Luka Vulic has been a long-term Nexia client, both on a personal and business basis. He opens up about what the relationship has taught him about the value of having trusted partners.
Services 4 Buildings – or S4B for short - is an Australian owned multidisciplinary building services consultancy with offices located in Sydney and Canberra.
S4B provides developers and builders with strategic advice about the design and construction of their projects– from mechanical to electrical engineering, through to lifts, fire, hydraulics and sustainability, their expertise is critical in both new and re-furbished developments.
Under sole owner Luka Vulic’s leadership, S4B prides itself on creating a better built environment by delivering creative engineering solutions through; engineering leadership, commercially considered sustainability, collaborations and engagements between clients, staff and directors.
Having built an enviable reputation in this respect among an impressive list of clients, S4B is focused on consolidating their position as a highly valued and trusted partner in an industry facing an increasing number of regulatory hurdles.
With Australian cities in the midst of rapid population growth, property development will grow with it, but that also meant planning guidelines were becoming more complex, according to owner Luka Vulic.
“The challenge for developers is being aware of and meeting the different regulations that apply in different jurisdictions,” Luka said.
“While town planning is nothing new, there are a range of different approval processes and rating schemes than can be specific to different authorities, developers and builders need to be aware of them if they want their projects to be delivered on time and somewhere near budget.
“That’s where our expertise plays a critical role, our job is to make sure that any new development is compliant in a wide range of ways, giving the developer and the builder the best chance of delivering a quality product.
“So, we need to be a trusted advisor our clients can rely on.”
Luka added that the challenge for S4B is to continue to attract quality expertise who can add to their business offering.
“The nature of service based consulting means you have to have a wide breadth of expertise to be a value-added partner. I’m really proud of what our team has built in that respect – we need to advise clients on anything from carbon footprint and emission reduction to efficiency in energy and water consumptions, as well as the key infrastructure elements,” Luka said.
“Ensuring we can always deliver and keep improving our offering is what drives us.”
Luka and his team of 22 have been working together for eight years, after he formed his own company after a foreign buy-out of his previous employer.
“One of our first clients was Westfield (now known as Scentre Group), and we were engaged to work on the refurbishment of the Westfield Sydney City redevelopment,” Luka said.
“I think it was testament to the relationships we had developed previously that we were given that opportunity. Now, they remain one of our loyal clients and we’re working on the upgrade to Centrepoint tower.”
Providing trusted advice was something Luka said he could appreciate from both sides of the fence.
He said that Nexia had proven to be a trusted partner, in the same way S4B has been for its own clients.
“I was initially referred to Nexia on a personal finance level and they have been brilliant advisors over a long period of time. I never thought I’d be reliant on them to help run my own business as well – but it’s a fact,” Luka said.
“Mark O’Shaughnessy once said that one day he’d be advising me about my business, and I think I laughed at the time.
“Nexia are crucial in helping me take an objective view and make informed strategic decisions about how we structure the business.
“We wouldn’t have got to where we are today without their support. And being in a service based industry that plays a critical role for our clients I can well and truly appreciate the value of that.”
S4B’s work incorporates both public and private projects, including commercial offices and workplaces, residential, aged care, retail developments, fit-outs, hotels, education and research facilities, industrial and specialised spaces such as pharmaceutical facilities and data centres.
Luka Vulic
Owner, S4B
