David Taylor started his apprenticeship as a spray painter aged 15 with at Wacol-based repairer Bob Crawford. Twenty-three years on, Taylor owns Crawford Crash Repairs, operating from four shops south-west of Brisbane on the way to Ipswitch, and turns over $12 million a year.
From the original Wacol base, CCR also operates from Bundamba, has a prestige vehicle repair centre at Sumner Park and a newly-opened CCR Express at Goodna which was set up for small jobs that do not require structural work.
With its four locations, Crawfords has a staff of 69 which includes 10 apprentices in the panel beating and spray painting sections.
"We've always had a big apprenticeship push," Taylor said.
They also have trainees in administration and parts.
Taylor said Crawfords recently moved to a centralised administration system for all accounting and invoicing.
This is incorporated with Webtrim Professional body shop management systems.
All four shops use PPG refinishing products and use the PPG Business Manager for quoting.
"This has been a great help for merging the four shops' data into one," Taylor said.
Because of the different types of work carried out the four locations, Crawfords uses a variety of equipment to make good their repairs.
At Sumner Park they have Car-O-Liner and Car-O-Tronic equipment while the Wacol shop as Autorobot and the Bundamba shop as a Car-O-Liner Speedbench.
Booths include Master Booth and welding is carried out using Fanweld at Wacol and Bundamba and Car-O-Liner at Sumner Park.
Crawford Crash Repairs is a member of the MTAQ and is a preferred repairer for AAMI, Allianz, CGU, NRMA, RACQ and Suncorp.