Language

Hutchies’ brand is deliberately professional, fun and friendly. We carry this through our signage, workplaces, collateral, vehicles, online and even the way we behave.

Wherever possible you should use plain English principles to write documents and emails. If your writing is easy to understand, you save the reader time and build trust. 

Active Voice

When you’re using active voice, the doer of the action is the star of the sentence. In passive voice, it’s the action that takes the spotlight, not the doer.

Active voice examples:

• The project manager scheduled the meeting
• Our team completed the project on time
• Hutchies received the award for Project of the Year

Passive voice examples:

• The meeting was scheduled by the project manager
• The construction was completed on time by our team
• The award for best design was received by Hutchies

While Hutchies prefers active voice, passive voice can be used when the focus is more on the action rather than who is performing the action. However, try to use active voice as much as possible to keep your writing clear and engaging.

We use plain English in all our communications. This means we write clearly and concisely, use active voice, and intentionally avoid long-winded and complicated writing. 

While you should always use plain English, you can adjust the tone to suit the context. By default, our tone is professional, positive and human – with a touch of quirkiness. Our humour is used judiciously and is never offensive. 

We adopt some unique ways of writing to keep our language simple:

• Short sentences that are easy to understand
• Lists and bullets to emphasise important points
• No more than 2-3 sentences per paragraph
• Forward slashes (/) as a divider (instead of hyphens or vertical slashes)
• En dashes (–) and em dashes (—) instead of hyphens (-)
• Spaces between forward slashes and dashes (eg something / something instead of something/something)
• Spelling out acronyms (eg Request for Information (RFI))
• Sentence case language instead of ALL CAPS (except for acronyms)
• Bold titles without colons (eg Note Something important)
• Forward slashes for multiples instead of brackets (eg person/s rather than person(s)) 

We use the following sparingly:

• Hyphens (eg subcontract vs sub-contract)
• Semi colons (;)
• Full stops in acronyms (eg ie instead of i.e. or eg vs e.g.)
• Quote marks (") unless specifically for a quote (instead use ‘inverted commas’ to highlight something)
• Full stops or commas at the end of bullet points
• Ordinal numbers as dates (eg 1 December instead of 1st December)
• Italicised fonts (unless referencing something specific)

Only one space is needed after full stops, commas, colons, and semicolons. Double spaces should be avoided.

Apostrophes are used in contractions to replace omitted letters in a word, such as ‘don’t’ for ‘do not’, and ‘couldn’t’ for ‘could not’. They are also used in shortened words, such as ‘cont’d’ for ‘continued’.

Apostrophes also indicate ownership. Use an apostrophe followed by ‘s’ for:

• Common nouns (eg ‘the government’s agenda’, ‘tomorrow’s meeting’)
• Proper nouns (eg ‘Peter’s vehicle’)
• Collective nouns (eg 'the builder’s scope’)

The apostrophe appears after the ‘s’ in plural nouns (eg ‘Hutchies’ work’, ‘Hutchies’ offices’, ‘Hutchies’ statement’).

We don’t use apostrophes when referring to a Hutchies’ brand name (eg ‘Hutchies Civil’ or ‘Hutchies Modular’).

There are also no apostrophes in:

• The plural form of acronyms (eg RFIs, CVs, NGOs, OPs, and URLs)
• In decades (eg ‘the 1970s’)
• In adjectival phrases (eg ‘girls school’)
• In expressions of time that indicate more than one day, week, or month, and so on (eg ‘six months time’, ‘four days work’)
• If the reference is singular, an apostrophe is needed (eg ‘a month’s holiday’)

Nouns refer to people, things or ideas. 

Nouns can be singular (just one) or plural (more than one) and this will affect the form of the verb that belongs to the noun. 

• the project (singular noun) is (verb) early
• the projects (plural noun) are (verb) early

A word that replaces a noun. 

Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. 

Use ‘they’ and ’their’ as a gender-neutral pronouns (for both plural and singular).

• If a subbie arrives early, they can start work (singular)
• If subbies arrive early, they can start work (plural)

When referencing pronouns (ie we) use ‘have’ or ‘are’ as the verb:

• We have built thousands of high-quality projects across Australia
• We are expanding the scope

Every sentence must have at least one verb. It is important for readability that verbs agree with their noun in tense.

A verb may change depending on the noun or pronoun.

• I have a tight deadline (singular)
• We have a tight deadline (plural)
• She has a tight deadline (singular)

When we write about Hutchies as a builder, we are referring to a single entity (singular). 

• Hutchies has completed the project (singular)
• Hutchies has completed the build (singular)
• Hutchies has a debt-free balance sheet (singular)
• Hutchies is your construction partner (singular)

There are some exceptions to this when we get to use Hutchies as a plural to show we are made up of many great people. 

• At Hutchies, we value safety (plural)

Only certain words require capitalisation.

Safe to capitalise:

• The first word of a sentence (eg ‘We will undertake a competitive tender’)
• Proper nouns, including names of people, companies, places, nationalities, languages, religions, political parties, and other proper nouns, for example:
  • Hutchies is the builder
  • Tom and Rachel are from the Coolangatta office
  • English is derived from many languages
• The first word of a quote when the quote is a complete sentence (not partial), for example:
  • What is the project’s budget?
  • James asked, “What time is the meeting?”
• Specific government departments / names, for example:
  • Queensland Government
  • Department of Health
  • City of Sydney
  • Victoria Police
• Days, months, and holidays (but not seasons) eg 'Monday, July, Christmas or winter'
• Job Titles / Positions (except in Hutchies’ Truth)
• Awards (eg Project of the Year)

Do not capitalise:

• References to aspects of our business and services (with the exception of acronyms (ie 'ECI'))
  • project team
  • cost planning
  • early contractor involvement
  • design and construct
• When talking about our clients / stakeholders unless referring specifically to their name
  • the client’s project vs Stockland’s project
• Collective references to government or authority
  • the government’s objectives
  • the local council
  • fire and ambulance service
• Email addresses
• Websites

Our language adopts Australian English using the Macquarie Dictionary with a few spelling variations:

• Program instead of programme
• Contract Administrator instead of Contracts Administrator
• Colour instead of color
• Centre instead of center
• Realise instead of realize
• Defence instead of defense
• Neighbour instead of neighbor

We prefer to use certain words over others:

• Company instead of corporate
• Company members or people instead of employees or staff
• Guides or handbooks instead of manuals
• Leaders instead of managers
• Supervisors instead of foremen
• Structure instead of hierarchy
• Division instead of subsidiary
• Discipline instead of service
• Office or Toowong instead of head office
• Subbies instead of subcontractors

We use a lot of numbers in our language, and formatting is important to keep them easy to understand.

General

• In sentences we write large numbers as ordinals and smaller numbers as words, for example:
  • The project is 44 levels with six elevators
  • The tender period is 3 months

• Numbers over three digits should include commas (eg 999, 1,000, 150,000)
• Abbreviate large numbers:
  • K for thousands (100K)
  • M for millions (10M)
  • B for billions (1B)

Money

We use the dollar sign ($) before the number when writing about Australian currency (eg $100M).

Other national currencies maintain the relevant symbol and value format (eg £100M).

If referencing a dollar currency other than AUD, the foreign currency should be referenced before the dollar sign ($) (eg US$100M).

Weeks & Months

We prefer to talk in weeks when describing the duration of our work.

The below formats are acceptable when writing about time:

• 10 weeks
• 10 wks (short form used in marketing material)
• 6 months
• 6 mo (short form used in marketing material)

Dates

Dates can be used in the following ways:

• 01/01/12
• 01/01/2012
• 1 January 2012
• Monday, 1 January 2012

Time

We write time in the following formats:

• 12.30pm
• 6.00am

Note we use full stops instead of colons in time.

During Australia's Daylight Savings Time (DST), it is important to include relevant time zone details to be clear:

• 12.30pm AEST
• 6.00am AEDT

Decimals & Fractions

Spell out fractions and use decimal points as needed (eg 10.5 or two thirds).

Typically we round numbers up or down in marketing material to the nearest million or thousand.

Percentages

Use the % symbol.

Ranges & Spans

Indicate ranges with an en dash and spaces (ie 20 – 30 days).

Measurement & Units

We follow the metric system for measurement:

• Metres or m
• Centimetres or cm
• Millimetres or mm
• Kilometres or km
• Kilogram or kg
• Watt or W
• Tonnes or t
• Litres or L
• Gigabytes or GB
• Minutes or mins
• Years or yrs
• Megawatt or MW
• Kilowatt or kW

Note certain units are capitalised. 

We generally prioritise using numerals over words (eg 50kg or 50 tonnes).

When writing about area, we adopt the following formats:

• m² or sqm for square metres 

Temperature

We use the degree symbol with 'C' for Celsius for temperatures (eg 20°C).

Phone Numbers

We use the following format for various phone numbers:

• 0412 345 678 for mobiles
• 01 2345 6789 for landlines
• 1300 488 244 for national toll free numbers
• +61 123 456 789 for international audiences

Australian Business Numbers (ABNs & ACNs)

We use the following format for registration numbers:

• 01 234 567 891 (ABNs)
• 234 567 891 (ACNs)

The spaces help break numbers up to make them easier to read.

For any branding support, please contact Hutchies' Comms Team.