hello there, i’m ken!
i’m a recently qualified carpenter currently working for Imperial Builders, a former Master Builders Victoria Builder of the Year (2015) as a leading hand carpenter.
I’m passionate about architecture and design and the building and construction industry. I enjoy solving complex problems, approaching them with a calculated and methodical process in order to deliver a quality result with an emphasis on craftsmanship, precision and attention to detail.
I have completed a Certificate IV in Building and Construction, I am currently undertaking a Diploma of Building and Construction, as well as a Diploma of Project Management specialising in construction thanks to a career advancement scholarship from the MBV Building and Construction Foundation, and late last year I was fortunate enough to receive the inaugral MBV Building and Construction Foundation Mario Biasin Career Advancement Scholarship too, which I intend to put towards the MBV Builders Registration Program towards the end of this year.
my story
Almost three and a half years ago, I stood on the precipice of my 30’s wondering what I wanted to achieve in life. After spending almost a third of my life in a career in sales and management, I found myself faced with the confronting reality that this career was not my path in life - it was not my purpose. As much as I’d grown and developed over the years, deep down I knew I needed change - The problem was, I had no idea what this next chapter even looked like. Growing up, I was always told to study hard, achieve impeccable grades, get into a respectable university, attain a good degree and eventually land a high-paying white collar job - this was the ‘formula’ to success that my culture had instilled in me from a young age. It was the expected path.
I found myself miserably heading down a path that wasn’t meant for me, desperately wanting to leave to find ‘something more’ - something I couldn’t quite articulate at the time. I was paralysed in this state of inner conflict for years, wanting to find something else but not knowing what to look for. It wasn’t until the undeniable agony of my inactivity became greater than my fear of the unknown itself, that I was galvanised into taking the leap of faith that changed my life - I resigned without having a clear plan, without a clear career direction and with a wife who was five months pregnant. This was just the motivation I needed!
Every minute of my time off I channeled into drawing mind maps, looking up different occupations, soul searching to find what I loved, and exploring different career pathways. Despite researching a degree in Construction Management, Project Management and even recommencing my degree in Interior Architecture, I ended up choosing instead to combine my passion for design, the desire to create, to problem solve and to work with my hands and pursue a career in building and construction through a carpentry apprenticeship.
Looking back, I realise now, that the ‘something more’ I was desperately searching for could be succinctly summarised into one word: Ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese philosophical concept that describes that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose. Ikigai highlights that this sense of purpose in life and ultimately true happiness can be found at the centre of four overlapping principles; what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can be rewarded for. For me, my Ikigai is carpentry and building.
Starting a carpentry apprenticeship at 30, I knew I would be amongst peers 10-15 younger than me. I was determined from the start that if I had any hope of closing the gap between what they would be able to achieve by my age, I would have to work twice as hard, study twice as much and learn as much about all things construction and carpentry as quickly as possible.
This meant spending the first 18 months of my apprenticeship averaging 60 hour 6 day weeks, studying a Certificate IV in Building and construction during my first year and learning how to do complete take-offs by my second year. I would spend my nights and weekends reading and trying to understand the architectural and engineering drawings for the jobs we were building including soil reports and specifications to better understand the entire build process. I spent all my free time trawling through my carefully curated, social media and YouTube feed dedicated to building and construction absorbing as much information as I could to fast track my learning. It wasn’t just learning ‘how’ to build, the ‘why’ things were built was equally if not more important to me. Most importantly, I lived by the motto of Jim Carrey’s movie ‘Yes Man’, and saying yes to every job or task no matter how menial, simple, boring or challenging and seeing it as a learning opportunity.
I knew very early on in my apprenticeship that my long term goal was to be a builder, but with carpentry and the building industry being quite broad, I wanted my niche and my speciality to be in high end architectural builds where there would be challenging details to execute, meticulous planning involved, and a high level of precision, craftsmanship and quality expected in the finishes.
My journey and progression demonstrates what is possible when you choose an alternative and ‘unconventional’ pathway rather than the more traditional and ‘expected’ tertiary education and highlights the importance of finding your Ikigai, chasing your passion and committing 110% into your career. I’ve progressed through the industry at a pace that was unimaginable to me and as as a result I’ve been presented countless opportunities including completing my carpentry apprenticeship in just under 2.5 years and the opportunity to site manage a technically challenging, $1.3m pool house build in Kew just out of my apprenticeship, overseeing all day to day operations on site including managing a team of carpenters and trades, liaising with the architect and engineer all whilst the clients are still residing on the property.
The apprenticeship in carpentry has been an incredibly rewarding journey, and it has been the solid foundation to work towards a future as a builder in an industry I’m passionate about; so to receive this nomination for 2023 MBV Apprentice of the year is truly an honour.
Skillsets
-Experience in all phases of residential construction including demolition, site set out, excavation, concrete, structural steel, framing, lock up, fix and defect rectifications
-Experience in estimating quantities and doing take-offs
-Articulate and effective communicator
-Strong networking and interpersonal skills
-Ability to quickly establish rapport and build relationships
-Solution-focused ethos with excellent problem-solving skills
-Strong team management skills
-Creative flair with meticulous attention to detail
-Proficient in Procore, Microsoft Word, Excel, Canva and Squarespace and the ability to quickly grasp new programs and systems
Work experience
Leading Hand Carpenter | Imperial Builders
October 2022 - Current
-Site managing a technically challenging, $1.3m pool house and pool build in Kew with sizeable footprint of 155m2 (pool house and covered pergola) for well known architectural firm Neil Architecture
-Overseeing all day to day operations on site including managing a team of carpenters and trades
-Liaising with the architect and structural engineer to present and solve problems that inevitably arise on site
-Technical challenges of this pool house include building to the boundary with two neighbouring properties, working to an unconventional project schedule due to unforeseen site conditions, incorporating a bund wall to the concrete slab that acts as a retaining wall as the two neighbouring properties are higher than the proposed pool house addition (550mm and 850mm higher), waterproofing the bund wall as well as coming up with a unique method to set out the site set out to minimise the likelihood of mistakes such as building out of square as the concrete slab was an irregular shape with six different RL’s. Other challenges include clients that are still living on the property, dealing with difficult neighbours, excavating a site that had significant underground services including electrical, plumbing, agi drains and sprinkler systems as well as footings and concrete for the existing house.
-Making changes to structural steel to suit engineering requirements such as reducing hole spacings in PFC beams from 900mm to 600mm as per engineering drawings. Adding additional holes and steel tags to beams to reduce timber waste and reduce framing time.
-Recommending construction methods to the client and architect to ensure design intent is achieved. For example the proposed ceiling will be lined with VJ panelling, but due to the panels being made of MDF, the available sizes of the panels and the size of the room being greater than the length of the sheets, it meant that an expansion gap was required to accomodate any movement and dimensional expansion and contraction due to fluctuating temperatures and humidity. To eliminate the ‘unsightly’ gap, I proposed incorporating the expansion gap as a shadow line, and painting the blocking that supported the edge of the sheets/shadow line the same colour as the VJ panels, that way even if the panels shrunk, the shadow line wouldn’t have a change in colour.
-I proposed using Pro Clima house wrap products to my builder despite being a more expensive option over a standard house wrap for the pool house. The upside of using a better quality house wrap meant that it offered a secondary barrier of protecting the house from any potential water ingress, but it also meant inside works could progress even if the roof and parapet cappings wasn’t completed.
Apprentice Carpenter | Systematic Carpentry
July 2022 - September 2022
-Framed three luxury townhouses in Beaumaris
Architectural Door Hardware Installer | Circa (Showroom by Bowens)
March 2022 - Current
-Recommended by one of Australia’s leading architectural door hardware suppliers (Two Tease Architectural Hardware) to install a range of European mortice locks and door hardware (AGB and Formani) for a display pod in Bowens architectural finishes and products showoom Circa. The AGB/Formani hardware display pod included over 50 different types of handles and 40 mortice locks. These were all installed on custom made display panels with a laminate finish which meant the margin for error was slim to none, especially for the visible rounded face plates of the AGB Polaris mortice locks.
-Ongoing work with Circa installing a range of architectural mortice locks and door hardware including brands such as DnD, Iver, Pitella and Novas.
Apprentice Carpenter | Dome Building Projects
August 2021 - July 2022
-Worked on over ten sites, ranging from $1m - $8m.
-Spent six months in a workshop environment which was a unique mix of carpentry, joinery and woodworking. Became well-versed in workshop machinery including a panel saw, bandsaw, thicknesser and jointer as well as a drum sander.
-Honed my craftsmanship and precision skills, often working to 0.2mm - 0.5mm tolerances.
-Part of a two man team which made and installed a highly complex cedar feature ceiling for BE.Architecture at Shakespeare Grove, Hawthorn. The ceiling had a lot of intricate details made with over 400 individual pieces, including a mixture of cedar veneer panels and solid cedar straps, panels angled off the ceiling to create different reveals and panels where the widths reached close to 2.8m wide with specific grain directions and angles. I took the lead on meticulously planning, calculating, and breaking down the architectural plans into the individual pieces, using trigonometry extensively as well as doing the site set out to ensure the potential for unsightly gaps were eliminated as it was to be a caulk free install. A bedhead and fireplace were also made out of the same materials and design to compliment the feature ceiling.
-Created samples for architects, often workshopping ideas with a construction manager to come up with “how” to build and execute complex and challenging details. These finished products would often be made using hardwoods such as American Oak which required extreme precision as the use of fillers and “builders bog” to hide mistakes weren’t an option.
-Wrote an Excel spreadsheet for a Construction Manager which reduced the manual calculation of custom made cavity sliders to 1/10th of the time. The spreadsheet only required the input of six measurements and was able to calculate the quantity and measurements for all the pieces of the cavity frame, as well as what door sizes needed to be ordered.
-Established a reputation as “Jig Lord”, creating complex router jigs to create precise, repeatable and efficient cuts/shapes into timber. In one instance, I made a dovetail jig for American Oak skirting boards that was able to route out the two opposing pieces in five minutes, where as the previous hand cut technique would have taken over 40 minutes. This brought down an estimated one week/two man job to a two day/one man job to create close to 50 dovetail joins. Another jig I made was used to route out five $2000 doors to house a Fritsjurgen pivot hinge with only 3mm of the door “skin” left on either side of the hardware.
-Specialised in architectural door hardware installation which included routing out complex concealed hinges, mortice locks and pivot hinges.
Apprentice Carpenter | Reed Built
November 2019 - July 2021
-Contributed towards eight large extensions/renovations, including six from start-to-finish.
-Heavily involved in all aspects of the build process including setting out, excavation, laying steel reinforcement, pouring concrete foundations and slabs, setting stumps, erecting structural steel, framing, lock up and fix as well as defect rectification.
-Tasked countless times with running smaller jobs on my own, including instances where I was leading a first-year apprentice.
Apprentice Carpenter | Reed Builders
September 2019 - November 2019
-Part of the team that built the Lexus Marquee for the 2019 Melbourne Cup
Sales Manager and Store Manager | Giant South Yarra
July 2011 - April 2019
-Working alongside the business owner in every facet of the business from sales forecasting, stock procurement, inventory management and day to day operations
-Forging relationships with schools and clubs, including submitting tenders resulting in a long term relationship with some of Melbourne’s leading private schools in the heart of Toorak and bayside based triathlon squads
-Developing and implementing strategies to increase sales through sponsorships and product placement
-Handling all the administrative duties including ordering, receiving, pricing and liaising with suppliers
-Managing a team of five which included scheduling and overseeing workflows for the sales and service team
-Handling customer complaints and disputes, ensuring a positive outcome for both the customer and the business owner
-Providing seamless support and service to a varied client base that included corporate customers and charity organisations
-Handling complex sales transactions including sales to overseas customers, payments utilising finance options and transactions that included financing on sales and discounted items which would have otherwise been ineligible for finance (This was achieved by creating a new system that streamlined the calculations of deposits and repayment amounts, whilst ensuring the business was not exposed to additional costs or risks. This resulted in a 300% increase in financed sales)
Entrepreneurial experience
Co-Founder | Duck Luck
(2016 - current)
Duck Luck creates and supplies premium quality Vietnamese coffee to over eight cafes around Victoria and Tasmania. As Co-Founder, I was responsible for the branding, website content and management, product sourcing, partnerships, and business development opportunities.
Founder | Bicycle Emporium
(2012 - 2019)
I created Bicycle Emporium, which helped facilitate the transaction of second-hand bikes with the goal of achieving the highest possible resale value and offering customers a streamlined service. Since its inception, I’ve handled over $250,000 worth of products.
Founder | Press Supply Co.
(2012-2016)
I started Press Supply Co. after seeing an opportunity in the market to source and supply custom-made cycling musette bags and bamboo fibre cycling socks to businesses, local bike shops as well as local cycling groups. Previous customers include Deloitte, REA Group, Giant Bikes Australia, and Hurford Hardwood.
Website design experience
Reed Built
Duck Luck
Personal Resume
www.kennethlim.co
Education
Diploma of Building and Construction
2022 -
Diploma of Project Management
2022 -
Certificate III in Carpentry
2020 - 2022
Certificate IV in Building and Construction
2020
Diploma of Leadership and Management
2012
Certificate III in Retail
2011
Bachelor of Interior Architecture (deferred)
2008-2009
Monash University
Victorian Certificate of Education
2007
Box Hill High School
Languages
English (native)
Mandarin (basic)
Hokkien (basic)
Personal achievements
Recipient of the inaugural Mario Biasin Building and Construction Foundation Career Advancement Scholarship in 2022
Nominated for Box Hill Institute Apprentice of the Year 2022
Recipient of a Building and Construction Foundation Career Advancement Scholarship in 2021
Competed in a mixed martial arts fight in 2018 (and won! currently undefeated at 1-0)
Completed the Melbourne Marathon in 2015
Completed the Melbourne Ironman in 2014
References
David Tankovic
Director of Imperial Builders
0422 131 007
Greg Doriean
Work-based delivery teacher for Certificate III in Carpentry - Box Hill Institute
0466 549 773
Dalila Yorke
Manager of Circa (Showroom by Bowens)
0434 496 136
Steve Chambers
Door Hardware Specialist - Circa (Showroom by Bowens)
0401 474 961
Satnam Sekhon
Director of Dream Fabrication
0449 102 213
