ACG Newsletter • October 2024 Edition

CEO Update

During the month of October we started to see some storm activity on the east coast of the country, mainly afternoon thunderstorms with some isolated hail. Although we are yet to see any significant claim volumes, we must be ready as a major event could happen any day now.

With the number of jobs in construction at some of our lowest levels of the year, we used this opportunity to hold an offsite ELT workshop and our 2024 leadership camp. Both events were an incredible success, allowing leaders to connect from around the country and to have some fun participating in tribal wars and team building activities – congrats Stingrays! Most importantly, the leadership team collaborated to set our vision for 2025 and beyond, which is “Becoming BEST”!

As a group of leaders, we have a unique opportunity with the Talent, Technologies and Trades to truly become Australia’s BEST insurance builder and restorer. I have always firmly believed that “what matters most to our clients, MUST matter most to us”. With this understanding approximately 70 leaders and 13 executive mentor leaders workshopped what we felt our clients value most from each of our teams. From these values our leaders determined what BEST will look like at ACG for 2025 and beyond.

I would like to thank all team members for your support in providing some of the most cost effective, quality, industry-leading customer experiences day in, day out. I am very proud of the ACG brand, what we stand for and the work from everyone across Australia to make us an industry leader. I am confident that 2025 will be our BEST year yet, and know that all the little things we continue to improve upon are making a big difference for our clients and customers.

Residential News

BEST Large Repair – Over 100k

We’re thrilled to share some fantastic feedback about repair supervisor Ali Hussein! Our customer recently expressed their heartfelt gratitude for Ali’s exceptional support during a challenging time after a storm.

Ali’s professionalism and compassion truly stood out as he helped them navigate the aftermath of their home being damaged. It’s clear that he not only focused on the restoration but also on treating them with the care and respect they deserved.

At Ambrose, we believe in looking after people, not just claims, and Ali exemplifies this commitment beautifully. His dedication to making clients feel understood and supported is what sets us apart.

Thank you, Ali, for embodying the Ambrose spirit! We’re proud to have you on our team!

BEST small Repair – UP TO 10k

Customer Comments

“Outstanding customer service, well done Ambrose, an absolute pleasure to deal with”

We’re excited to showcase our small repair project of the month. This customer feedback really shows how at Ambrose, we believe that no claim is too small and every job matters. Shoutout to our supervisor who managed to have this project finished in just 9 days.

Shout out | 15000 calls this year

Shout out • Gabrielle Kniepp

We’re thrilled to give a shoutout to Gabrielle Kniepp from our claims services team! She just crushed her goal by answering over 15,000 calls this year! Her dedication and hard work make a huge difference for both our team and our clients.

Way to go, Gabrielle—you’re an inspiration to us all!

Meet the team

Jack Williamson

Title: National Make Safe Manager

Length of service at ACG: 4 Years

Insurance experience: 4 years

Jack is a qualified carpenter by trade completing his Cert III, Cert IV and diploma in building & construction, along with a Cert IV in site management. After 13 years in the residential building industry, as a carpenter and senior site supervisor, Jack joined Ambrose Construct Group as a make-safe supervisor and with his skills and experience was soon promoted to the Victorian State Make Safe Manager and more recently National Make Safe Manager.

Jack leads a team of seven after-hours make-safe coordinators, two broker specialists and 30 make-safe supervisors, providing an industry-leading rapid response in metropolitan, regional and rural areas across Australia. Jack has built a reputation as a trusted and enthusiastic professional, with the combination of his technical skills, experience and ever-helpful personality.

Commercial News

BEST Project – Large Make Safe | Kirrawee NSW

Major loss make-safe demolition to a commercial property that was engulfed by fire damage.

Throughout the make-safe the concrete tilt panels and suspended slab remained intact and were propped with over 1500 acro props. facilitate removal of the roof sheets and framing with a 100t crane and 2x excavators whilst mitigating any risk of collapse.

BEST TENDER WIN October | Milton NSW

3 Retail Stores damaged by fire, smoke and soot
Large loss Commercial Claim Valued at $600k+
Extensive reconstruction with BAL compliance
(Bushfire Attack Level)
Demolish and reconstruct the roof and internal areas for 3 shops

Alex Sarafiloski

Title: Project Manager – Construct Services

Length of service at ACG: 4.5 Years

Insurance experience: 4.5 years

I’ve been at Construct for 4.5 years and I believe the positive work place culture at Construct Services fosters collaboration, respect, and open communication among all team members, creating an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered.

I encourage the team and I am encouraged to share ideas, take initiative, and contribute to a shared vision. I believe this leads to greater success and we work together in becoming BEST!

Restoration News

Marshall Restorations – Amazing feedback

Marshall Restoration was recommended to me by a trusted contact in the building industry to help assess the leak and mould situation at my apartment recently when the developer is refusing to attend to the issue. Chris Lucas reached out immediately in less than 12 hours of contact.

Chris was patient, professional and detailed! He asked all the right questions, carefully explained next steps and even brought in a hygienist Leo from LRM Global in 48 hours. The inspection was thorough and carefully documented. Not only Chris shows that he cares, he went above and beyond to reassure me, outlining everything so that I understand what is going on, Chris followed up several times after that
(he didn’t need to at all).

I am so grateful for Chris. I wished every experienced tradesperson and expert carries the ethics and passion like Chris. The world would be a better place for people like me.

THANK YOU CHRIS.

Regards, Juliana – your grateful customer!

FEN Restorations – Amazing feedback

So grateful, professional and empathetic.

You did fantastic with my contents. Especially with the property being so far away and remote.

Xtreme Clean – Amazing feedback

The insured was so happy with Xtreme Clean they asked the insurer for technician Ben to be involved in the building side of a Contents only claim. The insured had nothing but good things to say.

Meet the team

Chris Lucas

Title: Project Manager – Marshall Restoration

Length of service at ACG: 2 Years

Restoration/Insurance experience: 10 years

“Best thing about working at ACG is being able to help people, see the process evolve end to end, and the finish product for the client. And of course, the people I work with.”

What do you do when you are not restoring?
Love spending time with family and watching my boys succeed at sport

Sponsorships & events

During October 2024 members of our Business Development Team were actively promoting all of the ACG brands and services to insurers, underwriting agencies, loss adjusters and insurance brokers at events around the country.

Events included:

Platinum Sponsorship of 2024 Claims Convention in Sydney
Underwriting Agencies Council (UAC) Market Expos in Launceston and Perth
National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) Convention in Adelaide
Women in Insurance Spring Luncheon in Sydney

Significant new business wins included:

Qld, Vic, SA, WA and national
after-hours provider.

appointed to their panel nationally for commercial claims

included on panel for residential, commercial & restoration

Technology team News

The ScopeIT Development Team released further user interface improvements to streamline and save time for Field Estimators scoping new jobs and variations. The performance and stability of the App has also been significantly improved through the Power Sync upgrade with improved memory management. This has been achieved while still maintaining the ability for Field Estimators to scope in remote areas with no mobile coverage using the off-line functionality. The team also completed a proof of concept using Computer Vision AI technology to generate labels for images.

In the Low Code space, the team completed the first stage release functionality of the Restoration Workflow Management solution ‘WrkFlo’ for our Marshall Restoration team on the brand-new Microsoft Power Platform stack, and the team are well progressed with further enhancements and automations for this incredible new application. This powerful solution empowers restoration technicians to manage their jobs, timesheets, consumables and equipment enabling real-time cost control whilst the back-office integrates to Power BI and Business Central. The restoration-specific approach to job scoping including contents manifesting, and detailed reporting with multiple site visits has been developed in ScopeIT to compliment and enhance WrkFlo processes. The team plans to roll out the complete solution to the Queensland Marshalls Team in November.

The DNA (Data & Analytics) Team delivered several client-specific solutions on October, keeping the Group responsive and dynamic to the changing reporting needs of our Clients. Internally, the ‘Live Budget Tracker’ was a major tick in the box to enable Group, Entity and State oversight of budget tracking in real time, empowering leadership to be on the front foot with decision making prior to end of month.

The IT Services team continue to focus on Cyber Security as a top priority in alignment with our Clients’ individual requirements – while also balancing priorities such as system reliability, scalability, cost and support to the ACG Group. Last month they achieved an A-rating for UpGuard’s Cyber Security Scorecard and earned a welcome complement from the Steadfast team!

Safety team News

Best practice when working with legacy engineered stone

Recent changes in legislation are seeing trades adapting to new processes to remove and reinstate legacy engineered stone. These processes reduce the use of power tools and focus on using adequate controls to mitigate the risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica. Previously power tools may be used which would generate silica dust however, with the new legislative requirements trades have adopted new processes using different methods to reduce or eliminate exposure to silica dust. Trades are still permitted to use power tools however, there are stringent controls required to mitigate the risk of silica dust such as on tool dust extraction, establishing containment etc.

ACG was fortunate to recently attend a site with one of our trades and capture this process on video which will be used throughout the business to show what best looks like when working with legacy engineered stone. This is what Best looks like within our industry and the construction industry as a whole.