How Chris King Constructions Grew Profit and Got Off the Tools

Overwhelmed, reactive, and winging the business side. Now booked out for a year, on a $120k salary, and running at 15–18% net profit.

Where things were at

Chris arrived at business ownership the way most builders do — through his trade. He’d been a carpenter, became a builder, and suddenly found himself running a business he’d never been trained to run.

He was reactive. Things were moving fast and he was chasing them, not directing them. No systems, no strategy, a lot of overwhelm. He knew he needed help but, like a lot of builders, there’s a culture of stoicism in the industry — work it out yourself, don’t ask questions. Chris decided that was a waste of time.

As he put it: “There are people who are experts in business. Why don’t I go and see one of them? I’m not an expert in business, nor should I be. Why pretend I can just work it out myself?”

His goal was clear from the first session: $3 million turnover with a 10% net profit, a proper wage, a normal working week, and a team he was proud of. Culture mattered to him as much as money — maybe more.

What we worked on

We started with marketing, which was the area Chris had the most resistance to. Putting himself out there, making calls to architects, promoting the business — none of it felt natural. He did it anyway.

• Relationship marketing — building connections with architects in the Byron Shire area, which is now his primary source of work
• Defining his niche — cutting out friends-and-family jobs and low-margin fixed-price tenders completely, focusing on clients who chose him for who he is, not just his price
• Pricing and confidence — putting rates up and learning to back the value of his work and his team
• Systems across the business — processes for quoting, operations, and client management so Chris could respond rather than react
• Owner salary — separating his personal income from the business with a formal $120k salary, which created a clear mental boundary between Chris the person and Chris King Constructions
• Culture and leadership — focusing on team values, how the business shows up in the community, and building a crew that clients want to work with

What happened

When Chris started coaching he was turning over $1.6 million and making $105,000 net profit on that. In the first three months of the following financial year alone, turnover hit approximately $960,000 — tracking toward a 50% increase in annual revenue and well ahead of the $3 million three-year goal.

He’s now booked out for a year ahead, with two architect jobs running at a time and more hovering in the background. Every job comes through an architect relationship — clients who choose Chris specifically, not whoever is cheapest.

Net profit is running at 15–18% after his $120,000 salary. He’s paying himself properly for the first time.

The stress levels have dropped significantly too. The systems mean he can respond to situations rather than panic through them. And the business is clean enough that Chris recognised he needed to work on himself as well — not just the operations.

“When I started to clean up my business, I realised I needed a bit more cleaning up myself. Because my business was getting cleaner than me, and I’m the centre of it.”

— Chris King, Chris King Constructions

What made the difference

Chris’s biggest shift was saying no. No to friends and family. No to price-driven fixed tenders. No to the high-end architectural market that looked glamorous but didn’t suit how he works. Every no made room for the right yes.

The other shift was pricing confidence. Chris had the skills and the team — he just wasn’t charging what they were worth. Once he started valuing what he offered and backing it in conversation with clients, the numbers followed.

And the salary change was more significant than it might sound. Knowing a set amount lands every week creates a mental separation that’s hard to explain until you’ve done it. It changes how you think about the business, how you make decisions, and how much you’re able to trust the numbers.

Chris came in curious and coachable. He pushed through the resistance — the phone calls to architects he didn’t want to make, the marketing he didn’t think was for him. That’s what made everything else work.