To The Beat of a Different Drum: Diverse Building and Construction

After working as a builder in Sydney for many years, Elia Nessem spotted his niche. He knew he could do a far better job at customer service than his employers, including some well-known big building firms.

Elia struck out on his own in 2019, founding the very customer-focused Diverse Building and Construction based in the south-western Sydney suburb of Denham Court. ​

Drawing on the Bachelor of Construction Management he earned at Western Sydney University, Elia created a small and experienced team who take pride in getting their customers involved in the building process. ​

“Big box builders don’t really give you any flexibility, they can change the plan a lot and the customer experience suffers,” he said. “We go all out with our customer service, giving people the onsite experience and letting people get involved in what’s happening,” Elia said of Diverse Building Group. “Because it’s their home, not ours.” ​

Small but Focused

“We typically complete about five to 10 homes a year,” he said. “This is so that we can give people that individual customer experience. We take on a limited number of projects so that we can guarantee a quality home and an incredible finish.” ​

Diverse Building keeps a small veteran staff and use the same people for every job. They use a proven and highly competent group of tradies that Elia knows can be trusted to give the customers the absolute best. ​

“We don’t just try to fill the spot with just anyone to get the work done, we try to wait to make sure we have the people we’ve used for years who can absolutely deliver an amazing level of quality every time.”

Having just purchased a particularly eye-catching new NMR 60/45-150 Tipper, Elia explained that as well as the towing capacity and load capacity, he was primarily motivated by how good it looked. ​

“It was definitely the best-looking truck that we looked at,” he said. “Once people see it, they never forget it.” ​

Mobile Billboard

Dressed up in the head-turning company colours it’s easy to see why that is. ​

“We get people ringing up all the time,” Elia said. “they say they’ve seen the truck on the road and could we take a look at some work on their property. It’s a great advertisement.”

The graphics were designed in-house by a talented member of staff and installed by a company called Auto Artisan. ​ But it's not all about the looks, the NMR Tipper has some serious smarts behind the outward facade, such as the time saving two-way release tailgate, multiple tie-down points and 20-second raise and lower tipping time.

Many companies use their trucks as a way of having some advertising real estate on the road. A converted truck or a well-executed design can provide a massive boost to the visibility of a business and is a common tactic used by tradies. ​

Being able to park an advertisement right outside an ongoing project is an appealing prospect and we’ve seen greater and greater interest in these sorts of modified Isuzu trucks in recent years. ​

The increasing attention paid to these kinds of altered vehicles can be seen by the hugely popular Isuzu Truck of the Year competition which draws a large number of entries every month. ​

Customers First

When asked if they had plans to expand, Elia showed us that his customers are truly the focus of the business. ​

“We’re looking at expanding slightly, up to 15 or 20 houses a year, but we’re not interested in going much bigger than that. The more we grow, the closer we would be to that big box model which we want to avoid. Our priority is offering the best customer experience, with the kind of face-to-face time that makes it really personal and rewarding - both for us and them."

Hopefully Isuzu can continue its role in supporting the growth of this terrific family business. ​