Simon and Christie Leven are carving out their country kingdom with a brand new facility in Dubbo. NSW.
Simon has a passion for growing businesses and loves working in this industry. The couple started out with their shop in Mudgee, NSW and then went into partnership with a mechanical workshop. Simon could see that he would hit a ceiling in Mudgee, as there are only so many cars to repair there, and cast his sights towards Dubbo. He asked insurance companies if they were interested in him setting up in Dubbo and the answer was a resounding yes. In fact they kept checking back to see how his plans were progressing.
In 2015 Simon found a large autobody repair site where the owner wanted to retire and bought the business, rebranding it Leven Smash Repairs. Securing a five year contract from IAG allowed him to proceed with confidence. It wasn’t an easy journey getting the right team in place. The faster pace of repair didn’t suit everyone and he lost 80 per cent of the staff there but another of Simon's passions is building high performing teams. who enjoy what they do.
As the teams and processes slowly came good, the volume increased and Simon had to lease another property. However, he could see that they would outgrow those premises and he was increasingly frustrated with having to work around the problems of an old shop which he hadn’t designed and didn’t have the right workflow for efficient repairs.
Christie and Simon Leven at grand opening.After securing a block of land the new workshop got underway last November. Simon says that building the new shop was good for business in more ways than one. Using local tradesman and investing money in the community has also raised the business’ profile locally and increased his customer base.
Not afraid of taking on challenges, the couple had their first baby last week, recently changed paint companies to Sikkens and are planning a major revamp of the Mudgee shop. They’ve also purchased another block of land in Dubbo next to the new facility and plan to expand the business further.
They now have a team of around 50 - 22 in Dubbo, 20 in Mudgee and five in the mechanical shop and are looking to hire a new HR manager as Christie , who oversaw the HR role amongst others, will be taking some time away from the business to look after son Beau. They are also on the look out for an estimator, 2 more apprentices (the business already employs nine apprentices)
Dubbo isn’t quite up to full speed as it always takes a while to iron out any teething problems in production, and at present the two shops repair around 80 cars per week. Simon is keen to raise this to 100 when all the processes are perfected which is a substantial number considering many of these are heavy hits.
Simon believes the alliance with Sikkens will bring huge benefits. “They are invested in helping us to achieve our goals. The professional support we have received so far has been invaluable and their technologically advanced products and equipment will really help efficiencies in our paintshop.”