leadership, and peer learning. “Training is a magic bucket—put $20 in, $200 comes out,” Stroud says. Face time counts, too. Commercial flights were too unreliable—so Stroud invested in business aviation to visit franchises freely and frequently. “It’s not glamour; it’s access. You learn more walking their sites and meeting their teams than you ever will over Zoom.” The stickiness shows: franchises are signing third five-year terms; several are now eight-figure net profit businesses. On the Good Builder podcast, Stroud’s Wide Bay franchise was cited as the largest franchise of any kind in Australia, with 144 housing starts in 12 months. FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE—AND WHY STROUD KEEPS CLIMBING Two shocks defined Stroud’s operating philosophy: the GFC (2009) and the post-COVID cost spike (from 2022), which James estimates shuttered 50% of Australian builders. “We focused hard on financial management. We’re not the loudest discounter; 29 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 07, ISSUE 10 STROUD HOMES
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