A register kept by someone who builds.
The Register exists because choosing a builder is the biggest decision in most renovations — and almost everything a homeowner can see before signing is marketing.
I've run Sydney building sites for more than twenty years.
I started on the tools — a trades assistant, then a cabinet maker with a trade certificate, then a carpenter on the Gold Coast, then shopfitting in London. Then Sydney, and site management — and I've been running sites ever since.
The work has taken me from a harbourside hostel built over First Fleet archaeology to a heritage hotel, a theatre, and two new floors built on top of a building that stayed open the whole time. For three years I ran my own building company, so I know what a builder's side of the contract looks like, too.
I've also managed a project through a subcontractor going insolvent halfway through. The job finished. But I know exactly what it costs when the wrong business is on site — and that most homeowners have no way of telling the difference until it's too late.
So this is the list I'd want for my own home. Every member has been through the checks I would make myself, and I've walked one of their live jobs before they're listed.
GlenFounder. Senior site manager.
Projects I've worked on
A selection, from site manager to managing director.
Sydney Theatre (now the Roslyn Packer Theatre)
Walsh Bay theatre construction.
Sydney Harbour YHA, The Rocks
A lightweight building over archaeological remains dating to the First Fleet.
Blacket Hotel
Heritage conservation, a full foundation upgrade and a three-level rooftop extension.
Australian National Maritime Museum
Refurbishment and extension, with high-quality finishes.
LUXE Apartments, Woolloomooloo
Top-down construction: three basement levels and six storeys above.
Glebe social housing
258 apartments across four towers, including a single-pour 850m³ transfer slab.
FIVEX, Double Bay
Two new residential floors added on top of a live commercial building.
New Hampton Hotel, Potts Point
Master Builders award winner — delivered while running my own building company.
How the register is paid for
Homeowners pay nothing. Members pay an annual membership to hold their place.
The fee doesn't buy a place
Every member passes the same standard first. Paying is what happens after you qualify, not instead of it.
Places are capped
Each tier and each trade has a fixed number of places, so the register stays small enough to vet properly.
Places can be lost
Members are vetted again every twelve months, and can be removed. Read the removal policy.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us about your project and we'll introduce you to members who suit it.