Southern Cross Developers

Our Staff. Our History. Our Vision.

We have the tools

Our ownership of extensive plant and equipment minimising down time waiting for hire companies to provide equipment.

Award Winning Developments

Our award winning track record is proof of our commitment and quality. SCD is recognised as one of Albury, Wodonga and the regions’ top builders.

Competitive Pricing

We can bring considerable cost savings to projects through thorough design and planning processes, identifying issues before construction starts.

Great Support

With a staff of 11 and an extended contracting force we are able to handle any size project from $10K to $20mil

Certified Systems

We are a company with certified Quality, Health & Safety and Environmental Management Systems.

Phoenix Concreting

We have a close relationship with local concreting business Phoenix Concreting.

SCD People

At Southern Cross Developers we support the old adage, “you are only as good as your workers”. That is why we only employ fully qualified and dedicated workers who take real pride in their work and get a satisfaction from seeing their endeavors culminate in buildings of distinction.

John Tyrrell, Director

John has over 30 years experience in the building industry. Following his bricklaying apprenticeship he worked in Britain and the USA mastering his trade and gaining valuable experience in construction techniques. Upon returning to Australia John assembled a bricklaying team large enough to tackle any project between Sydney and Melbourne.

He and his team were the masonry contractors on many projects of all sizes including many multi story buildings in the alpine resorts.

John and his team won many awards for excellence in workmanship on prominent projects such as the Wodonga Police Station and courthouse complex and the Albury Base Hospital and the Cultural Centre and The Scots School Albury.

Southern Cross Developers evolved from John’s bricklaying company and has grown in leaps and bounds. Different to most other construction companies today, Southern Cross Developers employs many tradesmen rather than solely relying on sub contractors which gives the company far greater control of both time frames and quality.

This has been shown in the results over the past few years where Southern Cross Developers has won many industry awards and been chosen as Regional Commercial Builder of the Year – North East in 2006, 2010 and again in 2011.

Brian Sawyer, Business Construction Manager

Locally born and bred with 20 years commercial construction experience Brian has recently joined the Southern Cross Developers team as our Business Construction Manager. Whilst completing his Diploma in Architectural Building design Brian commenced work experience with a large local tier two builder. Following the completion of the course he was employed full-time working as a Junior Estimator and worked his way up through the ranks in Estimating, Contract Administration, Contract Management, Project Management and Design Management on various Aged Care, Health, Educational, Community, Industrial, Government and Defence projects. During this time Brian also completed a Bachelor of Construction Management with the University of Newcastle. To meet the ever increasing requirements of larger commercial project bids Brian was appointed to the role of Submissions / Business Development Manager where he was involved in around $3b of tendering over a 10 year period.

Bringing a level of professionalism and expertise, Brian’s motivation to move to Southern Cross Developers in October 2016 is to take the business to the next level by increasing business opportunities; building and maintaining sound working relationships; overseeing all estimating, design and construction activities as well as maintaining Southern Cross Developers excellent safe working record.

Adam White, Project Manager

Adam has worked in the construction industry all of his working life. Originally working as a carpentry sub contractor Adam then became an estimator for a commercial construction company, was promoted to Site Manager and then became Construction Manager, all this time working on commercial projects including many in the aged care and government institution areas.

Adam moved to the Albury-Wodonga area and worked as a Site Foreman and as a Maintenance Manager before moving to Southern Cross Developers in 2007, initially as a Contract Administrator before taking on the role of Project Manager in 2008.

David Van Zanten, Contracts Administrator, Health & Safety Officer

Dave joined the Army as an apprentice carpenter in 1982. Whilst in the Army Dave was trained as a surveyor and worked in this field for three years before becoming a construction supervisor. After leaving the Army in 1992 he worked as a sub contract carpenter for some years and obtained his builders license. A break from the industry for a few years saw him complete a Cert V in computer programming and work in the IT industry until 2001.

Moving to the Albury/Wodonga region Dave ran his own business until, in 2008 after predominantly carrying out housing and renovation construction work, Dave came to Southern Cross Developers as the Contracts Administrator. His responsibilities now have grown to include OH+S, Environmental and Quality Management.

Marge Nichol, Office Manager

Marge commenced with Southern Cross Developers at the end of December 2012. In 1978 Marge qualified with a Bachelor of Business Studies majoring in Accounting and Computer Programming. During her working career, she has worked in Accounting and Office Management roles at LG Howard Industries, Howard and Gibb, Cooper Group, Worsley Black and Partners, Ultimate Design and Build and Australian Lutheran World Services. Prior to joining Southern Cross Developers, Marge was self-employed for 27 years in Darrell Lea Chocolates and Mid States Records, where she not only worked in the store but also did the finances. During 2009 and 2010, she lived and worked in Papua New Guinea working in the finance and missions offices at Bethel Centre in Tokarara, Port Moresby.

Marge is our Office Manager and Accounts/Bookkeeper.

Joel Odewahn, Site Manager

Joel completed his carpentry apprenticeship with Southern Cross Developers and is progressing in his career. Joel is fast becoming an extremely competent and respected site manager.

David Mills, Bricklaying Foreman

David has worked for John in his various companies for over 25 years. He is an expert bricklayer and has a keen eye for quality and finish.

Mark Simon, Site Manager

Mark has worked for Southern Cross Developers in various roles over the years. Mark is one of our site managers and runs some of our larger projects.

Apprentices

Southern Cross Developers are committed to ensuring future tradesmen receive quality and training in order to maintain the building industry, with one apprentice currently employed.