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Two auctioneers, who are also cousins, have revealed how their friendship and mutual passion for sporting activities led to a professional relationship working at the same auctioneering agency.
Scott Menck has joined Menck White Auctioneers, inspired to follow in the footsteps of his cousin and business director, Paul Menck.
Scott said his cousin was his inspiration for becoming an auctioneer and he attributed his career to Paul’s support and encouragement.
While Scott and Paul’s fathers both worked at the same business their entire lives, their sons weren’t particularly close until more recently, when they would spend time participating in sporting activities together.
Scott, 35, and Paul, in his early fifties, would cycle, swim and run together, with their bond soon expanding into their professional lives.
“I knew [Paul] would become an auctioneer, and I never really thought about doing it, but eventually he was talking about the role and the job and what he’d do and how he sort of built it up,” Scott told REB.
With about a decade of experience, Paul had started his auctioneering career with another agency before joining forces with Clarence White to form their own business, Mencke White Auctioneers, in 2020.
Seeing Paul build his auctioneer career and be successful, Paul decided to follow in his cousin’s footsteps.
With Paul and White’s help, he eventually obtained a Class 2 licence, became qualified, and conducted mock auctions.
“From then on, I just started helping the team out, following them around and practising whenever I could with them and just training and signed up for the novice comp,” Scott said.
Paul said that when Scott expressed interest in being an auctioneer, he immediately saw potential in his cousin due to his extroverted personality.
“When he asked me about it, I very clearly said to him, a hundred per cent you have the skills, because it’s not for everybody, but I knew he would be a good and successful auctioneer,” Paul told REB.
“So when he came to me and asked those questions, I encouraged him,” he said.
“So over the last, maybe even two years since he first brought it up, we’ve been mentoring him. When I say we, Clarence has played a key role as well in that mentorship and a lot of coaching and training.”
Since his debut as an auctioneer, Scott has won the 2025 REINSW Novice Auctioneer of the Year award and made his mentors proud.
“It takes a long time to build the skills up to where you can actually have the confidence to call a live auction and also a competition. So, thrilled that he won the novice,” Paul said.
“I just want to continue to see him grow. I want to see him build his own successful business within our business.”
Scott said that while he continues to learn a lot on the job from Paul, the pair also tends to have good banter.
“Him having the same name, I joke about that, I said to him, ‘With respect, I can’t get rid of that, but I’d love to be involved with you if I can, obviously’,” Scott said.
Ultimately, he said it’s been a pleasure to work alongside and learn from his cousin.
“When you’re just starting out there, there’s some things that you want to make sure you get right, and then you build your own style more and more.
“But obviously you do learn a lot from your mentors, it’s a great opportunity,” Scott said.
Director Clarence White said Scott is a strong talent and that the decision to help him launch his auctioneering career was a no-brainer.
“I do most of the training in the business, but Paul’s the inspiration, and we’ve both done the training and the onboarding and getting him ready to work,” White said.
As for the future of the business, White flagged that growth is on the agenda moving forward, as the business expands into more parts of Sydney.
“We’re touching more parts of Sydney, obviously, we’re recruiting more auctioneers moving into the future and growing our team as well.”
White said while the team will be recruiting, they have taken it “step by step” as they want to ensure they select the right candidates.
“But we’ve certainly got our eye out for talent and we’re going to be building and growing the business and one step in front of the other,” he said.
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