Inspired by the 1950s and 1960s, modernism, Charles Alexiou and his business partner, award-winning architect Lam Pappas, created MCM Homes to bring back forgotten design ideas and decades of innovation to the Australian market. Utilising these great ideas with improved contemporary building materials and refined building techniques, these universal design ideas have been cleverly re-awakened in the MCM Homes and Granny Flats to create their own brand of avant-garde modernist homes, but operating with the primary goal to reduce any risk in the process and make it as simple and effortless as possible for their clients.
With a background in Nuclear Physics, Applied Mathematics, and a long and distinguished former career in Investment Banking and Software Design, Charles is uniquely positioned in keeping project costs to a minimum whilst reducing risk and adding value to clients’ property and maximising their return on investment.
Below we caught up with Charles to learn more about his journey within the building industry.
Q. What inspired you to get into the building industry?
Charles: My father was in the construction industry and as a child, I spent most of my school holidays on-site. I guess I internalised the message and developed a passion for it.
Q. What was your biggest startup challenge and how did you overcome it?
Charles: Convincing those around me was a challenge initially however I kept going irrespective and they finally understood and jumped on board.
Q. What tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?
Charles: That’s a tough one. We often confuse the urgent for the important so every day, I set myself a few tasks from the important stable that I must do before I go to sleep.
Q. What are the main concerns buyers are now facing?
Charles: The main concerns that all buyers are facing at the moment are: obtaining finance, interest rates and affordability or cost blowouts.
We can’t control the first two (2) but we can take measures to reduce risk and potential cost blowouts.
Q. How do you and MCM Homes address these concerns?
Charles: We have partnered with and worked with strong, reliable, experienced, quality Australian builders, small and large, to bring the best competitive prices to our home buyers.
Firstly, we secure a fixed-price contract with the builder of choice. We reduce the risks of supply chain challenges and procurement by focusing on ‘affordable bespoke’ vs ‘the project home shopping market’.
Q. What are your thoughts on the issues builders are currently facing and how this may affect prospective buyers?
Charles: In these unprecedented post-Covid times it doesn’t matter how small or large a builder is, the entire building industry is experiencing the same supply chain challenges.
Our job is to tailor a solution for our homebuyers, pre-empt potential challenges and minimise risk.
Q. Tell us a little bit more about what the process of working with MCM Homes entails.
Charles: Our role is not only the design but the delivery of a quality home. Quality control is a high priority for MCM Homes. We project manage every build to the annoyance of our builders but they know the drill and have grown to understand what we expect from all our suppliers.
To learn more from Charles, connect with him on LinkedIn, or contact MCM Homes to find out more information on building your next sustainable home.
