In case you missed out feature in the January issue of the magazine here's the chat we had with Repairhub.
Sites: 19
Employees: 450
Type of work: Rapid repairs
Established: 2019
No of apprentices: 27
Funding: Joint venture IAG, RACV and founders
Sites in: NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT
Repairhub has added four new sites and retro-fitted one of its existing facilities since last year, and has added 120 people to its team. Repairhub now has 19 production facilities with one more in the pipeline. We caught up with one of Repairhub’s founders Chris Beatty and CFO Evan Camilleri.
Looking back on the last 12 months Beatty says: “It’s been business as usual. We’ve opened four sites in the last 12 months, so that’s on par with what we set out to do. I guess there’s little challenges here and there, especially in the fact that the properties are hard to find.
“Of course parts inflation is a little bit of a challenge for everybody I’d imagine. But all in all it’s just been another 12 months.”
Commenting on plans for 2023 Beatty says they are about to commence their next apprentice recruitment drive. “We also have a new site under construction in Moorabbin (VIC), and it should be open around April.”
The former CEO James Knox left at the end of last year, so at some point a new CEO will be announced. Beatty says when that happens, “We don’t expect too much change of direction. We have pretty clear objectives and the whole business has been executing on those consistently for four years. We have a very strong operational team who have done amazing things throughout the last few years, especially with the challenge of COVID.”
In terms of staff retention, he says: “We sat down and asked our staff what we need to do to try and keep everyone happy and give them no reason to look over the fence … so that’s what we focus on,” he said.
Recruitment for the new shop in the current constrained labour market hasn’t been too much of a challenge, despite needing at least 15 team members to get started, and more once full production is up and running.
Beatty says: “We’ve been fortunate enough that there’s a lot of word of mouth, people come across to Repairhub and then they just keep spreading the word around. So we’re quite consistent.
“We just look after everyone. If people leave for a few bucks more and then realise it’s not what they thought it was going to be, quite often they come back as they know that it’s a good place to work.
“Staff is the hardest thing but it’s one of our main focuses. When we won your award for best workplace last year, we were very proud of that and we continue to forge ahead with it. Maintaining the workforce is a struggle for everyone but I think we’re doing pretty well.
“I think realistically apprentices will be a key focus for everyone in the industry, including ourselves. We have a strong focus on ‘growing our own’ and building the next generation of talent within the business.”
Repairhub are certainly facing inflationary cost pressure like everyone else. Camilleri says: “Our workshops are run very efficiently, and our operations team have a strong focus on process improvement. But we have had to work very hard to offset the inflationary pressures across the business, especially in the area of parts inflation. It’s a continual focus for everyone in the industry.”