Of course we have a story!
30 Plus Years in the Building Industry in the Clarence Valley
It's been over 30 years since Kent first started on the path to his Builder's Licence in the Clarence Valley. Back in those days the Grafton TAFE Campus held a full time course for Carpentry and Joinery over 2 years. Kent undertook his Certificate 2 in 1994 and Certificate 3 in 1995.
During this time the group built two new homes, valuable lessons were learnt in the hands-on course, that are still important to this day.
For Kent, having moved to Australia from Norway in his early 20's, attending TAFE in Grafton was an initiation by fire into Australian Culture. After two years with some of Grafton's finest young blokes, any hint of a Norwegian accent was well & truly taken care of.
Prior to his move to Australia Kent had grown up on the tools. With his Father and Grandfather both being Builder's, he had been onsite from an early age, learning and soaking up the strong Norwegian values of hard but honest work, which remains with Kent to this day.
Moving on from TAFE and Kent then completed his time with local Maclean Builder Graeme Dobbin. Graeme being an 'old school' Builder was a great mentor and he liked to tackle the 'tough' jobs - the steep hillsides of Maclean have a number of Dobbin Built homes.
Graeme's crew did it all, which gave Kent a wide range of experience, which he has carried through to his own team today.
And after 30+ years Kent's moto remains that no-one on the team is above sweeping the floors or insulating a roof. Not even Kent.
Julie Hermansen OAM
Our Director, and the other half of Kent, Julie Hermansen, was honoured in the 2025 Australia Day Honours List with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in recognition of her longstanding volunteer work creating awareness and positive change for people—especially children—impacted by dyslexia. Over more than a decade, Julie organised national awareness campaigns and was a driving force as co-founder of the national charity Code Read Dyslexia Network, helping shine a light on a condition that affects at least one in every ten Australians across a continuum from mild to severe.
Julie’s dedication to advocacy and community support was formally acknowledged in a medal ceremony in May 2025, where she was presented with her OAM by Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales, at Government House Sydney.
This well-deserved honour reflects Julie’s passion, commitment and meaningful impact—and we couldn’t be prouder.