Updated September 2026
Manning Homes officially began in 2024, but the idea had been around for quite a bit longer.
Jake had always wanted to run his own building company. He left school in Year 10 to start working in construction and spent the years that followed building his experience on the tools and eventually managing larger projects and teams.
The name Manning Homes had actually been floating around in our conversations since 2020. At the time, though, it was one of those ideas we talked about for the future. Between work, moving around and starting a family, the timing never quite felt right.
A few years and a couple of big life changes later, that changed.
Coming Home to Forster
Before starting Manning Homes, we were living in Young in regional NSW with our two young children.
It was a chapter of our lives that ultimately made us think seriously about where we wanted to raise our family and what we wanted the next stage of our lives to look like.
For me, coming back to Forster really did mean coming home. I moved here when I was four and lived here until I was 21. Like plenty of people who grow up in a coastal town, I couldn’t wait to leave when I was younger. It took living away to appreciate just how much I missed it.
So in March 2024, we packed up our house, our two kids and two dogs and moved to Forster.
We knew we wanted to build a life here. It also felt like the right time to finally give the building company we’d talked about for years a proper go.
Manning Homes was officially underway.
Building the Business Together
Our roles in the business are quite different, which is probably why they work so well together.
Jake is a licensed builder and leads the construction side of Manning Homes. He remains directly involved on site, working alongside our carpentry team and the local trades we’ve built strong relationships with.
My career started somewhere completely different.
I trained and worked as a nurse and midwife before eventually leaving healthcare after we moved back to Forster. What initially started as taking care of the administration side of Manning Homes quickly grew into running the business alongside Jake.
Today, my role covers the operational and client side of the business, including our systems and processes, accounts, marketing, client communication and selections coordination.
We both have our own areas of responsibility, but the bigger decisions about Manning Homes and where we’re heading are made together.
What Manning Homes Looks Like Today
What started with the two of us establishing a new building company in Forster has grown considerably since those early days.
Today, Manning Homes specialises in custom new homes, major renovations and knockdown rebuilds across Forster-Tuncurry and the surrounding coastal areas.
As the business has grown, we’ve also become much clearer about the kind of building company we want Manning Homes to be.
We want to stay closely involved in our projects. We want clients to know who they’re dealing with. And we want the planning that happens before construction to receive just as much attention as the build itself.
That’s why our projects begin well before we arrive on site.
We work through the site, design, engineering, approvals, selections and scope during our pre-construction stages so that by the time we reach a building contract, there is a clear understanding of what we’re building and what’s included.
During construction, our clients have direct contact with both of us, along with access to our client portal for project communication, progress updates, photos and scheduling.
Why Staying Hands-On Matters to Us
Growth for us has never meant becoming disconnected from the projects we’re building.
Jake being actively involved on site is important to us. So is having a consistent carpentry team and trusted trades around our projects, rather than clients feeling as though they’ve been handed from one person to another once the contract is signed.
The same applies behind the scenes.
I stay involved throughout the client journey, from those early conversations and pre-construction stages through to selections, construction and handover.
It means our clients know the people they’re speaking with and, just as importantly, we know what’s happening within their project.
Building Something for the Long Term
Starting Manning Homes involved a fair amount of backing ourselves.
We moved back to Forster with two little kids in 2024 and started a building company in a community where, after years away, we had plenty of relationships to build and people to meet.
Since then, we’ve built homes and renovations we’re proud to put our name to, grown our team, developed our processes and become part of a local building community we’re very grateful to work within.
We also added another little Manning to the family along the way, so life outside the business certainly hasn’t become any quieter.
There is still plenty we want to achieve with Manning Homes, but our direction is much clearer than it was when the name was first being thrown around in conversations back in 2020.
We’re building a business we intend to be here for the long term, in the place we’ve chosen to call home.
Considering a custom home, major renovation or knockdown rebuild in Forster-Tuncurry or the surrounding area? Get in touch with Jake and Emily to talk through your project.
