ADW Johnson
Our Story
Our Backstory
The roots of our company started growing circa 1980, with two of our founding Directors (Scott Robinson and Michael Nelmes) being good mates, but working in separate companies in Newcastle and Gosford along the eastern seaboard of NSW. Both were qualified surveyors, but deep down held town planning and engineering desires!
Scott and Mick continued working in their respective companies as they slowly grew, sharing stories of successes and difficulties along the way. As both companies grew, both had the same fundametal survey base, but each started growing different branches – one into engineering and the other into planning.
The companies continued to grow and through Mick and Scott’s friendship, started using each on projects to complement their own service offerings – if you can’t do the work yourself, best to work with those you trust to deliver!
Through an entrepreneurial lens, in 2006 Scott and Mick identified an opportunity for both companies to come together and become a larger entity with a broader skill set, allowing it to better service clients needs and take on larger projects over wider geographical footprint.
Becoming ADW Johnson
On 1st May 2008, both companies officially merged and ADW Johnson was born – a team of around 65 people, specialising in project management, town planning, civil engineering, contract admin & superintendancy, and surveying.
A few months after the merger the GFC hit the world economies – so much for smooth sailing! The fact that we successfully navigated through this challenging period so soon after merging was reinforcement that we had solid foundations to build upon in the future.
“It’s through adversity that some of the strongest foundations for success are laid.”
Mick N (Director)
Our Growth
Growth for the sake of growth has never been one of our business goals. We focus on stable organic growth, primarily lead through the retention of staff. As a testament to this, we now have around 125 staff, of which around 33% have been part of our team for 10 years or more – something we’re extremely proud of!
Over the years, we’ve also grown our service offerings to branch out into supplementary fields of business to better serve our clients and also offer more ‘in-house’ career opportunities for our team. Our latest service offerings include landscape architecture, urban design & structural engineering.
“If you do nothing more than just reliably do a good job, you’ll grow.”
Scott R (Director)
The Next Phase
It’s been 16 years since the merger to become ADW Johnson and over that time we’ve become one of the leading land industry consultant firms within NSW with a well recognised, respected and trusted brand.
As part of our succession plan, we appointed two new Directors in January 2023 – Mark Kelly and Matt Owen. Shortly after, Mark was appointed as our Managing Director. In July 2024, as a further extension of our succession plan, we appointed Lincoln Gibbs as a Director. Lincoln, Mark and Matt have both worked at ADW Johnson for a number of years, are well known by staff and clients alike and we believe are a great addition to the Board of Directors to drive the company into the future.
We also have a Senior Management Team, with representatives from all departments, that assist in the management of the company, our team, and our vision for the future.
“When we look at how much we’ve grown over the last 16 years, along with the quality of the staff we have, you can’t help but be excited about the future!“
Mark K (Managing Director/General Manager)
Culture: A Non-Negotiable
Culture may be just a word to some, but to us we live and breathe it – it’s one of the fundamental pillars of our success to date. However, culture can’t be cultivated overnight and requires collective buy-in and reinforcement – something that happens automatically within ADW Johnson due to around 33% of our 125 strong team being part of our team for 10 years or more.
We’re a premium service provider and aim to be a leader in all fields of business we operate in. To achieve this requires a strong internal support framework for our team, along with the flexibility for our team to follow their instincts from time to time, without fear of failure.
“We like our team to operate within a framework of ‘Guided Autonomy’. People will do their best when they’re exercising their own creative brain. The things you need to make really clear are: what the objectives are; the niche; the ground rules; the financial parameters and the ethical parameters. We spell all that out and let them know that if they tick all of those boxes, they can do whatever they like.“
Scott R (Director)
Our Team, Our Greatest Focus
Our team are our most important asset – they dedicate a large chunck of their lives working with us and in-turn, we focus on providing an environment and conditions that makes this as enjoyable as possible for them.
Our aim is to have our team working with us for their entire professional careers, allowing them to reach their own professional aspirations and having fun whilst doing it!
We place a great focus on building strong relationships with each individual member of our team, knowing their aspirations and working hard to provide pathways to achieve them. We’re proud that we’ve got many staff who have changed career profiles whilst working with us, from: draftpersons becoming superintendants; administration people becoming project managers; surveyors becoming superintendants, project managers and directors!; plus many more.
“The strength of our business is largely due to the quality of our people.“
Matt O (Director)
