Century-old building firm Clarke Services Group stands test of time in troubled sector

A four-generation family business has battled through the ups and downs of the construction sector for more than 100 years. This is how they’ve weathered countless booms and busts.

When Thomas Charles Clarke returned from World War I, he decided to try his hand at the building trade. His business flourished and he went on to construct some of Queensland’s finest buildings, including heritage-listed Goondiwindi Town Hall and National Bank branches in Ayr, Mackay and Goondiwindi.

Fast-forward 104 years and the chisels and saws used by Thomas Clarke have been replaced by computerised saws and lathes.

But the business now known as Clarke Services Group remains in family hands, surviving countless booms and busts in the building trade by diversifying and always listening to its customers.

The Queensland National Bank in Mackay, pictured in 1938. Picture: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

CSG managing director Scott Clarke, the great grandson of Thomas Clarke, said the firm was now a $6m business specialising in commercial construction, joinery and building services for some of the country’s biggest brands, including Coles, Kmart and First Choice Liquor. That’s a far cry from the 1960s and ’70s when the firm’s bread and butter included building iconic red-brick unit blocks in inner Brisbane.

“A lady rang up the other day and said she lived in such-and-such a unit block in Clayfield,” Mr Clarke said. “She said the name of the building and I realised it was one of the blocks we had built years ago and it was named after my sister.”

Mr Clarke, 42, who took over the top job from his father Geoff four years ago, said he started in the firm as a 13-year-old sweeping floors and doing other odd jobs. But he conceded at the time he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to join the business. In fact, his first job when he finished high school was as a jackaroo on an outback cattle station.

“A few years later, I was working at summer camps in the US when I came across some blokes building cabins for the kids,” he said. “They were typical loud Americans and were explaining how they had everything organised and they were going to build them in a record time. I walked past and, not knowing to keep my mouth shut, said something like, ‘in your dreams, buddy’.

Goondiwindi town hall built by Thomas Charles Clarke.

“The camp director then asked if I wanted to run the program as we only had a couple of weeks to get three buildings up. Anyway, it all worked out and that’s when I decided to come back and give the construction business a red-hot go.” From building six-pack apartment blocks in the Brisbane suburbs to major fit-outs for supermarket giants, Mr Clarke said the company had survived because it could adapt to changes in the market, including growing demand for facilities management.

He said that could include anything from fixing a door at a Kmart to keeping a pump station going late at night. “My dad still works three days a week in the business and he is a real knowledge base,” he said. “He will go into a Coles where they want to move a chicken oven and say, ‘well, it used to be over there because I put it there years ago’.”

Mr Clarke said the current wave of building company collapses underscored the need to avoid the race to the bottom in terms of price.

“There are a multitude of reasons for the problems in the building trade and everyone will blame Covid-19, but I think a lot of people were in trouble before that,” he said. “From my experience when I was getting my house built, the pricing was just scary. Were they really going to build my house for that price – it was too cheap and what were they missing?

“We have always taken the approach that we provide a service and part of that is being competitive but also being profitable. We’ll do a job and we will do it right the first time even if that means it’s more expensive.”

The National Australia Bank in Ayr.

Mr Clarke said success meant moving into new areas and adapting at the right time. “We might see a pickup in one area and a drop-off in another,” he said.

“When the global financial crisis occurred, construction took a hit so we brought all our carpenters who were working on site into the field.”

He said the move into facilities management and maintenance had been particularly fruitful given changing climate patterns, with the firm helping businesses recover from fire and floods.

“We have gone into businesses hit by floods and fires and decontaminated sites so they could return to trade in a timely manner,” he said. “These are big jobs of up to a million dollars.”

CSG has more than tripled its revenue over the past few years as it focuses on building services and other new revenue streams.

Mr Clarke said he also had brought in an external chief executive to help run the business while he focused on strategy.

“With him, we are developing a forward financial plan,” he said.