Jimi O’Keeffe is our company secretary and director; he will also be the man on the ground doing all the dirty work.  Jimi started out by completing a four-year apprenticeship in building and construction and was already being left in charge of small development projects during the third year of this training.  After deciding to go out on his own, Jimi took on work from small decks and pergolas to frame, lock up and fix for some of Victoria’s largest volume builders.  With a new house, marriage and family about to start, Jimi felt it was time to tone down the extra hours and never ending paperwork and began work in the commercial building industry for Australia’s largest concrete placement company as a form worker.  While going about his business working on large projects like Costco and ikea, Jimi was approached by a representative from the company’s remedial arm.  And so it began.

Projects such as major concrete refurbishment to jetties and boardwalks in lakes entrance, complete facade restoration of the Victorian state library and the virtual demolition and reinstatement of dilapidated balconies of Edgewater tower were completed in his first 12 months with the company.

A brief stint at the Victorian Desalination Plant followed, epoxy injection, waterproofing, and polyurethane injection were jobs completed regularly during Jimi’s stay down in Wonthaggi.  Carbon fiber strengthening of many Northern and western ring road overpasses was completed under strict time constraints with shifts normally rolling for 24 hours a day for 3 or more days.  Mt Bogong, part of the snowy mountain scheme, was another shutdown type project working over half a kilometer inside said mountain to stop water egress from 20 liters per minute down to less than 200 mils per day.  Polyurethane injection was used to stop water ingress at the loy yang power plant cooling tower feeder pipe from 30,000 liters per day down to nothing.

After setting a high standard and showing attention to detail, Jimi became a leading hand and was entrusted with managing a small crew of his own or working in tandem with one other to complete jobs with small timeframes.

Jimi has been involved in the completion of many remedial jobs in Victoria’s rail corridor.  Small epoxy injection jobs in Epping, South Morang and Mernda were completed on time and within budget and large bridge repair jobs in Dunolly, Donald and St Arnaud were met with high praise from both client and stakeholders. Shutdowns in the metro tunnel section of Melbourne’s rail system have been attended on well over two dozen occasions, with polyurethane injection in difficult conditions with time limits par for the course.

Various domestic jobs including pools, basements, garages, lift shafts and stairwells were always completed promptly and cleanly, with the clients best interests always kept in mind.  Jimi has prided himself on leaving a residence just the way it was upon arrival and has had numerous calls from clients who have shown their appreciation.

Grout placement to wind farms, bridges, headstocks, voids, plinths and redundant pipes have all been completed with aplomb, with Jimi normally as the machine operator and site organizer.  Large or small amounts have never been a problem with Jimi’s knowledge of pumps, products and problem solving solutions.

To sum it up, there’s not many projects in the state of Victoria that have required remediation that Jimi has not worked on in some capacity.  From Road and bridge upgrades, to shopping center extensions and upkeep of some of Melbourne’s oldest and most used structures, he’s seen it all.  Time in the industry means knowledge is abundant and a deep understanding of specifications and requirements when working on projects of all sizes. Now with a stake in his own company, Jimi intends to use all he has learned over the years to perform at the highest level, on time with the highest quality.

Leigh Driscoll is also a Director of the Company; He prides himself on his broad and extensive skill set, knowledge and contact base which has enabled him to be where he is today.

At 16 Leigh started and successfully completed his apprenticeship in Carpentry where he hand fabricated timber stairs working for a niche company that was one of only three of its kind in Victoria. He made everything by hand including bending timber and hand carving hand rails.

Once qualified Leigh wanted to expand his knowledge and skills set so went on to work for himself and build houses.  During this time, he worked for multiple prestige builders across Melbourne who focused on building multimillion-dollar Development’s.

By the time Leigh moved on from domestic building he was running projects from start to finish with crews of up to 15 men. After 7 years in the domestic sector he became unsatisfied and felt he could learn no more in domestic building he then made the decision to move on to bigger things and add to his skill set.

He moved over to the commercial sector. He hasn’t looked back.

Straight up he began working for Melbourne’s largest concrete company as a Foarmworker.  Using the skills he had already acquired, it didn’t take long before he was made lead hand, running small crews, liaising with builders and communicating on all fronts to ensure the day to day running of jobs went smoothly.

It soon became evident to Senior Management that he had shown he was more than capable of supervising large crews and running multi-million dollar projects.  As site supervisor he ran large crews on projects such as: Point Cook Town Centre, South Melbourne Spotlight developments, Aquatic Center developments across Melbourne, Melbourne Myer CBD redevelopment, Springvale Ikea, Ringwood Costco and Melbourne Tennis Centre.

These types of developments don’t come with out everyday problem solving, time management, material estimating, site set out, client meetings, paperwork and project forecasting all which Leigh did with ease, skill and professionalism.

After having done all of this and still having age on his side, it was time for a break from his everyday life, so Leigh resigned to move overseas to Canada with his partner. Fast forward 12 months he returned home to Melbourne was married and without hesitation he was offered his old job back as Site Supervisor but focusing on site defects and closing out projects where he begin to work closely with Remedial technicians.  Leigh requested a transfer to their remedial division and there was no question or hesitation that this was to next on Leighs list.

After 6 months in this new division Leigh was head hunter by a Director of another Remedial Company. He was an integral member of this fast growing company where is was a senior Site Supervisor and helped cement them into the Remedial industry.  Throughout the 3.5 years spent at these two companies Leigh honed his knowledge and techniques.