Like many kids, Jesse Plostins had high flying dreams to become a footy player growing up. However, he’s taken that passion to growing his carpentry business in the glitzy Gold Coast residential scene.
If you’re a bloke in Victoria, chances are you’ve dreamt of playing in the AFL one day.
Jesse was one of those kids, and to his credit he made a fair crack of it.
From playing under 18s in the Talent League, to suiting up in the VFL for the Sandringham Dragons, Jesse was a gun.
But injuries kept Jesse sidelined enough to make him consider a different career.
He landed on carpentry.
“I kinda fell into it to begin with,” Jesse said.
“I grew up in Melbourne chasing the Aussie dream of playing AFL – I had put all my eggs into that one basket.
“I fell short … I ended up needing to find a qualification of some kind. A family mate was a builder, so I started working for him as a laborer. Then I ended up going into carpentry.”
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Laying the foundations
So Jesse go to work on his carpentry life in Melbourne where he did his apprenticeship.
He admitted, however, that the footy dream died a slow death.
“When I started out in Melbourne, I was still putting a bit too much time into footy,” Jesse said.
“When I stopped playing because of a few injuries, the work ethic and quality went up massively.
“That led me to doing more jobs on my own as well as bigger jobs on the weekend.”
Qualifications in hand – Jesse eventually decided to go it on his own.
“The motivation behind starting your business is creating your own brand,” he said. “Having that financial freedom to be able to spend time with the family and do some quality work you can be proud of.”
And where better to set up shop, than the Gold Coast?
Golden opportunity
Jesse’s plate in 2023 was full enough as is starting his own business on the Gold Coast.
He and his wife Bridget also renovated their home in Victoria before moving up, and decided to start a family at roughly the same time.
“It’s been a rollercoaster that’s for sure,” Jesse said.
Once he, Bridget and little Leo settled into life in Goldy, he started his business – J Squared Constructions.
Jesse got the idea for his business name from a mate he worked with in Victoria, whose business name is J1 Constructions.
“I jokingly said to him once ‘you’re gonna have to call it J squared soon’
“The name sorta stuck with me.”
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J Squared Constructions primarily works on high-end residential around the Gold Coast.
Cladding, framing, pergolas … you name it, Jesse and his team does it.
“I didn’t have a lot of business experience with things such as quoting,” he said.
“You learn pretty quick that if you’re not winning jobs, you’re not making money and you’re probably better off going and working for someone else.”
One thing that helped J Squared Constructions get started was Carpentry Australia.
“Once I set up my business, I signed up,” Jesse said.
“It was really great to have that support behind us and show on our website that we were a part of Carpentry Australia.”
Find out more about J Squared Constructions online here or on Instagram
@jsquaredconstructions