Young Entrepreneurs

If you’ve recently called out a plumber or attended a local yoga class, you may have noticed that Samford is home to a range of young entrepreneurs who have taken a chance on themselves and their ideas to start their own business. Over the next few weeks, we’re taking the opportunity to find out how some of our young locals are forging their own way in and around the Valley.

Andrew Butler | Range Diagnostic & Mechanical

Bringing his Porsche, Nissan and Mitsubishi workshop experience to Samford, Andrew Butler recently started his own vehicle repair service that conveniently comes to you. Range Diagnostics & Mechanical has accelerated its reputation among locals, with a crowd of happy customers sharing their recommendations online.

Andrew’s drive to start his own business was largely fuelled by his kids.

“Doing long hours and having two children under four, I wanted to be closer to our home in Samford to spend more time with my family and gain a better work life balance,” Andrew said. “I enjoy bringing resolutions to ongoing problem vehicles and customer concerns, so I decided to focus on this as the main building block for Range Diagnostic & Mechanical and really bring a new side to vehicle repair and maintenance by adding a transparency, honesty and value.”

Andrew started his career back in the UK when he left school at 16 to work at a friend’s father’s workshop. He then went on to do his apprenticeship getting various cars, trucks and motorbikes back on the road.

After working for different manufacturers, Andrew moved to Australia to further his career at Nissan and Mitsubishi, carrying out diagnostics and quality control before controlling workshops. He then moved into a similar position at Porsche.

Andrew enjoyed, “the day to day running of the workshop and pushing my focus to customer care, trying to resolve ongoing concerns with vehicles so customers had a mechanical person as a point of contact.”

With Range Diagnostic & Mechanical relatively new to the area, Andrew’s services have spread through word of mouth recommendations and via Facebook, but this has been more than enough to keep him busy.

“I think the people of the Samford region really appreciate meeting the person working on their vehicle, and knowing the information that is passed on is the information being used to repair or maintain the vehicles they have,” Andrew said.

“Also being fully mobile, my customers appreciate the fact that they can carry on working from home or office and I can slot in to their day with minimal impact on them.”

Buoyed by his business growth and encouraging feedback, Andrew has a fulltime workshop in mind for the future.

“With this said though, we will always keep the personal touch with our customers, and still try to fit around their schedules as best as possible,” Andrew said.

He is also looking to incorporate a loan vehicle to his current service if a customer’s vehicle is unable to be driven.

“We are now fully equipped to carry out on-site air conditioning diagnostics and repairs, so coming into spring, this I think will be a very welcome service,” Andrew said.

“I would personally like to thank the people of this community for the great feedback we have received and it’s a privilege to be able to operate within this community doing what I love.”

E: admin@rangedm.com or call 0421 770 647.

Tanya Hall