Built from experience.
Guided by purpose.
"Construction has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My goal with Cultivate is to bring everything I've learned — craft, process, building science, and care — into a company focused on creating better homes from the ground up."
In many ways, construction has always been in my DNA. My dad owned and operated a hardware store, so I grew up around timber, tools, fixings, paint, materials, builders, and tradespeople. Long before I understood construction as a career, I understood it as part of life.
My grandfather also built his own home by hand on weekends in the 1950s — a kind of patience, grit, and practical skill that has stayed with me. That story says a lot about the way I see building: something created over time, with care, resourcefulness, and pride in the work.
"Good building is never just about getting something built. It is about how well it is planned, how carefully it is detailed, how clearly people communicate, and how much care is taken at each stage."
I've spent more than 30 years working in construction across Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. I started on the tools as a carpenter and joiner, and over time my work has grown to include high-end residential building, commercial projects, sustainable construction, Passive House, business ownership, project management, and team development.
After many years working across both hemispheres, I returned to Australia with my family and a renewed sense of what I wanted to build next — not just as a builder, but as a business. Cultivate is that next step.
Mick Paterson — Founder & Director, Cultivate Construction. Licensed builder, Passive House practitioner, Central Coast NSW.
My interest in sustainable building started more than two decades ago — but it has never been about chasing trends or using "green" language for the sake of it.
For me, sustainable building is simply better building. A better home should be more comfortable, use less energy, be healthier to live in, be built from materials chosen with care, and be durable, repairable, and thoughtfully detailed.
Over the years I've seen how much better a home can feel when comfort, air quality, energy use, moisture control, and material health are considered from the beginning. I've also seen how often these ideas are treated as optional extras rather than core parts of good construction.
Cultivate exists to change that.
The name speaks to the way I believe homes should be created. Good buildings are not rushed into being. They are grown through patience, planning, skill, care, and attention.
They start with the right foundations — not just physically, but in the decisions made before construction begins. Every good building is cultivated: through the relationship between client and builder, through the care taken with materials, through the respect shown to the land it sits on.
Cultivate is about creating homes that are built with intention. It is about working with clients who care about quality, comfort, health, and long-term value. It is about collaborating with architects and trades who want to do good work.
A practical builder's eye combined with a deeper understanding of performance, materials, sequencing, and long-term durability. Thirty years across four countries gives Cultivate a broad base of knowledge — with a simple goal: to build homes with care, clarity, and purpose.
Every successful project relies on more than technical skill. It needs trust, clarity, respect for the details, strong relationships, and people who care about the finished result long before the final handover. That is the culture Cultivate is built on.
We say what we mean and do what we say. Every time, without exception.
Clear communication prevents problems. We invest in it before, during, and after every project.
We care about the quality of the work itself — the details that most people never see, but always feel.
For clients, for trades, for designers, for the environment, and for the communities we build in.
Every project is an opportunity to build something better. We take that seriously.
We build for the long term — in the homes we create, the relationships we develop, and the business we're growing.
Work With Us
If you share our values and want to build differently — we'd love to hear about your project.