When you’re in the business of tackling difficult, niche jobs, your tools often become your trade. That’s especially true for Troy McGuire, owner of TJM Earthworks, a Sydney-based earthmoving and demolition company specializing in complex demolition projects.
Troy has a history of forming smart partnerships with solid brands and people he can truly rely on. He believes the best relationships are built on trust—something you just can’t buy. “It comes down to what you’re comfortable with, you know? That’s what you run with,” Troy shares. “You need a good team base. People that you can just call upon at any time. And that’s what we have around us—a good network.”
But winding back the clock, Troy’s journey into earthmoving was about going back to his family’s roots. “I left school back in 96. Then I went on to do my apprenticeship and became a plumber,” he shares. “But at some point, I’d had enough of that and, because my old man came from an earthmoving background, I hassled him to let me buy a little machine and he finally gave in. So, we started TJM about 18 years ago now.”
TJM has enjoyed steady growth over that time. “The main difference is where the business is now from where it was,” Troy explains. “There’s 15 of us now, whereas before it was just me and Dad. It’s a lot different managing people and the higher volume of work. And I’m very hands on. I can’t get myself out of the seat.”
Indeed, this kind of expansion wasn’t really the plan. “We’ve kind of just grown through builders that have asked us to come on board,” Troy says. “It’s not something we planned – you know, ‘In the next five years we’re going to have x, y, and z’. There was none of that. But we try to be user friendly and work with people, not against them.”
Having kicked off in the railway space, they eventually changed tack completely. “When I was starting out, I was lucky enough to get a couple of contracts in the railway,” Troy says. “So, we did that for about 10 years and worked for a bunch of different people. But, when the railway started to change, I wanted to come back to where I started – the civil side of things. So that was the waterfront excavation, rock soaring – the tricky stuff. That’s what we do.”
Having been in demolition for 15 years, those more difficult, niche jobs have become the kind of work Troy and the team can’t get enough of. “It’s what we get up for – what we enjoy,” he explains. “We turn up to a job where it’s a mountain or a big hole or something like that, and we get so excited. We spend the next few weeks coming up with all these stupid ideas on how to deliver the job. And then we always come up with the right one. So yeah, once we get a tricky job, we get excited and really put a lot of time into it.”
Of course, it’s an area that takes extra skill and a keen attention to detail. “There’s a lot of safety issues. A lot of components,” Troy explains. “You make a wrong move, and you don’t come back from it. So, you really have to slow down and be a couple steps ahead of yourself before you get there.”
The business boasts a generous fleet with around 35 machines on the books. “Case is our main source of excavators. They have good backup – you can ring anytime and get great service,” Troy shares. “I began dealing with Paul back when he started at Kubota, years ago. And we just had a great vibe. And eventually, after we went over to EEA, he ended up there, too. And we just kept the relationship. Paul’s a good asset to EEA.”
Starting out with a VIO 50 before moving onto Case and the Kubotas, for Troy, it’s always been about going with the best. “We always buy new. That’s what works for us,” he says. “And we don’t really go and look for the best price. It all comes down to the backup service and the quality.”
Of course, in the demolition game, it’s the attachments that really make or break the business “We have the OSA MC15 and the MC5, which we run in our little machines from the 8-ton down to the five,” Troy explains. “When we buy our attachments, we try and buy them in a class where they’ll work on a few different machines. So, we’ve got the one from the eight and down. The other goes from the 14 and up – it’s no good to go the 14 and down, it would’ve got mixed up. And another reason we went with the MC15 Is you can put a shear attachment on it. So, it’s a concrete pulveriser and it can also be your metal shearer as well.”
Troy says OSA is quality you can see. “They’re made of good materials,” he says. “It’s just good robust equipment, so you can tell it’s not going to fail on you. They’re a big bulky bit of gear. They’re not flimsy. Everything’s big. You can see nothing’s going to break. They’re good, reliable, and solid.”
Solid is important in demolition. “With a pulveriser, you really give it a belting,” Troy says. “You’re twisting and turning and there’s a right way and the wrong way to use them. But when you’re bringing down a house, you’re just going to do what you have to do. And with the MC5, we’ve really given it a rattle on the 5-ton and the 8-ton. And it doesn’t stop. Every opportunity we get, we always get it out there. And it’s been a great part of the business.”
With attachments being so important, a trusting, long-term relationship with the team at Boss Attachments has been a key factor in TJM Earthworks’ success. “I’ve dealt with Livio for 15 years now. And he’s never let us down,” Troy says. “Whatever we’ve needed, it’s always been there. It’s very streamlined. And he’s the same crazy guy I met back then. He hasn’t changed. He’s just one of a kind and the sort of guy you want to buy off, because he’s proven himself.”
Livio is a bit of a name in the industry, and it’s no mystery why. “It’s his never-fail, can-do attitude,” Troy shares. “You ring him for something, he’ll make it happen. I don’t think he has the word ‘No’ in his vocabulary. And that’s vital. Because when you really need something, you don’t want to hear ‘No’ on the end of the phone. You need them to just sort it out. When we’re ringing up for an attachment, it’s not because I’ve got a six-month lead time. I need it next week. And with Boss, I’ve never had a drama. Livio’s always got stuff on the shelf. Parts and service – it’s all there under the one roof.”
Indeed, Boss and the phrase ‘above and beyond’ seem inextricably linked. “It’s the sort of business where you text him at 8.30pm on a Saturday night and he replies to the text. He doesn’t finish at five. The business never stops. They hit the ground running in the morning, so we never have to apologise to our clients. Whereas, a lot of other firms close the doors at five then don’t open until 8.30am – they don’t even discuss the next day until then. Boss never turns off. That’s probably why it seems so streamlined.”
It doesn’t hurt that Livio and Troy seem to share a lot of the same values. “Livio is still out on the ground, like me,” he says. “This is who I am, this is what I do. This is my business. I don’t go and sit in front of the computer. And every time you see Livio, he’s covered in Grease. He’s absolutely swinging spanners. That’s what makes the business, you know?”
You just can’t beat that high-touch service from the owner himself. “Livio, he knows what it takes to get something done,” Troy explains. “He knows that he can get it done because he’s the one who’s actually delivering it. Other companies are relying on other people. And someone who works for you never will do what you’ll do. You know, when they’re on their hourly rate on a Saturday night and they’re out with the boys, it’s like, yeah, I might just ignore that.”
Everyone who works with Boss has stories. And Troy’s no exception. In fact, right from the start he knew these people weren’t like the others. “The first time I met Livio I had to go and get a bucket and he said to meet him up at Boss’s factory there at Somersby and I’m thinking ‘Who are these blokes?!’ All they were worried about was me. So, you saw straight away what they’re about.”
It’s clear Boss has a uniquely personal way of doing business. The priority is always to just get you up and running. Get what you need. And he doesn’t come back with a red-hot price. So, yeah, he’s unique. There’s only one Livio.”
Unique. Reliable. Highly skilled. We reckon it takes one to know one, eh Troy.
