30 years of Bailey Homes

Story by Petra de Mooy.

Page left: In 2013 Bailey Homes won the prestigious Home of the Year at the HIA Awards with this home in Maslin Beach. Above: A lovely natural toned space showing rammed earth, polished concrete, exposed beam and stunning stone veneer.

Don Bailey is honest and direct. When we sit down to discuss thirty years of Bailey Homes with his wife Carolyn and their daughter Jessica, he is clear on two things. First, we need to get the story right. Secondly, at the root of Bailey Homes’ success is his family and their team.

The Bailey Homes story starts in 1975, when fifteen-year-old Don dreamed of being an airforce pilot. Still a school boy, Don realised his dream job wasn’t going to work out. ‘The physics was just too hard,’ he says. ‘That really devastated me and I just wanted to leave school.’ The way out, according to dad Stan, was to find a job. Don began an apprenticeship in carpentry. The apprenticeship took him to Adelaide for four years, with Don learning his craft through the turbulent economic conditions of the 1970s, considering himself fortunate to be kept on as an apprentice during the recession. By 1980, Don had his ticket. He moved back to the family home in Victor Harbor and began working for local builder Barry Briggs. ‘Briggsy was a real inspiration to me. He took me under his wing and helped me out on jobs. He taught me how to quote and I learned quite a lot from him,’ says Don. Under Briggsy’s guidance, Don got his carpenter’s licence and started his first small business – Don Bailey Carpentry Contractor.

The next few years were a time of personal and professional growth for Don. Still a very young man, Don wanted to expand his horizons, travelling to Queensland following the money available in building within the mining industry. He also lived and worked in an Aboriginal community at Indulkana (northern South Australia) where he helped to build kit homes for the local community. Around this time Don also reconnected with Carolyn Toop who he’d first met in high school, keeping up a long-distance relationship during his travels. ‘That was all quite sweet,’ recalls Don. ‘He wrote me lots of letters,’ adds >

Top left: Striking view down the passage showing polished concrete and reflections from the low windows. Top right: Large windows complement the raked ceilings enhancing the the seaside location of this luxe beach house. Bottom left: An early home in the Marina Hindmarsh Island. Bottom right: 2008 HIA Award Winning Home for ‘Lightweight Construction’.

Carolyn. Upon returning to Victor Harbor Carolyn and Don solidified their commitment to each other, marrying in 1983.

The newlyweds bought a block of land at Port Elliot previously owned by Don’s parents and it was there they independently built their first home. Don continued building the fledgling Bailey company with contract trade work, but he harbored bigger aspirations. ‘Early in my building career I knew I wanted more than being a carpenter. I wanted to be a builder,’ says Don. ‘I have always enjoyed the complete process from design to completion.’ In 1985, Don gained his builder’s licence. He was just 25 and the youngest ever applicant at the time.

Always planning their next move together, Don and Carolyn took a chance and built a spec home. Again the economy threw challenges in their way, with interest rates skyrocketing. Don and Carolyn were forced to put both the spec home and their first home on the market, but to their delight the starter home sold and they were able to move into their brand new spec home. Alongside having children Don and Carolyn continued to work together to support these early forays into the building industry – Carolyn maintaining her teaching job while doing the books and Don also doing extra work on the side. In 1991 Bailey Homes officially incorporated, with Don and Carolyn as directors. They wanted to create a local company that prided itself on high quality work at a competitive price. Their first slogan read: ‘It’s better built with Bailey Homes.’

Things really started to take wing in 1995 when Don and Carolyn bought their office space on Victoria Street, a small cottage which has since been expanded and improved to include a selections room, board room, courtyard and modern offices. The street frontage furthered their commitment to their business and Victor Harbor. At the same time, Bailey Homes also began to be the preferred building contractor for new developments in Encounter Lakes and on Hindmarsh Island. The Baileys proudly tell us they’ve now presided over more than fifty projects on Hindmarsh Island alone.

Top: 2017 HIA Award Winning Home for ‘Greensmart Sustainable Home’ – an 8-star energy efficient home in the Beyond Development. Bottom left: 2018 HIA Award Winning Home for ‘Country Builder’. What a great deck to enjoy the Murray River from. Bottom right: A view to the sea from the Bailey’s 2013 ‘HIA Home of the Year’.

While Don and Carolyn have always been the heart of Bailey Homes, the business has grown with the support and hard work of their daughters. In 2004, Don and Carolyn’s oldest daughter Jessica took up a traineeship at Bailey Homes. It wasn’t a planned move – Jess had originally planned to become a midwife, inspired from a very early age by the care her sister received as a premature baby. But, like father like daughter, Jess decided to take a different path. ‘I just fell in love with it,’ she recalls of working in the business as a trainee. She did a course in finance and took over the accounting and reception of the Bailey Homes business. ‘I think seeing all of Dad’s hard work growing up gave me pride in the company, and to be part of it was very fulfilling,’ she says.

Jess joined during a boom time in the South Coast’s building industry. More housing developments meant more building contracts and more display homes for the Baileys. In 2005, Jess also put the business up for its first Housing Industry Association award. Don and Carolyn had never pursued awards, seeing it as big-noting themselves. Jess took it upon herself to work through the process and with that first submission gained the business an award. ‘Pretty well every year since then we have had an award,’ says Don. 2013 was particularly memorable, with the team winning the Home of the Year award – the highest building achievement in South Australia – alongside four other awards.

After twenty years as a teacher, Carolyn also joined the business full time in 2004. Since then, Jess’ husband Anthony and the Bailey’s youngest daughter Janessa have also joined the business, bringing their different skill sets to the family enterprise. Alongside her office management and administrative work over the years, Carolyn also identified a niche in the Fleurieu market for a quality landscaping company they could recommend to their clients. In 2014 the Baileys decided to fill the void forming Coastal Landscapes and Fencing. The company now fulfills landscaping contracts for Bailey Homes as well as contracting throughout the region. >

Top left: Don Bailey in the Victor Harbor office. Bottom left: Don and Carolyn Bailey (left) at home with daughter Jessica and son-in-law Anthony. Top right: The young carpenter Don in 1983 whilst working in Indulkana. Middle right: The early site team and vehicles in 1990. Bottom right: Breaking ground on the Bailey’s first display home on Hindmarsh Island in 2001.

Don tells us of these achievements with obvious pride, but on a number of occasions comes back to his original motivation: to provide for his family. He perhaps didn’t imagine the shape this would take all those years ago, with his own father working for Bailey Homes until he was 76 and the next generation now stepping up. The family is surrounded by a great team, who Don credits as essential to the business’ success. ‘It’s so true the business is only as good as its staff and I can say we are very blessed to have a great team,’ says Don. ‘Today as we look at our family business transitioning to the next generation I know the business will be in good hands in the future.’

Over the thirty years, Don has instilled in his team the importance of integrity and maintaining a personal touch. Anyone who’s ever built or renovated a home knows that things don’t always go to plan, which is where these two qualities really shine. ‘All building projects have challenges,’ says Don. ‘The important thing to me has been if there are issues or faults I will always fix them, even many years down the track.’ This philosophy is now embedded in their current branding: ‘your vision, our passion,’ explains Don. ‘Your vision as a client and our passion as a builder.’

It’s only in the last couple of weeks that Don has been working towards flying again, with life now gearing more towards leisure and less towards hard work. He can now return to his first passion, knowing that anyone who goes to Bailey Homes will be sure to receive the same honest and reliable service that Don and Carolyn have brought to every home they’ve built over thirty years.

We are excited to expand Cardijn College Galilee at Aldinga to offer middle years learning Enrol now for Year 7 and 8 2022

Noarlunga Downs | 7-12

Serving visitors and locals alike for more than 40 years. Coffee, quality cakes, gelati and full al a carte lunch, dinner and pizza menu. 17 Albert Place Victor Harbor (opposite Crown Hotel) Ph 8552 3501 • Open 7 days 5.00pm till late.

Christie Downs | 10-12+

Across three schools in the Southern Vales www.cardijn.catholic.edu.au

@CardijnCollege

• Bands • Duo’s • Soloists

• Art Centre • Clubs • Cafes • Restaurants