Joe Odessa is a passionate man.
Passionate about giving, about Australia and about his family.
Old school.
“These devices are ruining society.”
“Why don’t people say hello when you walk past them?”
Now in his 60s, he has established a strong reputation for building beautiful homes across the city, including seven in Wavell Heights.
“I remember the first block of land I bought in Wavell Heights was $780,000. We thought that was a lot of money. I’ve built homes all over Wavell Heights and North Brisbane including Benecia, Orben, and Halcyon.”
Beautiful homes at a price where the client’s enjoyment far outweighs the builder’s financial motivation.
An artisan with roots 300 miles south of Napoli, Joe loves the handover of a property he has just built. His two sons have now taken over the Odessa brand, carrying on the same passion and artisan spirit.
Finding Something to Do
“I had gastric band surgery a few years ago, lost 60kg. After the surgery I went to see a psychiatrist, who put me onto a trauma counsellor, who told me, ‘You need to find something to do’.”
Italian flair needs a passion. That something to do became Joe’s passion: men’s mental health.
As Joe hung up his hard hat, he began to build support for the wellbeing of men.
MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH
The Construction Industry
- Construction workers experience significantly higher suicide rates than workers in many other industries
- Construction workers are estimated to be six times more likely to die by suicide than in a workplace accident
- Young construction workers are more than twice as likely to take their own lives as other young Australian men
Australian Men in General
- One in eight Australian men will experience depression.
- One in five will experience anxiety
- Men are less likely than women to seek support for mental health concerns
- Beyond Blue research found many Australians wait until they are severely distressed before reaching out for help
From Building Homes to Building Community
That has led Joe to work alongside Hudson Dale, founder of the Men’s Breakfast, building on his previous involvement in men’s mental health initiatives.
Joe loves getting businesses involved in the campaign, and anyone who saw his spruiking of the Wavell Heights dentist at the last Men’s Breakfast saw how appreciative he was of their support.
He laments the way society has become increasingly self-centred and misses simple things like the days when you’d shout a drink to a stranger at the pub and have a yarn.
Simple social rituals that kept men connected and able to discuss their problems in amongst the footy.
The Men’s Breakfast follows a number of previous men’s groups where Joe became the epicentre through developing sponsor relationships. Bureaucracy and rules led to the last group, in Joe’s view, shooting itself in the foot by losing him.
The Lost Art of Having a Yarn
Ask Joe when things started to change and he’ll point to the slow disappearance of everyday social rituals — the sort of interactions that once made a community feel like a community.
“A lot of blokes don’t know how to open up a conversation. Shouting a drink in a pub seemed to end at COVID. My father used to constantly say that before the TV came out, people used to pick themselves up and go and see somebody. When the TV came out it stopped it, now social media has destroyed that.”
Nobody Says Good Morning Anymore
“Everybody’s perception is men are tough, robust, strong, but we’re not. We take on more than we can chew. Social media has created ‘look at me’.”
“When I go for a walk along Kedron Brook, all I see is people with their AirPods in, many looking at their phones as they walk. They don’t say good morning.”
Joe has five grandkids and has set up a table with pencils and colouring books when they come over. He’s desperate not to put them in front of the TV and especially not on devices.
“They get up on the bench and start mucking around with cooking with their grandma.”
“The reason why it’s important for people to get together, when they have a struggle, they have somebody they can talk to, who can point them in the right direction, but you have to be willing to accept criticism. That’s where most men have too much pride and they can’t accept the criticism.”
“Many people don’t want to be sociable, and people don’t want to change, as my father used to say, ‘If the pumpkin’s long it can’t be round’.”
“The Aboriginal people are much maligned but the cleverness and creativity run very deep.”
“One of the challenges we have at Men’s Breakfast is getting people to mix more, most people don’t know how to network.”
Northside Boxing Coach Sammy Leone touched on this in his presentation at the last Men’s Breakfast.
Keep Learning
Joe got into the building game in 1983. How has he sustained his passion for the small details for more than four decades?
“I go to open homes and have a look at the details. If something’s nice I appreciate it, give gratitude where gratitude is deserved. Keep learning.”
The next Men’s Breakfast will be on July 4 in Fitzgibbon.
Published 12-June-2026
