The Power of Two
Fast Starters Profile: TDA Interiors
BRW. 24 April 2008
Page 52
A SMALL OFFICE FIT-OUT COMPANY IS WINNING BIG SUCCESS THROUGH THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS.
Andrew Holder and James Kemp are used to working in a partnership. The two have been friends for more than 25 years, as travel partners and flatmates, and each was the best man at the other’s wedding. In their latest venture, the pair has built TDA Interiors into a $22 million commercial fit−out business in only two years.
The business provides conventional office fit−outs − requiring internal restructuring, partitioning, air−conditioning, lighting, carpeting, furniture and finishes − but can also act as advisers on building choice, location, budgeting and design.
Holder was a 13−year veteran of the fit−out industry when he left TDA in the United Kingdom for Australia in 2004 with his young family. It coincided with an offer from one of TDA’s founders for £40,000 ($84,578) capital to establish TDA Interiors in Sydney. The first step was to organise for Kemp to make the move to Sydney as co−director.
From there, “it evolved very naturally”, Holder says. “On day one it was me and a cardboard box in a serviced office, then we won our first project with Nokia, then all of a sudden we had six projects on our plate.”
“In that first year we did work that perhaps other people don’t want to do, the messy work of moving an office around rather than having a fresh plate to work from − difficult work.” Paying those dues gave TDA a $7 million turnover in its first year, and a small profit, and one of the jobs led to a breakthrough project: the 84,000−square−metre Optus headquarters in Sydney’s North Ryde.
TDA’s youth was an advantage. “We’d just delivered the Yahoo!7 job successfully with the same project managers, DTZ, but more importantly, we were a small entity compared to the other companies that were competing for the work,” Holder says. “If you give a large project to a company that’s quite small, you’ve got a risk there, but on the flipside, you know that the company is going to give everything to make sure they
deliver.”
TDA has promoted its “fresh” image in the market, with particular success in the media and advertising sectors, wooing clients including Nokia, Virgin Mobile, the Photon Group and Yahoo!7. “In conventional, hard−dollar tendering it’s very difficult to differentiate yourself,” Holder says. “Often the prices are very similar. You need to brand the document and touch the client somehow.” TDA argued its case with Yahoo!7 through a custom−designed faux website and a submission branded with the company’s signature colours.
With revenue projected to reach $40 million for the 2008 financial year, the next step for TDA is national expansion. A Brisbane office has been established for 18 months and will provide almost $15 million in revenue. The company will open an office in Melbourne later this year, with staff and resources to be shared.
TDA has also signed a two−year deal with travel group Flight Centre to outfit its regional head offices in Australia and New Zealand. It is the kind of deal that Holder and Kemp aim for, believing relationships with companies that “culturally align” will produce steady and satisfying work, just as relationships with compatible designers lead to their best work.
To manage the continued growth, the two directors have introduced a seven−person group management team from their 35 employees.
“We’ve made mistakes,” says Holder of the past two years. “But we always pay the bill, rather than try to recoup the costs from the client. Bad delivery or bad reputation will ruin you overnight in this business.”
“What we sought to do was bring a real personality to the industry. The businesses here were very stale, weren’t delivering fun, the salesmanship was missing. I think that’s why we’ve grown so quickly.”
6 TDA INTERIORS
Last year: Not ranked
Founders: Andrew Holder, James Kemp
Turnover: $17.65 million
Three secrets of success:
- Maintain a point of difference − TDA nurtures its “fresh” image in the conventionally staid construction field.
- Choose employees carefully, and build a core of key staff to rely on.
- Stick to your word − clients need to trust the quality and delivery times of your work.
SARAH NEILL
