I didn’t see Tony’s previous shop in Canberra but this one is quite simply collision repair heaven.
I’m just going to come out and say it – this is one of the top 10 shops in the country. Tony Farrugia is basically collision repair royalty and is one of the most respected shop owners in the country.
He specialised early on in luxury cars and he and his crew are totally uncompromising on quality. Firstly, there are hospital operating theatres dirtier than the workshop. “My boys know how I like it,” Tony said matter of factly. The OEMs know that if Tony takes on their ‘badge’ that the result will be extremely satisfied customers with cars that are possibly even better than when they drove out of the showroom.
If you want to have customer review envy have a look at some of theirs. ‘Absolutely the best in the business. Hands down the best service. I would not be taking my car anywhere else.’ ‘I can not rate the service at Tony Farrugia Bodyworks higher, 5 stars just doesn’t seem enough.’
The building itself is quite corporate looking – a must for those prestige brands with perfectly manicured flower beds. Customer areas and the offices are stunning. Warm wood and uber stylish design and lighting. The staff lunchroom is exquisite as are their bathrooms. The offices are gorgeous with beautiful plants.
As a heavenly place to work, Tony doesn’t suffer from staff churn. In fact his people have been with him so long that their spring chicken status has long since expired. Many of the technicians completed their apprenticeships with Tony – why would you want to go anywhere else? Accordingly everything is designed to be easy and painless to use, with excellent lighting. This includes the gas struts which open the storage units that hide away all of the consumables and tools, keeping the workshop spick and span. The paint mixing room which looks like it's never used has the latest in paint technology – the PPG Moonwalk and Linq system. In fact, all of the equipment front and back of house is the very latest.
The business recently undertook a school careers presentation and in addition to the three apprentices already on the team, they are giving workplace experience to a number of students.
We couldn’t believe office manager Olivia Ott hadn’t gone in for the safety award because they have incredibly detailed WHS systems and policies. There’s even an WHS in-house Awareness Training Guide Booklet.
The business has daily production tool shop talks in which employees and management set targets, and discuss different topics like WHS, customer satisfaction reports or training,
‘Tony Farrugia Bodyworks offers its employees a safe, enjoyable workplace’ it says in their entry submission and we couldn’t agree more. Those apprentices from the early days are now managers and it’s a tightly knit crew. There are many staff functions, from dinner to sporting events and a footy tipping competition.
That’s it, I’ve run out of superlatives. It took a fair bit of persuading for Tony to enter the awards, he doesn’t look for plaudits. The idea of these awards is to see what other shops can aspire to, to showcase the next level in the industry’s development. So thanks Tony, job done.
An incredibly stylish shop both inside and out. The workshop is immaculate at all times.