Here’s something that might sound completely backwards: the most profitable builders in Australia are turning down more work than they’re accepting.
While you’re stressing about filling your pipeline and saying yes to every enquiry, they’re getting pickier about who they work with – and banking bigger profits because of it.
If you’re sick of nightmare clients who drain your energy, blow your budgets, and pay you peanuts for premium work, what you’re about to discover will completely change how you think about growing your building business.
Your pipeline’s looking thin. Bills need paying. So when that enquiry comes through, even though your gut’s telling you this client will be trouble, you say yes because you need the work.
Top builders know this secret: saying no to wrong clients doesn’t just avoid problems, it creates space for the right opportunities. When you get selective about who you work with, you stop competing on price and start getting paid what you’re worth.
It starts with having systems to spot red flags early, plus the confidence to walk away from bad fits. Our ELEVATE members use proven frameworks to qualify clients from the first conversation – and the results speak for themselves.
Watch the video now, or read the transcript below. Be sure to also subscribe to the Live Life Build YouTube channel.
Amelia
Are you finding it as a builder, you feel like you’re in a position where you just have to take on any job that comes your way in order to fill your pipeline?
We see this become a really common problem for builders in the industry. They get themselves into this place of desperation where they feel that they can’t say no to any jobs.
They’ve just got to take whatever is coming their way. Because if they don’t, their pipeline will have a hole in it.
They’ll have to figure out what they’re going to do for cash flow, and it’s all very urgent, and so they’re just literally saying yes to anything that comes their way.
Duayne
This is one of those profitability leaks. It is super easy to fix. We work with all our ELEVATE members to build their confidence.
It’s incredible seeing that once a builder gets the confidence to say no to the wrong clients, how quickly their business changes. And literally, that’s all it is.
If your gut is telling you that you’re not comfortable with the client, they’re not listening to what you’re saying, they’re pushing back on some things and you know that it’s going to be a challenging project, don’t take it on just because you’ve got bills to pay or you need the next project.
Reality is, that job is going to end up costing you more money than what you will make out of the project, and you’ll end up in a worse position than where you are now.
When you say no to the wrong types of clients, it actually opens up all the doors for the right types of clients to come your way.
Amelia
The thing is that it’s really interesting to watch builders just think that, no, I can’t do this. I have to just keep taking these jobs, and then they have this business that’s full of nightmare clients that don’t suit them or the way that they work.
They’re blowing their budgets on projects. There’s no margin in their projects, so they’ve just bought themselves a really badly paying job that they don’t enjoy going to every day because they’ve got clients that are the wrong fit, and meanwhile, they don’t actually have any room to say yes to the right clients, because they’ve said yes to all of these wrong clients.
Duayne
Look, it can be a tricky thing to get your head around, but it absolutely blows my mind. I’ve seen enormous wins changing my mindset on this in my own business, and the hundreds of builders we see in ELEVATE now that literally, by saying no to the wrong clients, have completely changed not only their business but their life.
It’s funny because, as a builder, we talk about it a lot, but it’s your business. You don’t have to take on every job, and it’s up to you to make decisions about the types of clients you want to work for. And it’s really that simple.
In ELEVATE we give our members a lot of templates, a lot of guidance, as well as all the other members that are already doing this, egging everyone on to get this done. And it’s incredible how quickly they see change.
Amelia
It’s really interesting to watch, isn’t it, when a member knows that they need to say no and they’ve got to overcome that hurdle of that mindset of, “Oh my gosh, if I say no, is my pipeline going to just be empty?
Is nobody else going to ask me to work for them? You know, this is really scary. I’m going to have to deal with this hole in my workflow.”
When you say no to the wrong types of clients, it actually opens up all the doors for the right types of clients to come your way – Duayne
Being able to overcome that, surrounded by a community that’s supporting them and showing evidence that when you do say no to the wrong client, the right client inevitably shows up, is a really amazing way to support yourself through those big hurdles of changing your business to the way that you actually want it.
Duayne
I think it’s funny. We see a lot of comments come into our Facebook group, and you’ll see someone say, “Oh, look, I really need a job.” And then they’ll go through all the things that the clients are asking for, and you’ll see all the other members jump in and say, “Do you really want to do that job?” And then they have to come back and sort of swallow their pride and go, “Yeah, I know I don’t need to take on this job.”
Literally, within weeks, you’ll see them get back on there and post, “Oh, look, I said no to that client, and now I’ve got this amazing client.”
So it is incredible how being around the right community, surrounding yourself with the right type of people that are on the same path as you, and everybody’s getting behind everyone and supporting each other, completely changes your confidence, changes your mindset, and allows you to have the courage to say no to those clients.
Amelia
One of the ways that we do this really effectively with our members is to help them actually understand how to navigate those initial client enquiries and those initial client meetings, so that they can immediately see if the client’s going to be a fit for their business.
Having the right tools and templates to be able to do that, right off the bat of first meeting with the client becomes a really fantastic and fast way for you to know that they’re going to be a fit or not before you’ve spent too much time with them.
Our dream projects folder is a great example of this system that we have to help builders be able to do it.
Duayne
Well, everything we give you access to actually teaches you that it’s your business. It is completely up to you, and at the end of the day, you need to take on the jobs and the clients that suit your business so that you can run a sustainable, successful and profitable building business.
Stop Chasing Work and Start Choosing It
The transformation you just heard isn’t happening by accident. Every builder in ELEVATE started where you might be right now, desperate to fill the pipeline, saying yes to anyone with a pulse and a deposit.
But here’s what changed everything for them: they stopped chasing work and started choosing it.
When you get selective about clients, three things happen:
- You work with people who actually value what you do.
- Your margins improve because you’re not competing with every cowboy builder in town.
- You rediscover why you became a builder in the first place.
The builders making this shift aren’t just earning more – they’re working less, stressing less, and actually enjoying their businesses again.
Ready to stop being desperate and start being selective? ELEVATE gives you the frameworks, confidence, and community support to transform from a builder who takes anything to one who chooses everything.
Because your business should work for you, not against you.