There Were No Unknowns For Us

Putting discipline at the core of figurehead construction helped it survive both the global financial crisis and the covid-19 pandemic, says managing director Joe Grasso.

- Anne Majumdar

NAME: Joe Grasso

COMPANY: Figurehead Construction

POSITION: Managing Director

LOCATION: Melbourne, Australia

Even as a child as young as six or seven, Figurehead Construction Managing Director Joe Grasso loved drawing house plans and flicking through building and design publications – a passion that led him to pursue an architecture degree. However, when an influential tutor told him that he had a “building brain”, his path was altered. The guidance resonated so much that he changed his degree to property and construction. “The rest is history,” Joe says.

With a strong blue-collar work ethic instilled in him from a young age by his Italian migrant family, Joe was the first person from his family to graduate from university. Not only did he study hard, but he also filled his extracurricular calendar with work experience at a large-scale industrial building firm. “For me, there was no choice,” he explains. “It was important I obtained my degree alongside gaining as much experience as I could. I’ve always been in a hurry.”

After graduating, Joe took a position with Westfield Design and Construction before heading to Mirvac. During his five years with the company, he worked on the regeneration of the Docklands, breaking new ground with large-scale, multi-unit residential developments across Melbourne. “The economy was buyout and the multi-residential sector incline had very much kicked offin Melbourne’s suburbs,” he recalls. “Looking back now, that was probably the catalyst for the birth of Figurehead.”