INDUSTRY TRENDS
ALL SHINY AND NEW Sam Street has been having a sticky beak at some new shops around the country. All of these repairers have the confidence in their future to invest in new facilities and are positive about the industry and the opportunities it presents.
40 PAINT&PANEL May / June 2018
SPOT ON PANEL, DEER PARK I've seen some pretty amazing shops over the seven years I've worked on Paint and Panel – incredibly schmick, incredibly big, incredibly clever – but I have to say Spot on Panel in Deer Park, Melbourne made my jaw drop the furthest. It's not the biggest autobdy repair facility in Australia but it will be in the top five. When it comes to street presence though, I'm going to say it can't be beaten. The orginal shop and the new one stretch a long way down the five acre site. The frontage on a busy road just goes on and on and on. You can't miss it that's for sure. Vesco Jolevski is no stranger to big shops – his Maidstone facility is hardly a shoebox – 3,200 m2 of workshop and around 4,200 m2 of car park. The original Spot On Panel Deer Park, which was built in 2010, will be used for non-drive repairs, while the mammoth new shop will favour rapid repairs and possibly a mechanical section. The shop is around 7000m2 on the five acre site. It has taken around two years for Jolevski to realise his vision for this massive facility and cost close to $16 million. When I asked him why he built such a huge shop he simply said: "Because I need it. The insurance companies want volume and aren't so eager to deal with small shops." There has been a great deal of interest from insurers in the new facility many of whom have stopped in to have a look at the place. Jolevski started in the industry after he smashed his car and decided it was too expensive to get it fixed. He went to Sunshine Technical College – and had a broad education which covered electrical, mechanical, panel beating and spray painting, woodwork, engineering, technical drawing and more. Then he bought a small shop in Sunshine when he was 22 with a friend, who he later bought out. After six years he built a new 800m2 shop in Tottenham. A few shops later, in 2012 he built the www.paintandpanel.com.au