This is the last of the MSO interviews that we carried out in January - there will be some changes afoot there no doubt after the announcement about direct allocation from IAG but this was the state of play at the end of last year.
Repairhub
Sites: 21
Employees 500>
Type of work: Rapid repairs
Established: 2019
Apprentices: 40
Funding: Joint venture IAG, RACV, founders
Sites in: NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT
Repairhub now has 21 production facilities with two more in the pipeline. We caught up with one of Repairhub’s founders Chris Beatty and CEO Evan Camilleri.
Looking back of the year Repairhub said it was all about taking a deep breath and getting back to basics after the disruption of COVID.
“All the basic stuff, just making sure that everyone's following the standard operating procedures, so all sites run the same - we have put a lot of work into that,” Beatty said.
In terms of the network growth, property has been a major obstacle despite having a full time team constantly on the lookout. “Finding suitable property has been a challenge throughout the COVID period. We are hopeful the property market starts to loosen up a bit over the next 12 months.” Camilleri said.
Other challenges have been parts inflation with 6-7% increases in list price. “Wage inflation and parts inflation has been steadily easing during the year as we all get back to near normal.”
The car parc never stands still and EVs have added more complexity and increased repair times. On profitability Beatty says: “There's good months and bad months, like any business. When there is volume there, and the correct amount of cars coming in the right time, everything works perfectly. When volumes drop we just have to challenge ourselves and bring in what we can."Achievements for the year include steady growth. “We don't bite off more than we can chew,” Beatty says. “We're just sticking with what we're able to do very well. The business is growing at the at the rate that it needs to grow, I think it's probably something we've done well this year.”
A real plus for 2023 was being able to freely visit all of the sites. “It was great to be able to get back onto the floor and walk around and see everyone – to be able to meet new staff and say hello to familiar faces,” Camilleri said.
“I'd also say maintaining the culture at the sites during the incredibly busy period in the first half of the year was something we are proud of. Getting through the year with a really good vibe in most of the sites, and knowing that we're set up for the future. Culture is something we really focus on because if we don’t have the people, we don't have a business.
The ‘3.00 o’clock knock off’ introduced mid-way through 2022 was a bold move for such a large, volume driven network to adopt. “We’re really happy that the 3:00 o'clock knock off is continuing to work well in the sites. There were some risks around making sure we get enough volume out, but it's been very successful. I think there’s no doubt it's helped us with the people front."
In the apprentice space Repairhub has added another 10 since last year and has reformulated its recruitment strategy. The former approach was to take on a cohort of apprentices at the beginning of the year but with the inevitable drop out rates it meant waiting a long time to bring in a fresh batch.
Now the approach is to have a first, second, third and fourth year apprentice in each site and advertising as individual sites require them.
“We’ve learnt to manage their expectations and give them a realistic account of how they can progress.
“Each apprentice has a mentor and we’re constantly fine tuning how we support them. We had our national apprentice event recently with fun activities and a conference-style event with awards and that has given us plenty of new ideas to implement next year,” Camilleri said.