Rick Harrison

I love my work at McDonald Jones because I turn dreams and concepts into reality, and provide people with the opportunity to engage with a truly magnificent building company. Creating a trusting relationship with clients, from the initial meeting through to the handing over of keys, makes my work a constant source of pleasure.

I have worked at McDonald Jones as a Residential Building and Design Consultant for seven years, having also held roles with the company in Investment Home Sales and Property Investment for three years and as a Property Investment Consultant for two. Prior to that I worked in Melbourne as the General Manager of a commercial relocations business for 10 years. Back in the day, I worked for Levi Strauss for seven years developing new product lines!

I love meeting new people so I am always happy to engage with people who come into our display homes.  I find some people are embarrassed to ask questions so I try to create a safe and trusting discussion and do my best to answer every and any question.  I think it’s really important to remember and respect that building a new home is a major investment for most people.

I love recycling well-loved home addresses with knockdown/rebuild (KDRB) projects. I have consulted on more than 35 KDRB projects in the past three years.

On a personal level, my marriage is my biggest accomplishment. In the professional realm, taking 24 deposits in three months would have to be a career highlight!

I always try to ensure that each and every customer feels respected and heard so that I am clear about their needs and requirements for their new home.  I try to make the whole process safe and enjoyable whilst recreating their design requests accurately.  My key attributes are integrity, patience and tenacity.  My main skill in this role is problem solving through creative thinking.

It’s important people appreciate that nobody ever builds a home exactly as per the display and while we can provide a ballpark figure, costs vary depending on an individual client’s needs. Every home we build is different, with factors like service connections, block attributes, and solar aspect (which affects BASIX costs) all coming in to the equation. We offer a free site inspection and an itemised tender which we tailor to meet your individual requirements.

From site start to handover – our average build time is 5 months – however you would be wise to allow 6 or 7 months.  From acceptance deposit to site start can be another 5 to 6 months – depending on the registration date of the land.

I always refer our clients to our eight-step brochure which outlines each step of the process. We  have a proven process requiring a client’s partnership and buy-in so we can move through each step.