How did you get started in the industry?
I first entered the smash repair industry coincidentally by accident. I was coming off some injuries from riding motocross and my employer at the time couldn’t hold my position open. One of my good friends was a spray painter for SmashCare and he helped get me a start as a T.A. I always tried to stay busy and not long after starting this entry level position I was in the booth painting smaller jobs. A couple of years into this I was then offered the chance to learn estimating. I showed promise with that, it lead to stepping into production management and parts and then relief management helping out across three states where people were on holidays etc.
What do you do now?
I am the site manager for Northside Smash Repairs, Brendale. This role entails everything from: overseeing the day to day running; liaising with insurance representatives; quality checking vehicles throughout production; upkeeping the great atmosphere within the workshop all the way to cooking the weekly bbq’s for our staff.
What do you most like about the industry?
What I like most about this industry is the sense of pride our technicians and myself have when the vehicle is back with the customer. It is become increasingly rare, but when we do get praise from the customer and seeing the technicians faces light up with the good news, knowing that they’ve done a great job. It makes it all worthwhile.
What do you most dislike about the industry?
What I dislike about this industry is how much it is discredited. We’ve all heard of someone’s uncle's brothers' friend being a beater/painter etc. The fact of the matter is, the job we all do is not as easy or as quick as TV shows make out, especially since we also are now heavily reliant on other countries for parts. There are a small percentage of customers that understand our job and are genuinely grateful. With how evolved cars have gotten I feel we are all quickly overlooked as repairers.
Who do you most admire in the industry?
I would say I admire quite a few in the industry, be it the person that has gone out and opened up their own shop or the young apprentice that is eagerly cutting their teeth to become a skilled technician. Anyone that tackles the day head on and does better than the day before gains my admiration.
Cars! tell us - first car, current car, dream car?
My first car was a VB SL/E Commodore that my parents got me by winning a bet at the local pub haha. It was in extremely good condition however being young and full of great ideas it did not stay in such good condition for long. After this I got myself a VN Commodore and did the same thing, pretty much wrecked what was a nice example of a car. These days I have a dual cab ute for the day to day things and a Nissan R33 Skyline for the weekend fun. More time and money has been put into the Skyline than I’d like to admit to however it's been a great project that the whole workshop and myself have been able to get involved with.