James Shields: When you look to partner with a party, be it a subcontractor, a developer, or a landowner, what are some of the values that you look for?

Nunzio Pellicano: To get a reputation is not easy because all it takes is a couple of slip-ups and your reputation is gone. Our advertising was by word of mouth. With our developments, obviously we are very good to our suppliers – they look after us and we look after them.

James: I'm aware of that reputation. It's testament to the group.

David Mansfield: Nando, given the amount of properties you currently have with us, what do you value the most in that 20-year history we have?

Nando Pellicano: The first project we did as developer-builder was the Quest in Glen Waverley. That was around 20 years ago and at that time we primarily did business parks, industrial, commercial, retail; we didn't really do residential or serviced apartments. I'd been following the Quest model for a while and you were one of the only ones who offered a lease at the time. And the reason we liked the Quest product was it is very much like an apartment. So it's more versatile than just a hotel room.

David: James and I feel that you were the first to go to BTR, build-to-rent. How did you see that opportunity before many others?

Nando: The first BTRs we built were actually in the '70s. But we just really liked the model and that's when we started integrating Quest with some of our BTR. We think it's very complementary. The first one we did, where we had Quest and put a few floors of residential on top, was in Robina [Queensland]. Since then, we've done Preston and Geelong [in Victoria], which have both.

James: Nunzio, you've seen the stock market crash, COVID, SARS, airline crashes, the whole lot. What is it about Pellicano that endures?

Nunzio: When things get tough, you've got to have the experience. And if you've got to roll up your sleeves and get down and work, regardless of the hours, the secret is: keep your doors open, don't worry about profit. Profit will come. We always made sure that we had a buffer and we still have to have a buffer going forward because this is a very unpredictable time.

James: What does the future look like for the group?

Nando: One of the key things we've always wanted to be is flexible. We've never just wanted to be one thing or be put in a box. There's always challenges, whether it's COVID or the oil price or war or construction prices. So moving forward it's just more of the same – being flexible and looking for the right opportunities.