Sage Civil is promoting the opportunities available to women in the industry, with a fleet of custom-painted pink Cat® machinery
For Sage Civil founder and managing director Asha Russell, building and maintaining long-lasting relationships is of the upmost importance to her business, and there’s no greater example of this than the one formed with Caterpillar and local dealer WesTrac.
The seeds for this relationship were planted as a young girl, with Asha growing up around Cat equipment, since her father was a diesel mechanic and owned his own earthmoving business.
Asha can remember travelling back and forth with her father to pick up spare parts from WesTrac, which she says was the catalyst for her love of the Caterpillar brand.
Key relationships were built over many years with WesTrac, so when she was ready to start her own business in 2013, Asha knew Cat equipment would form the backbone of her fleet.
“I started Sage Civil with the shell of a Cat D6 dozer,” Asha says.
“It was all I could afford at the time, and I worked really hard for about 12 months to build the dozer into a workable state.
“I got my first job and it took off from there. As I saw opportunities, I kept on growing with the business.”
Women in industry
Providing various earthmoving and civil work solutions Australia-wide, Sage Civil has grown tremendously since its humble beginnings.
Today, Asha has ran up to a fleet of around 50 Cat machines – including excavators, dozers, skid steer, dump trucks, compactors, rollers, water carts and graders.
As a female leader in a traditionally-male dominated field, Asha is committed to attracting attention to the opportunities available to women in the industry and supporting them to forge a long and successful career.
To help carry out this mission, Sage Civil has custom-painted a variety of its Cat machines in bright pink since 2017, aiming to promote women working in the industry.
Some of the brightly coloured machines in the fleet include a pink Cat D10 dozer, pink Cat 730C and 740B dump trucks, and a Cat 320 next-gen excavator with a pink boom.
Other machines that are custom painted include Cat 315, 335, 336 and 349 excavators, a 12M grader and skid steers.
Sage Civil also employs young women with little experience in the industry, providing a safe haven for those stepping up to a new challenge with comprehensive training or apprenticeships.
“By the time they’ve finished training, they might know how to operate three or four machines, so they’re ready to spread their wings and fly,” Asha says.
“Watching these young people come through and watching their lives change is what thrills me the most.”
Asha has already seen a significant increase of women working in earthmoving and civil construction roles as a result of this mission.
“Back in 2017, there was around 2.7 per cent of women working in non-traditional roles in the civil space – New South Wales-wide,” she says.
“Fast forward to 2025 and it’s 10.5 per cent in the civil space, so it’s really happening.
“For me, just being a part of a legacy that you can look back at and know that you were a big part of for women is just amazing.”
Looking to help other women working in the industry, Asha adds her own inspiration to start Sage Civil was driven by Gina Rinehart, the executive chairwoman of Australian private mining company Hancock Prospecting.
“I read her biography and there were so many similarities within our childhood and dynamics within our family unit,” Asha says.
“It gave me the strength to go off and register my own company, so I want to give her a big shout out for inspiring me, and I really hope to meet her one day – she is my queen.”
Sage Civil’s highly recognisable pink fleet of Cat machinery has been seen working on the Heatherbrae bypass of Seymour Whyte’s M1 Pacific Motorway extension project in the Hunter region.
The five-kilometre northern Heatherbrae bypass section from Tomago to Raymond Terrace will improve travel times and conditions for those travelling between Sydney and Brisbane.
Sage Civil’s Cat 320 next-gen excavator with the pink boom was procured specifically for this project. Brand-new at the time, the machine came straight out of WesTrac’s Tomago branch to the site, alongside several other Cat machines owned by Sage Civil.
“We had about 10 Cat machines up there running around for about 18 months,” Asha says.
“Rocking up onsite with pink Cat equipment, it’s a flex, especially for the girls. The new excavator was flawless, and we got a lot of advertisement because it was on a freeway.”
The pink machines have also branched out to the mining space in the Hunter Valley region, working on tailings dams and rehabilitation works with BHP and Ashton Coal.
Invaluable relationship
Asha describes herself as an extremely loyal person, and given her long-lasting relationship with Caterpillar and WesTrac, she says she “doesn’t wish to procure equipment from another brand.”
The relationship goes beyond familiarity however, with Cat equipment being chosen for Sage Civil’s fleet due to its well-earned reputation over the past century for quality, reliability and exceptional aftersales support.
“Caterpillar is like the Ferrari of the machinery world,” Asha says.
“You know what you’re buying –Cat equipment is structurally sound and safe, the re-sale value of the machines is high and the brand has been running for 100 years.
“I think everyone in the industry knows that Cat equipment is the best. Whether it’s civil construction, mining or forestry, Caterpillar conquers all the different machine brands.”
Asha adds the ‘faultless’ serviceability and care-factor provided by WesTrac has ensured minimal downtime and maximum machine efficiency, which has been integral to Sage Civil’s productivity.
“I couldn’t ask for a better or stronger relationship and that’s why I stick with them,” she says.
Key to the success of many Sage Civil projects has been the Cat Grade technology, which combines automated machine control and advanced guidance to help operators accurately hit grading targets quicker and in fewer passes.
Available on a range of Cat excavators, dozers, graders and paving equipment, this technology has been integrated into many of Sage Civil’s machine prior to purchase – eliminating the need for third-party machine control partners.
With spare parts being crucial in an industry where machinery uptime is essential, Sage Civil relies on the accuracy, availability and easiness of the online Cat Parts Store.
Sage Civil’s head mechanic orders most of the parts, and Asha says the process couldn’t be more streamlined for him.
“It’s easy, he doesn’t have to talk to anyone, it’s all there and he knows how to use it,” she says.
“You can see exactly where the part is and how long it’s going to take. You tend to get the parts 24 to 48 hours after ordering Australia-wide.”
New opportunities
With more than 30 years of experience in the industry and now more than a decade running Sage Civil, Asha is diversifying the business with new services to keep pace in an ever-evolving market.
The business has recently started offering quarry products and is looking at opportunities for projects in new sectors. By doing so, Asha says Sage Civil will be able to grow further, securing the future of the business.
“I’m being a bit more diverse with what we do so I can learn new skills that might launch Sage Civil into something else,” she says.
“I love what I do, and I think the most important part of what I do is building relationships, having integrity and values.”
While Sage Civil is set for new opportunities, Asha’s personal mission continues to be at the forefront of the business through the fleet of pink machines.
“My passion is to help women get where they want to go and gain a new skillset that they’ll have for life – that’s really important to me,” she says.
“That’s what keeps me in the game, and I’m committed to helping drive women into this industry.”
For more information, visit sagecivil.com.au or westrac.com.au
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