Joining our series for a rare and exclusive interview on this episode are Mick Power AM & Scott Power - the father-son pair behind one of Australia’s largest and most successful privately owned urban development & construction firms, the BMD Group.
Established in 1979, the BMD Group has grown exponentially throughout the course of more than four decades - from humble beginnings in Brisbane to a leading National business that now boasts an international footprint, encompassing 2000 team members, revenues exceeding $2bn per annum and over fourteen offices positioned strategically across Australia.
Though it’s early foundations concentrated largely around providing engineering services on a smaller-scale in the residential subdivision space, the BMD Group has evolved and expanded rapidly, with the firm now incorporating five distinct business divisions, including BMD Constructions, BMD Urban, Empower Engineers & Project Managers, JMac Constructions and Urbex - the sum total of which combine to provide their public, institutional and private clients a full-service offering across the property development, engineering design, transport infrastructure, civil construction and project management sectors.
A family business at its core, BMD was established five decades ago as a partnership between Mick Power, his wife Denise, his brother in law Bevin and sister Beverly, and whilst Mick & Denise acquired the remaining shares in the business from Bevin and Beverly twelve-months after launching, the firm’s unwavering commitment to its people remains evident through its emphasis on ‘family’ as a fundamental value within its operating model.
Mick Power AM has served as the company’s Founder & Group Board Chairman for more than forty years - he commenced his career aged 19 with Leighton Contractors in 1969 as their first cadet, working on major infrastructure and mining projects as Manager of Central Queensland before steadily rising through the firm to eventually become the Area Manager of the Gold Coast region.
Following a decade with Leighton and combined with the firm’s move away from smaller scale (sub-$200k) contracts, Mick saw an opportunity to launch his own business, BMD, and utilising a $12,000 superannuation payment from Leighton, began undertaking lower-priced residential subdivision work with Hooker Rex (now known as Fraser Property Group), completing infrastructure and civil works across a number of residential subdivision projects.
By 1993, BMD was generating over $40m of revenue and had 120 staff with the business continuing its rapid growth including a Major Properties and Major Projects division and the opening of new offices in Townsville in 1994, Darwin in 1997 and Melbourne in 1998.
Fast forward over the next two decades and under Mick’s leadership, BMD further expanded into New South Wales (2000), launched its own development company (Urbex, 2003, acquired construction firm
JMac (2005), expanded into South Australia and the ACT (2007), Western Australia & Tasmania (2015) and the Philippines (2017) - during this period, the business also launched its Industrial division in addition to growing out its service offering across its various business lines.
In his current role as Group Board Chairman, Mick provides high-level oversight & guidance to the Board of Directors and across the BMD business whilst also having pursued a number of other interests, including 27 years as a Board Member of the South Bank Corporation, Board Member of the Brisbane Lions Football Club, Honorary Ambassador to the City of Brisbane, accreditations by Engineers Australia, Surf Life Saving Foundation Vice Patron, BMD Northcliffe Surf Life Saving Club Patron, Wynnum Golf Club Patron, Honorary Lifetime PGA Membership and Wynnum Manly Leagues Club Patron.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Scott Power currently serves as the BMD’s Group Chief Executive Officer, a role he has held since November 2020 following a career of nearly three decades with the company.
Scott is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology, having completed a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng., Hons.) as well as a graduate of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, having completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
In addition to leading BMD through its next phase of growth, Scott is a Board Member of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia as well as a Board Member of Australian Owned Contractors.
Our exclusive interview with Mick & Scott Power shares their incredible journey & success behind the BMD Group, the practical business lessons they’ve learnt over more than four decades and the fundamentals for building and maintaining strong corporate culture.
Proudly produced by Ready Media Group.
