When two former corporate engineers branched out on their own in business five years ago, the world was flung into a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Paying attention to client needs and specialising in these areas were key to their success.
When Red Fox Advisory (RFA) opened its doors in August 2019, co-founders Ben Schnitzerling and Anthony Schmidt – former Arup executives – were the only ones manning the shop.
Propped up by a contract executive assistant and a seconded engineer, the duo worked on high-end advisory work such as dispute resolution over the first six-months, Schnitzerling said.
“We had imagined there was a particular service people would buy from us, which was around distress recovery,” he added.
Towards the end of 2019, RFA took on a “dream job” for a New Zealand-based client running the Auckland Airport Infrastructure Program, for which they helped to build a multi-story car park.
Despite this progress, an event no one could foresee – the COVID-19 pandemic – hit the globe soon thereafter.
“While we were doing some work in Queensland, the majority was out-of-state,” Schnitzerling said. “We were working in New South Wales, New Zealand and Tasmania – and then overnight, we couldn’t travel.”
Realising the circumstances couldn’t be changed, RFA opted to adapt and innovate.
“Going from a big corporation to a small business, we learned that you can plan all these things but then there are disruptions such as COVID-19,” he said. “So you have to respond and latch on to other opportunities that come along.”
For RFA, this entailed conducting a business review to ascertain what worked and what hadn’t.
“Whenever we worked with people, we would ask ‘what do you find is not being offered in the market?’ and ‘What do you actually need?’”
Listening to the clients rather than us telling them what they need inspired a switch up to their business model.
“Clients told us they don’t have anyone who offers good, pragmatic engineering advice and helps them avoid problems, so that’s what we aimed to provide,” Schnitzerling said.
Taking chances and branching out
During the early stages of the pandemic, when businesses were downsizing and moving out of the city, RFA’s two-person team took a lease on an office and recruited its first full-time staff member.
Around the same time, they benefited from opportunities in more traditional engineering services.
“That was our real, key opportunity to move forward,” Schnitzerling said. “By the end of 2020, RFA grew to eight people.”
A subsequent prompt from an old colleague in Perth then led to jurisdictional expansion.
Despite not being able to travel there at the time due to COVID-19 restrictions, RFA opened an office out west.
“We looked at WA and Queensland deliberately, because they have similar styles of business but different styles of industry to NSW and Victoria,” he said.
These days, RFA does everything from starting projects in early planning to detailed design and contract delivery through its team of 30 in Brisbane, 10 in Perth and one in Rockhampton.
“It’s engineering, procurement, and construction for small-to-medium scale jobs,” Schnitzerling said.
This size enterprise was deliberately targeted to influence overall delivery.
“Often working on a largescale job it takes on a life off its own, so your ability to influence and deliver great engineering work becomes diminished,” he said.
“In Queensland, we take on challenging jobs, so our junior staff see projects all the way through, so they become well-rounded engineers.”
Serving the community
Of all the projects RFA has participated in over the last half decade, two standout to Schnitzerling as “Hero projects”.
“We’re working on Birtinya Footbridge for [residential developer] Stockland, which is a complex, long-span pedestrian footbridge on the Sunshine Coast over Lake Kawana,” he said.
RFA had the opportunity to get involved in the early stages of the project around conducting maintenance and constructability reviews, with Stockland supporting the company to take on the whole delivery of the job.
“Not only are there some really interesting technical challenges, the procurement approach we took was also quite unique in that we got the contracting in early so we could get their input and optimise the design with them,” said Schnitzerling.
The project has also been crucial for engineering development, with staff able to learn new skills.
“One of our structural engineers got to learn MIDAS structural modelling and work with very senior people around some really unique things such as wind analysis,” he said. “That job is a great example of how we can influence a project to get a great outcome, but also develop engineers along the way.”
The Birtinya Footbridge will be a key asset during the 2032 Summer Olympics, allowing people to walk from the Sunshine Coast Stadium to entertainment precincts and public transport hubs.
“It’s lovely when you see something built and operating, and that people are getting value out of it,” Schnitzerling said.
Another standout project is the Byford Rail upgrade in Western Australia.
“Public transport in WA is a big investment, with a strong commitment from government to get that going,” he said. “And Byford is the missing link in the wider METRONET program.”
A number of RFA engineers are also involved in getting that job to the finish line.
“Trust has been instilled in us by the government and the contractor – who have given us free rein to get the job done so the trains can run on time.”
A five-year plan
Red Fox Advisory has continued to grow with the appointment in 2022 of their newest Director, Michael Price. From here onwards, RFA’s goal is to expand the business to a critical mass in Queensland and Western Australia.
“There’s a perception that you have to offer all services and dominate the market,” Schnitzerling said.
“Our view is that you don’t. We want to be the best we can be in these fields and then work with others to reach a shared goal of delivering projects for the community.”
Looking forward, Schnitzerling envisions engineers are going to have to grapple with “doing more with less”.
While there’s often an urge to invest in new technologies and systems during times of uncertainty, RFA’s message to staff is that “the best investment we can have is in you”.
“People don’t buy our software or tools, they buy individuals who can think,” Schnitzerling said.
“We’re trying to get people together in simple ways to problem solve by having conversations to work out what we’re trying to achieve, the problem definition, and the steps we’re going to go through to get there.”
Whether they opt to use tools, data or AI – having a strategic vision of where a project is headed to reach the client’s desired outcome is the key.
“Mobilising a massive data system and setting up the models at the outset can make things too complex,” he said. “Elegance is in simplicity, and we want to be able to provide really elegant solutions to our clients.”
Find out more about their service and team at www.redfoxadvisory.com