Home-grown $800m building giant FKG nails 50 years

Queensland construction giant FKG has topped $800m in revenue as the third-generation family owned firm celebrates 50 years in business amid increasingly tough times.

QUEENSLAND construction giant FKG has topped $800m in revenue as the third-generation family-owned firm celebrates 50 years in business and defies increasingly tough times.

The firm, which traces it roots back to a small Darling Downs town, now employs more than 900 staff and credits its diversification into energy, agriculture and plant hire as a key reason for its survival after half a century.

The company, founded by carpenter Francis Kevin Gardner in 1972, is edging towards $1 billion in revenue as it takes on more projects across Queensland and NSW. Francis Gardner’s grandson Nick Gardner, who now heads the business as managing director, said the last few years had been tough given rising costs and labour shortages.

“It has been challenging for everyone but we probably saw it coming 12-18 months ago,” said Mr Gardner. whose father Gary is executive chairman of the company. “We started pricing increases into our bids and anticipating it.”

Nick Gardner said that one of the strengths of the business was that three generations of the family, including his brothers and uncles, continued to work together to solve problems.

“We will remain family owned and continue with the same approach,” he said. “All the brothers started working on site and went through their various apprenticeships. It has been a remarkable achievement over the years.”

Managing Director Nick Gardner

Mr Gardner said that as well as its core construction and development operations, FKG now operated more than a dozen different businesses, ranging from plant hire and plumbing to data centres, agricultural advice and energy.

“It’s quite a diverse range of businesses these days and we are far from being purely construction,” he said. “One of the areas that will be focused on in the future is renewable energy and we have already done several projects in this area.”

He said the construction industry would likely continue to face challenging conditions around costs and labour. “It is quite overheated at the moment so it is probably not a bad thing if things slow a bit,” he said.

“It has been challenging in particular areas and our subcontractors and trades have definitely been stretched and remuneration pushed up.”

FKG, which is about to launch a book commemorating its 50 years in business, began life as a small residential builder in Brookstead, 180km west of Brisbane. It later moved its headquarters to Toowoomba and opened offices in Brisbane, Cairns, Mackay, Roma, Townsville, Newcastle and Darwin.

Nick Gardner, 44, who began working on the company’s building sites during his school holidays, said some of his favourite projects over the years included the Cairns Aquarium, Counter Terrorism and Community Safety Centre in Brisbane and Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology.

Managing Director Nick Gardner