AHB Group defies industry odds to record strongest year amid worsening construction storm

Key industry bodies are warning the construction market is facing one of the worst storms since the energy crisis in the mid-1970s but for Victoria’s second-largest homebuilder, AHB Group, the time to get ready for the next boom is during the crisis.

It’s this mindset that will see AHB Group, founded by Pasquale (Pas) Garofalo and Charles Agius in 2005, defy industry odds to record its strongest year to date in business with a forecast revenue growth of 37 per cent for FY23 and a notable 245 per cent increase from FY20.

Through a diversified portfolio of seven sub-brands - Sherridon being the most notable - AHB Group has approximately 2,100 homes currently under construction, and a further 2,600 pre-site contracts signed, making it the second-largest builder in Victoria, and ranks fifth in Australia. While some 1,900 plus construction companies entered administration or appointed a liquidator this financial year, AHB Group worked with VMIA to increase its insurance facility by 80 per cent to $1.2B.

“Given the economic turmoil the industry was facing, we wanted to give our customers that reassurance but if it were not for the state of the market, increasing our facilities was not necessarily something we would have looked at. It’s ended up being a huge opportunity as we now have the capacity to take on higher volumes,” explained Pas.

“The last few years presented us with lots of opportunities to take on work from other builders but that wasn’t something that appealed to us. We knew to get through these uncertain times we had to focus on our people, talent and systems development, so instead we just focused on our own business and kept making adjustments, focusing on both our weaknesses and strengths.

“Areas we invested in were people, product and price. Over the past three years, we implemented and refined a software platform for cohesion across our multiple brands. This is now very entrenched in the business and makes us very scalable as it allows for resource sharing and has helped to streamline multiple brands.

“We also invested heavily in our team and hiring the right people - this has been pivotal to our success and really turned our customer experiences around.”

Since 2021, AHB Group has added 110 new team members to its state-wide operations.

The AHB Group caters for a vast array of the residential market; specific divisions that specialise in residential construction for both greenfill and brownfill sites via Sherridon and Marque; townhouse developments through Soho and medium-density development through Guilden.

Looking ahead, AHB Group will continue to diversify into other segments of the market including land lease builds, warehousing, land subdivisions, co-building with land developers and agents and continuing to grow its affordable homes component of the business. It will also continue its regional expansion under its Sherridon brand, with four out of five of Sherridon’s offices located in regional Victoria and a further two office sites recently acquired to open soon.

“Our promise to our clients remains the same, when it comes to the construction of your home, what we start we will finish. We’re a strong building company.”

For more information on AHB Group, please visit https://www.ahbgroup.com.au/