McDonald Jones Homes founder and owner Bill McDonald has been awarded the highest honour possible by the Housing Industry of Australia – the 2015 Sir Phillip Lynch Award of Excellence.
The award pays tribute to Bill’s vast achievements including his leadership, innovation and generosity. It honours a person in the housing industry who has provided innovative and valuable contributions to the industry, whose integrity cannot be faulted and whose attitude at every level is one of excellence.
Bill started his building career as an apprentice carpenter in Newcastle in 1965. After two decades on the tools he made a bold decision to start his own business. McDonald Jones Homes is now the largest volume builder in New South Wales and one of the fastest growing building companies in Australia following recent expansions into the ACT and Queensland.
A humble Bill said the award was a great honour, but his success was a reflection of the great team he had developed to support him over the years.
“McDonald Jones Homes is a family,” Bill said. “The people who work in the business share my passion for creating dream homes for families, and giving generously to help the community we live in. We all share the same vision and work hard to achieve it.”
Bill said the organisation has enjoyed success during many industry downturns over the years. He said at the moment McDonald Jones Homes was enjoying increased support from homebuyers when many business were reporting tough economic times. McDonald Jones continues to expand, last year launching a sister business Mojo Homes, which will start building its first home this month. The business also now has display home sites in New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland.
Despite this success, one of his most outstanding and enduring contributions is Bill’s community work. This includes the establishment of the McDonald Jones Charitable Foundation, which generously supports the work of the Maitland Hospital Foundation, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Last year the Foundation carried out their most adventurous and successful project to date, the ‘Build for a Cure’ project, which raised more than $780,000 for the Children’s Cancer institute. Next week a trade show will be held in Newcastle to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation and the Maitland Hospital Foundation.
Bill is also a life member of the HIA. He joined the association over 25 years ago. He has served on the Newcastle Branch Committee and the Hunter Regional Executive Committee. Bill played a significant role in the establishment of the Hunter Region committee and he was the region’s inaugural president, a role he held for seven years. Under his presidency membership grew from around 750 to over 2,500 members. As a result of this expansion, the Hunter outgrew its accommodation twice and in early 2008 moved into the current custom built premises, which encompasses state of the art training facilities and the Home Inspirations Centre.
