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THE Building Solutions journey began in December 2004 as a business idea shared between two friends.

Despite having no previous experience running their own construction business, an accountant, David Guille, and a registered builder, Marcus Kotsoglo, decided to pursue their dream of establishing a successful building and construction firm.

Through working regular 60 to 70-hour weeks, Messrs Guille and Kotsoglo were able to create a business that, since its inception, has never borrowed funds for working capital.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history, and Building Solutions is currently working on more than 20 projects across Western Australia, employing 20 full-time workers directly, and indirectly employing more than 150 sub-contractors and suppliers.

The firm offers a full scope of construction and design services: from managing building and environmental approvals; fit-outs of new and existing premises; coordinating developments and investments; to designing and constructing industrial, commercial, government, health and mixed-use residential projects.

It also has the convenience of drawing on the town planning expertise of sister firm Planning Solutions Australia.

Although the organisation is relatively small, it employs a highly skilled and specialised team of contractors, so can handle a diverse range of projects from simple office fit-outs to multi-storey buildings.

The quality of the team can be reflected in the fact that Building Solutions rarely seeks public tenders from subcontractors, yet has still been able to compete on price and guarantee a quality product.

It didn’t take long for the firm to make some real noise in Western Australia’s building industry, as it won a Master Builders of Australia certificate of excellence within its first two years. More recently, Building Solutions received the MBA’s John Roberts Award as the best new commercial builder in WA for 2009.

Not even the global financial crisis seemed to slow Building Solutions down; rather the directors used it to develop new capabilities within the business.

A slowdown in private sector construction during the crisis resulted in Building Solutions registering to complete government projects.

The firm is currently building libraries and covered assembly areas for eight WA primary schools as part of the federal government’s Building the Education Revolution.

To facilitate further growth, the directors are now focusing on the company’s corporate structure and the development of effective and efficient systems and processes.

Building Solutions’ specific growth strategy is married to the concept that positive growth drives value creation, but doesn’t assume that all growth creates value. As a result, Building Solutions is mindful to take on projects that are suitable for its capabilities.