Nailing it! Nick is 23 and running his own construction company
- Nick started as an apprentice at 15 and now, at 23, runs his own construction business
- He loves homebuilding, happy clients, and attention to detail
- Nick started wearing Steel Blue boots after winning a pair in a competition – and has “always bought them since!”
At 15, Sydneysider Nick Filacuridi couldn’t wait to throw away his schoolbooks and pick up the tools of his new trade.
“I just constantly wanted to be building things, to be moving,” Nick said. “So, when my neighbour approached me and offered me some work, I jumped at it.”
Nick has never looked back. In fact, his trajectory has consistently been onwards and upwards. After a year working with his neighbour, mostly doing smaller, handyman-style work, Nick joined a residential construction company as a second-year carpentry apprentice.
Now, aged just 23, he’s a licensed builder running his own construction business, NF Build, on Sydney’s northern beaches – working on domestic properties in suburbs like Manly, Fairlight, Mosman, and Seaforth.
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A passionate home builder
Nick is passionate about building and renovating houses.
“I’ve always loved flicking The Block on the TV and stuff like that – being inspired – and I just feel like you can get more of a sense of control when you are building homes,” he said. “All that city work, the commercial work, is a bit hectic, and you’re dealing with a lot of stress, a lot of different trades. But I like the idea of having your own residential company and working with locals and building the local community up.”
Success has come early for Nick, but it hasn’t come by accident. He has an entrepreneurial spirit, but he combines that with hard work and a love of people.
“Ever since I started as a second-year apprentice, I’ve always taken on my own little jobs on the weekend – whether it was cleaning someone’s gutters, building gates, just getting extra cash,” he said. “Then, just once I had the passion for talking with people, negotiating prices, and seeing them happy after an end result, I just wanted to keep that ball rolling and developing my own name.”
A focus on detail
When Steel Blue spoke to Nick, he had three jobs on the go – two bathrooms and a unit renovation.
“I’ve got a whole crew of subcontractors and an apprentice about to start,” he said.
That’s a lot of business admin, but what Nick still loves most is being on the tools.
“Honestly, I love simple things, like organisation, and the detail on the smaller things; because they’re the things that I find my clients love to see,” he said. “They walk in, they see a neat tidy job site, but they also still see a really detail-focused worker – they’re happy, and I like when they’re happy; it’s almost a better feeling than getting paid.
“And obviously a bit of demolition is quite fun. I do like swinging the sledgehammer and getting the big jackhammer out!”
Why Nick chooses to wear Steel Blue work boots
Nick got his first pair of Steel Blue work boots when he won a competition on Instagram.
“As soon as I slipped them on and started working in them, I just loved them, and I’ve always bought them since,” he said.
His current favourite pair are Hobarts with a scuff cap.
“It’s the comfort, especially of the sole in them,” he said. “They’re probably thicker than any other boot I’ve worn, so I feel like I can jump down from a scaffold and feel solid when I land. “They’re just a well-made shoe—especially in the front where the toes needs to be protected.”
Head to your local Steel Blue stockist to discover work boots that are a mark of true skill, or shop online.
