In Episode 15 of Behind the Facade, Jake from Proline Group and Daniel from Complex Facade Install go back to where it all started. Each of them brought a stack of old photos on an iPad, picked one of the other's, and asked for the story behind it. What comes out is an honest look at the early years and what it actually took to get to tier one.

Jake opens with his original red induction card from February 2006 and a message for everyone asking for the quick way to the top. There isn't one. It takes time and reps. Daniel's first photo is from September 2012, sitting on a roof with a bucket, and it turns out that was the day he nearly walked away from Complex to become a PT until Matty talked him round. Jake's photo from January 2017 takes him back to being 22 with a nine month old daughter, a house he couldn't afford, moving into his factory in East Keilor and losing money just to go to work.

From there, Jake tells the story of the van he bought off his old man for $1,000, driving to Ballarat in winter with the window stuck down, and Ryan, who worked six weeks without pay and is now his construction manager running a $1 billion hospital job. A question from Jace leads into the day they met, a Friday invoice that went in at 3:30 PM and was paid by 5 PM, and the phone call where Jake told him he was going to build the biggest cladding company he'd ever seen. That leads into a real conversation about cash flow and how payment terms can strangle good businesses.

Daniel takes us through writing "you will not outwork me" in his notebook after moving to Queensland at 26 to set up Complex's interstate division, Complex's first hospital at Waurn Ponds and a skylight that leaked like a sieve, putting in the first of around 15,000 panels at Australia 108, a 500kg glass panel near miss, a CLT curtain wall job where the building grew 30mm, and lifting nine metre sheets of glass 70 levels up at Swanston Central. Jake also covers landing next to a three metre tiger snake on site, how he awarded himself Melbourne's number one cladder, and the shed in East Keilor that was his office, bedroom and showroom all at once.

If you work in construction, facades, cladding, glazing, subcontracting, trades, estimating, project management, operations or business ownership, and you've ever wondered how to get there faster, this episode is two blokes who did the time telling you why you can't skip it.

Timestamps:

00:00 Fifteen episodes in seven months, Jake's 2006 red card and why there's no shortcut to tier one

08:22 The 2012 bucket photo and the day Daniel almost quit to become a PT

11:21 22 with a baby, a house he couldn't afford and losing money just to go to work

16:19 Waurn Ponds, Complex's first hospital and a skylight that leaked like a sieve

21:55 Cladding letterboxes and why the small jobs teach you everything

26:00 "You will not outwork me", coffee shop contracts and going solo in Queensland at 26

33:19 The $1,000 van, the neighbour's forklift and Ryan working six weeks unpaid

37:08 Jace's question, an invoice paid the same day, the start of Proline and why cash flow is king

47:43 Australia 108, the first of around 15,000 panels and the Starburst lift 72 levels up

57:34 Ryan's question: landing next to a three metre tiger snake

01:02:30 How Jake made himself Melbourne's number one cladder and filled a box at the MCG

01:07:30 Chompers' pick: a 500kg glass panel near miss at Waurn Ponds

01:11:44 The first CLT curtain wall job and a building that grew 30mm

01:17:16 Jake's East Keilor office, bedroom and showroom, mentors and doing your own marketing

01:23:44 Swanston Central, nine metre glass 70 levels up and why you can't skip the hard years