Judging for the 2024 Paint & Panel Bodyshop Awards is underway. Zoom judging kicked off last week and in person judging in Adelaide is now complete. Judging continues in person in NSW next week and online.
It's great to see everyone so very busy and comfortably booked ahead. We've enjoyed meeting brand new shop owners and new to us shops owners. Parts continue to be the biggest issue for smooth production. We have noticed that parts storage in many shops continues to overtake what could be productive work bays while the parts trollies languish with their incomplete parts deliveries.
Staffing levels
In fact although it seems that everyone could always do with one or two more panelbeaters (that has been the same for at least a decade) very few people have complained about staff shortages - unlike the previous three years of awards judging. Everyone we've visited so far has plenty of apprentices and we're seeing a lot more women in the workshop floor in various roles from parts management to technicians. Great to meet and hear about more and more female body repair technicians too.
Attitudes to insurance
Shop owners seem to have a lot more confidence in their dealings with insurers. We're hearing about contracts being handed back where agreements over acceptable profit margins cannot be reached. There is less tolerance towards bullying assessors and those who regularly butcher estimates which means that many more shops owners are understanding their business running costs and their worth.
