26 October 2026
We recently recognised the contributions of Mike Quinn, Leed’s General Manager—Plant who celebrated two decades with the company in September. Mike is one of a number of Leed employees to reach this lofty milestone in 2026.
The long-term employee looked back on the growth of Leed, particularly for the plant division and maintenance facility that he oversees.
Mike started with Leed back in 2006 and has overseen the vast expansion of our plant collection and, as a result, Leed’s self-performing capabilities.
The initial collection comprised 54 light vehicles and 114 machines including graders and articulated dump trucks to rollers, tip trucks and various machine attachments. Two decades later, the company plant count is almost 300 and Mike oversees a team of people in plant coordination and maintenance.
Mike also helped establish and structure an internal fleet maintenance and support function, building the capability needed to support Leed’s expanding project portfolio around Australia
And what kept him at Leed?
‘I have enormous respect for the owners,’ he says, speaking of the founders of the business, ‘and I love the culture of the business, the people and how we go about delivering infrastructure projects.’
‘It’s the people in our business and the projects that we build and deliver.’
Growing up in the construction industry
It seems that a career in construction was inevitable for Mike.
His father spent 33 years working with the Engineering and Water Supply’s (E&WS) construction branch. The family moved around South Australia as projects took Mike’s father to different locations.
‘I’ve been travelling around in the construction industry since I was a baby,” Mike says. “I basically grew up in construction.’
Mike followed in his dad’s footsteps, starting his career back in 1973 at the E&WS Construction Branch, which later became SA Water.
Starting as a construction worker, he gained hands-on experience in pipe laying, heavy earthmoving and plant operation before progressing into leading hand and supervisory roles. It was the beginning of a career that would see Mike work his way through a wide range of roles around the state and gain experience in almost every aspect of major civil construction.
The start of Mike’s journey with Leed
In 2006, Mike was working as the Operations Manager for Renfrey Plant hire when an opportunity came to join Leed as the company was ready to start expanding.
Mike’s first role was plant manager/asset manager in charge of all the buying and selling of plant, and maintenance and repairs.
The fleet and team steadily expanded and what started as a one-person operation is now a team of 27 people in this division of Leed. Leed’s expansion into Victoria brought another major change, with the acquisition of an earthmoving business in Bendigo providing a new workshop and plant base to support the company’s growing Victorian operations.
A self-performing company
Today, Leed’s plant division supplies the majority of the plant requirements for Leed’s projects around Australia. Mike’s area of the business also coordinates additional or specialised machinery as required for Leed’s projects and clients in metropolitan, regional and remote Australia.
For Mike, maintaining this internal capability has always been about more than machinery. Having access to its own plant and people helps Leed self-perform work and maintain greater control over how projects are delivered.
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