Pub for a chat with the clientele.
A job was usually secured within the first few schooners.
Bosses would send labourers to help on another site if they knew a fellow builder was short a set of hands.
It was 1972.
Having spent time as a lifeguard and a board shaper alongside the legendary Hayden Kenny, the call of the trade was too much for Mr Pratt to ignore.
"I always wanted to be a builder," the notoriously private 75 year old said.
"I wanted to build affordable houses."
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Speaking to the Daily, albeit reluctantly about himself, Mr Pratt opened up on a lifetime in the development industry and his long love affair with the Sunshine Coast.
He started out delivering spec homes around Maroochydore and Kawana, when there was only a fraction of the builders operating as there is today.
The first house Mr Pratt sold went for a grand total of $18,250 - the princely sum was for a house and land package in Wrigley St, Maroochydore, where the prices were now firmly entrenched in the six-figure region and quickly headed towards seven.
"There was only a handful of subcontractors on the Coast then," Mr Pratt recalled.
"If the surf was up there'd hardly be anybody at work.
"You always knew where to find them, they'd be at The Bluff (in Alexandra Headland)."
The southern wave of buyers seeking to exit the city centres for a sea-change was tipped to be inflated in coming months and years in the wake of coronavirus.
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But the northern migration was nothing new to the Coast industry.
Mr Pratt recalled the annual wait for the Winter Bowls Carnival and the Victorian masses up for the event.
"They'd be back by Christmas and you'd sell a couple of houses," Mr Pratt said with a laugh.
As his business grew a significant challenge landed on his doorstep in the form of AV Jennings.
One of the first of the "tract builders" he described, Mr Pratt said he felt he only had one option when AV Jennings made its Coast play.
He took the fight up to them head-on, working tirelessly to build homes in the same streets, beating them on overheads, in a bid to prove his local operation could outperform the rival.
As the Maroochydore market became built out Mr Pratt realised he would have to branch out to keep the business thriving.
It didn't go down well with everyone.
He remembered telling one of his workers while they were building a home at the back of Palm Dr, or Palm Valley as it was known then in the back of Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headland, that they would have to start working in Kawana where there was more land.
"They said 'you'll have to pay travel money to go over the river (Mooloolah River)'," Mr Pratt said with a laugh.
"We ended up doing a few hundred houses a year.
"It was too big for a small family operation."
Mr Pratt said his family was fully invested, working 14-hour days, seven days a week.
So the decision was made to franchise Mal Pratt Homes and the master franchise was sold to one of his major suppliers about 1985.
The change of pace refined his focus and so began the dive into retirement villages.
Starting in Noosa in 1988, Mr Pratt said he built his first retirement village house by house and found he was able to churn out about 100 homes a year without the operation becoming too big.
His first village comprised of 88 homes.
At last count he estimated he'd built about 3000 homes spanning 14 retirement villages.
Nine of those he'd sold, which included a well-publicised sale of his major share in six Hibiscus Resort villages for what was believed to be about $50 million in 2005.
It was an industry he was yet to extricate himself from, with Pratt Property Group, the company he directs which started in 1979, currently building retirement villages in Brisbane and a high-rise facility in Cotton Tree.
He said he hoped to build more high-rise retirement villages "six to seven storeys" in future.
While he still had oversight of the commercial side of the business, it was a far cry from the 14-hour days while building his empire.
The creation of his success was down to a bloody-minded will to succeed.
"I don't give in," Mr Pratt said.
"Nothing is too hard."
But it hadn't all been wins, his long-held ambition to develop his Surfing World site at Mudjimba has to-date been thwarted by concerted community efforts.
He said while he "got big a few times, maybe bigger than I should have", the key to longevity in the industry was to "keep your feet on the ground".
His humility paid off.
Mr Pratt said he now does about two hours' work a day.
The rules are simple.
He never goes to work before 10am and is home by 1pm, to spend time with his family.
Aside from building and family, there was another great love in Mr Pratt's life.
The stretch of beach just south of the Maroochy River mouth and the surf club that sits on it, where he did his life saving bronze medallion back in 1963.
One of two life governors of Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club, alongside Ralph Devlin QC, Mr Pratt credits the club with much of the moulding into the man he was today.
"You're in the melting pot, you might say," Mr Pratt said.
The affection for the place is audible in his voice.
The differing views, backgrounds and experiences that converge with a common cause proved an intoxicating mix for Mr Pratt.
He still paddles a surf ski every day and alongside Bryan Weir, was a high profile backer of the Don't Rock the Maroochy community campaign in 2017 which successfully fought against the creation of a 200m rock wall at the mouth of the Maroochy River.
A net worth of more than a billion dollars had enabled Mr Pratt's philanthropy to become prolific, with the support of renowned Coast benefactor Roy Thompson.
Mr Pratt said it was Mr Thompson who gave him some direction early in his building career and followed it up by teaching him how good it felt to put his hand in his pocket to help others out.
The Mal Pratt Youth Foundation was started in acknowledgment of how much the surf club had given him, and the foundation offers a University of the Sunshine Coast scholarship.
Thrive Youth Hub was created in Maroochydore to provide a space for wayward youths to connect with mentors with surfing and music lessons among the programs to help get young lives back on track.
Medical research has also been a beneficiary, with much of Mr Pratt's philanthropy in the form of funding to find a cure for multiple sclerosis, a cause close to his heart.
He said researchers were close to a cure for the disease and he was dedicated to assisting as much as possible financially.
As for the fortunes of the region he loves, Mr Pratt said he loved where the area was at present.
"I don't know where it'll end up," he said.
"You're not going to stop it growing because it's the greatest place on earth to live."
While he said he would've had more opportunities in the city, he'd been determined to make his way on the Coast.
"There's more opportunities on the Coast now than anywhere," he said.
The Minyama Waters resident said the quality of builders in the region was "as good as anywhere", but he lamented the impact of what he described as "tract builders" on the industry, with operators less likely to help each other out these days.
"It's a production line," he said.
"It certainly wasn't like that when I was a young bloke."
Mr Pratt said it was a shame to see so much profit go out of town to larger developers instead of into local hands.
But it wouldn't stop him continuing, with another commercial block on his to-do list.
"I don't think I'll ever stop building," he said.
"It keeps the brain working."
While his children had all taken paths in other industries, he hoped one may return to the company.
He said his niece "basically runs it now", but the succession plan may not be guaranteed.
"She'll (niece) get to the point she wants to retire before I do," Mr Pratt said with a laugh.
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