Dave Klees: Quality, Experience, Character.
Dave Klees is the other half of Virtue Projects.
There is a lot more to Dave than being the founder of a growing building company working on some of the biggest projects in the booming Sydney construction and development sector.
He surfs, sails, trains, and knows how to live well and enjoy a good life.
He loves what he does for work and play.
Building is his job.
“It’s the only job I’ve ever had”
Since the age of 16 Dave has been ‘swinging the hammer’ for other builders, but most often for himself and his own business.
He started out as an apprentice with Adorn Homes in the Sutherland Shire, working solely on top-storey additions with a crew of about 20 carpenters. During this time he was under the tutelage of Leading Hand/Foreman Rod Turnbull and Ronnie Schultz, and he learnt much from these two builders in particular.
“It was so flat-out when I worked for Adorn Homes… it seemed like everyone in Cronulla wanted a second-storey addition at the time…”
“It was good to work in such an intense and busy environment though… it probably prepared me for the work Virtue Projects does now across Sydney”
As a 3rd year apprentice Dave built his family holiday home in the South Coast hamlet of Bendalong, applying early on his skills acquired, and using a bunch of friends and family as labourers and would-be tradies.
“It was awesome to build the Bendalong house with all my friends and family”
“I mean, it’s not that different from a normal job site really. Everyone are mates on a job site… but that was pretty cool”
“The house turned out really well too, and so many of my friends have been able to enjoy it over the years”
The ‘Bendy House’ holds a dear place in many a Sutherland Shire surfer’s heart, and it has done for well over a decade now. The waves nearby are great in a variety of wind directions, and it is one of the rare places in Australia where the myths of Australian life (kangaroos bouncing down the road and koalas high up in gum trees) are in fact realities.
Dave hasn’t built his best homes only for himself and his family though, he has done it for Australian celebrities too.
Brendan Cowell (from ‘Love My Way’; the soon to be released Peter Brock biopic; and director of ‘Ruben Guthrie’) is a past client of Virtue Projects. His Newtown terrace was renovated a number of years ago, and it is still to this day one of the most challenging, creative and ultimately rewarding jobs that Dave and Virtue Projects has ever worked on.
“Brendan’s house was such a challenge for us, but the result was amazing in the end”
“It is probably the coolest place I have built and working with Brendan was always a good time”
Brendan Cowell is a national treasure who Dave still keeps in touch with, even having a bunch of us over recently to enjoy some Bavarian beers and guacamole for a feature story coming soon about his amazing place.
The man’s a legend. Stay tuned…
Speaking about the success and growth of Virtue Projects, Dave is philosophical:
“You just gotta find your niche and be decent people really”
“Because we are good chippies, we know what good chippies look like, and we know which jobs to put them on, and where they fit best.”
“Other labour hire companies might do a bunch of other trades or services to the construction industry, and deliver ‘ok’ workers, but we focus on chippies because that is what Mick and I know best”
“We hand pick our carpenters and then we place them on the jobs that best suit their strengths”
Virtue Projects are in demand and developers to work with really isn’t an issue. What their most pressing problem at the moment is finding more carpenters to put to work in the booming Sydney construction market.
“We just need more carpenters. We need all round carpenters. Guys that can do a little bit of everything, which is hard to find these days… when Mick and I did our carpentry apprenticeships we learnt everything on a job; who could stand frames, fix out, everything. But often in the city you find that there are some qualified carpenters who haven’t had those experiences because they were only put on certain tasks as apprentices. That’s why we get a lot of our chippies from the South and North Coast; they have had a broad apprenticeship and they can jump onto any site and work well”
So what does the future look like for Virtue Projects?
“We are in the process of refining our systems so that we can better serve our customers, and also finding new ways to connect with quality chippies online, in particular through the ConX platform”
Running a business is different from being onsite, and the transition from swinging the hammer to doing the day-to-day of running a business has been hard on Dave:
“It was quite hard to let go as we grew our business. But now that we have trained our guys and got them to the standard that we are happy with, we are now in a position to grow more. Basically we trust that they will deliver quality to our clients that is consistent and of a high standard”
At the moment Virtue Projects is a team of about 12 carpenters who are more than colleagues; they are friends, even family. Dave wants to grow the family even more:
“I reckon that next year we should be up to 16–18 guys on our team. That would be pretty sweet”
