SIERA builds the runway for sustained strong growth

The Challenge

SIERA has always run on strong systems. The challenge, as the business moved into larger and denser projects, was building systems that could scale with it.

"Building a vertically integrated development and construction company was always my goal," SIERA Founder and Director Brent Thompson begins. "I grew up in a house where Dad was a builder, and I spent the ten years after school working my way into a position to do it, through a carpentry apprenticeship, construction management, and then my own builder's licence. SIERA started in 2014 with one site in Carina, an area I knew well."

Since then, SIERA's projects have grown in size and complexity, meeting the increasing demand from an established owner-occupier market across South-East Queensland. Today, SIERA is delivering three marquee high-rise projects on the Gold Coast: Tapestry, Exhale and Canopy.

"From the very beginning SIERA has been systems-focused, and not only for efficiency gains. Systems are how you hold a standard, how you stay accountable, and how you repeat a result,” Brent says.

“Strong systems are the foundation of any successful business, and when you combine them with exceptional people you get exceptional results, time and time again."

All construction is complex, but a project worth hundreds of millions and running several years needs large consultant teams coordinated across every phase. Systems, record keeping, document control and communication are critical, and up-to-date, accurate information needs to be easily accessible in real time, across every team.

"When you think about scaling, it can mean taking on more and more developments,” Brent says. “Here at SIERA we’re running a vertically integrated model, so scaling means taking on more of the delivery of each development and doing it more efficiently and economically. That improves both the return and the outcome. We needed a platform that could help us do that across both development and construction."

"We’ve always run good systems since day one," Brent says. "What we identified with the larger projects we were moving into was that we needed systems that allowed us to scale. Procore was the perfect fit, and implementing it has been immensely successful."

The Solution

SIERA moved to Procore in 2023, ahead of commencing work on Tapestry. As both developer and builder, the team needed a complete, connected and real-time view of the project lifecycle from day one.

"For us, construction really starts when we acquire the land," Brent says. "All of that information needs to be captured as early as possible so that it can flow through the development team into the construction team as seamlessly as possible."

"The most experienced high-rise construction teams and consultants we now work with are familiar with Procore,” Brent says. “It's the go-to system for all the contractors in our space. We knew it would give us the most runway for what we wanted to do now and into the future."

Procore gives the team visibility and continuity from development application and design through to construction. On site, that extends to drawings, diaries, inspections, quality records, photos, defects and RFIs.

"If you think of an elite sports team, they all wear trackers in the back of their jerseys: top acceleration, how far do they run, how many big efforts did they do, monitoring their recovery," Brent says.

"If you want to be elite at what you do, and we very much are striving to be, you need ways to measure performance, issues and defects. Procore enables us to do that. Otherwise you are just hitting and hoping."

The Results

• Problems resolved where they happen: Current drawings and markups are available on site, so issues can be resolved where they’re found.
• A quality record that stands up to inspection: Inspections, ITPs, checklists and photos create an auditable record for certifiers and engineers.
• Onboarding measured in minutes: New team members, consultants and subcontractors can access current project information from day one.
• Performance tracked across projects: Centralised project data enables teams to track issues and defects, and carry lessons from one project into the next.
• Evidence for lenders, certifiers and partners: A complete project record shows banks and other stakeholders how a major project is being managed and delivered.

Solving site problems on the spot

Ask SIERA’s Head of Construction, Tom Stirling, what Procore changes on site and his answer is immediate.

"It's just the fact that everything you need is at your fingertips. You can get things sorted out while you're standing on site, exactly where the problem is," he says. "With our inspections, incomplete works, defects, site diaries and photos, it's all in one spot that everyone's got access to."

"You're not searching through someone's email to find what you need. It's the consistency and uniformity across each person and then each project, so if someone's off sick or away, it's tracked and logged and you can find it. You don't have to wait for them to come back."

"Say you're up on level 20 trying to find a detail with a steel fixer who has an old plan that they've printed out, you can pull up the current drawing, zoom into it, do a markup and send it from where you're standing."

"You've fixed it straight away without wasting an hour getting down to the bottom, reprinting it and bringing it back up. You walk away knowing the job's done, and done properly."

For Brent and Tom, that’s the difference the right systems make in practice: giving teams the real-time information and tools they need to keep work moving.