Finn’s Bodyworks, TAS
In this judge’s opinion Finn’s will be on the podium for Best Country Shop very soon. The transformation that has taken place over the last few years is impressive and the business has enjoyed several years of strong growth.
For this year it was a bit early as the new panel shop wasn’t quite finished, but the business has now doubled it’s footprint and is beautifully set up for the future.
Owner Gene Finn is a highly professional operator. He works smart and through his clear vision has built a top notch, profitable, sustainable business in Launceston. “We believe in focusing on people first which in turn facilitates strong relationships within the organisation, with business partners, customers and the community. We are actively involved in industry based organisations such as Car Craft, I-CAR and ACIA,” Finn says
Finn is active in recruiting apprentices “Currently we have fifteen employees four of which are apprentices and six are female. .”
The shop has impressive ‘green’ credentials and addresses all the current industry issues such as cybersecurity, diversity and employing the latest digital and workshop equipment to ensure ultimate productivity, including a Moonwalk.
The shop is I-CAR Gold, with all staff encouraged to train and be involved in community initiatives. The business has a zero tolerance policy for failure to comply with PPE policies and offers a clean, well organised environment to work in.
Sampson Car Repairs, NSW
Sampson Car Repairs is a gem of a country shop in Tamworth, NSW that’s been operating for over 50 years. Expertly run by husband and wife team Jodie and Luke Sampson.
The couple’s vision is to build a small dedicated team of young enthusiastic apprentices education the next generation of quality tradespeople for the company in an area where you have to ‘grow your own.’
“Our aim is to encourage a generation of employees that will embrace new technology and utilise the new equipment we invested so the business to grow, open us up to new opportunities and allow us to work seamlessly into the future. We encourage work experience students to come to the shop to get a taste of the industry,” says Jodie.
The small workshop is spotlessly clean and extremely well organised with all of the latest equipment. This includes a Lowbake paintshop which looks like it just came out of the box (it didn’t) and a Moonwalk.
“We are a close knit team that work together with the goal of getting the repairs completed to a high standard and helping each other out along the way.”
The couple produce a monthly newsletter for the team outlining dates for social get togethers, updates on apprentices’ achievement/milestones, reminders relating to policy’s and procedures, sharing positive feedback from customers and work place health and safety information. They insist on the use full protective suits and air fed hoods for painters and encourage training with I-CAR to keep up to date with the latest repair methods.
“Without a doubt this has been our busiest 12-18 months in the 14 years we’ve been in the business (since the couple took over Luke’s parents), we are still managing to maintain our excellent quality of work, even with the increase in volume.”
We issue monthly newsletter with reminders about PPE and safe work practices, we try to keep a supply of healthy snacks in our lunch room for staff. and provide a clean workshop and only the best equipment for our staff.