The NBS

WILL: Good morning everyone and welcome to this week’s Invisible Strength series! My name’s Will Pepping; I’m the Australian Business Development Manager at MARKHAM, looking over architectural and engineering design and overseeing the site sales process. This morning we’ve got a special guest, he’s a legend of a bloke! His name is Michael and he’s the Business Development Manager for NBS. Michael, could you introduce yourself to the audience and just give us a little bit of your background and your experience?

MICHAEL: Yes, absolutely, cheers Will! And good to be here and have a chat. Yes, so I’ve worked in the business development for manufacturers with NBS; so just to give you a little bit of an idea of NBS and what we do is that … I work in the cloud base or digital space of architecture; and where our platform, NBS – architects are in there specifying their projects. And where I’ve come from to be where … sitting here and discussing with yourself will is that many moons ago I was in strata, so a strata manager. So sort of saw first-hand where, you know, any defects to a building and whatnot; and working with NBS, and before NBS, Ezyspec. And that gave me a chance to work on a platform, that we’re looking to improve the construction industry, and it starts with the specification.

WILL: Fantastic, it’s really interesting. Yes, I’ve used NBS-slash-Ezyspec for several years now and absolutely love the service you guys provide. It’s second to none. And as I said, we’ve got a bit of a crossover with Ezyspec and NBS. Are you able to share some information about NBS and what it’s all about and who it’s exactly designed for?

MICHAEL: Yes, absolutely, yes. So NBS, just to give you a bit of history there; because everyone, I suppose, in Australia particularly, is a bit more familiar with the Ezyspec side of the business. But NBS is our parent company. They acquired us late last year; but early this year things started ramping up with that, with us merging into that platform. Just like Ezyspec, it is an architectural tool, cloud-based; NBS’s origins are in the UK, so they’re a global specification company.

But yes, 40 years ago they started in just that, the UK. But in more recent times, they’ve evolved into this cloud-based specification tool. But like Ezyspec, yes, we’re working in the cloud; specifying projects where you know… gone are the days of the old, you know, Microsoft Word and Excel files. We’re looking to streamline it. And that’s why the platform is so popular for specifiers, designers, engineers, and architects, of course.

WILL: Yes, cool. So yes, we’re just talking through the acquisition of Ezyspec by NBS. What do you think the difference will be for those who have used the Ezyspec platform in the past? And how do you think it will help the architectural industry here in Australia?

MICHAEL: Yes, good question. So Ezyspec side, as you know, Will – it was always certainly more focused on tier 1 architects and architectural practices. And it lends itself to that larger end of town as far as construction value being, you know, sort of 10s of millions, up to multiples of billions, so it’s fantastic if you’re a supplier or manufacturer that’s looking to, you know, get spec’ed in that side of town.

Being in NBS, while still having that high end of town, there’s a little bit more diversity in the practices that are that are in there working on projects. So it’s not just, as I mentioned, those larger constructions whether it be, you know, Barangaroo, or Sydney Football Stadium, or any larger projects. You can be, you know, with a boutique practice on a, you know, a mansion on the water or a house or residential. So just that diversity, I think, is going to be really cool for anyone that’s partnering up. It’s not just as to that high end of town. You do have that nice diversity in projects.

WILL: Yes, fantastic, yes. I’ve learned first-hand, the range of projects that I’ve worked with the guys at Ezyspec through; and these have been through, right through from high-end residential projects, which are nice and different. And yes, as you said, really boutique; right through to the large commercial projects, government projects, like you said, Barangaroo, Sydney Football Stadium. Really landmark projects. And by having that Ezyspec offering, that’s really setting our benchmark really high, we’re finding.

Just in regards to …there are a few specification type of platforms out there. What do you feel makes NBS better than the than the, sort of, standard industry platforms used in the architectural space?

MICHAEL: Yes, well, it’s not necessarily us being better, but we’re different. You know what? We’re specification integration; where, you know… So there’s… I’m not saying there’s not a place for all these spec, you know, tools, but where we are unique is – yes, we are in competition in that specification field, but we’re spec integration.

So what I mean by that is that, as you know first-hand; us working closely with you as a manufacturer, making sure that we have your products accurate within our platform; at a click of a button, you know, instantaneously, instantaneously we can drop your product into the spec. And for us to do that we need to make sure that your products are accurate within our platform.

So as much as, you know, there’s tools out there that you can, you know, sort of just mine through, or prospect through, to find projects – we’re actually at design stage or the concept stage of that construction project. So what makes this different is just that, is that we are a spec integration. And we are working with our manufacturers, putting their products into pre-written specs, and having the ability, as I mentioned, to drop that into a project; which is really unique and really cool.

WILL: I find it’s really specialised as well, which is fantastic. Where the specifications do come through the architect via Ezyspec, I do find that they are written to a T; so they’re absolutely perfect; easy to follow; and by using Ezyspec over the last few years, I think our specification numbers would probably be up 3, 4, maybe 500%. Yes, which is obviously a feather in the cap to you guys.

MICHAEL: Yes, it’s good to hear. Yes. I can’t take credit for that! That is the architects but, and look, to be honest, it’s you and your team’s hard work. I mean, I put your products, I give them the front row seat to the architects, but it’s, you know, yourself, it’s your team that are there, you know, reaching out to the architects, making sure that they’re comfortable with your product. And then, as I said, I’m just here to give that exposure. And ideally, you know, they’ve dropped your product into their spec.

And then, as you know, we provide those reports. So that’s probably another big difference between us and anything else out there. Because we are cloud-based, we have all the data in the cloud there, ready to be accessed. So we’ll provide reports on where you’ve been specified.

So we’re talking about improving the construction industry, and improving the integrity of these builds; and by giving that transparency to you as a manufacturer, as a supplier, it means that we can make sure that we’ve got the right products spec’d on buildings; make sure those descriptions are accurate. Because you know, from a building standpoint that integrity is maintained; but also for yourselves. As you know, you’ve been spec’d on a building, having a spec written that’s very specific to yourselves means there’s a better opportunity for you to hold it at tender, and to have more profit margin as well. If it’s not easily flipped, or, you know … it means there’s, as I said, a better chance for you to make some money.

WILL: Fantastic, that’s really, really helpful. And how can our listeners get in contact with you if they want to learn more?

MICHAEL: Yes, look, LinkedIn is probably the easiest way. I have all my details there; my number is 0438 051 985 or you can email me, [email protected]

WILL: Yes, and second to that, any of the listeners, feel free to come through to MARKHAM and we can point you in the right direction.

OK, that wraps it up. It’s been excellent having you onboard today, Michael, and thanks for your time! To all the listeners, please don’t miss any of our next episodes. Have a great weekend! Thanks.

MICHAEL: Cheers, Will, thank you.