Best Motorbuys: March 20, 2020

inCorporating best motorbuys
Dealer Spotlight:
Hammonds Collision + Mechanical
When insurance companies started
opening SMart collision repair
workshops in new Zealand,
Christchurch Mta member, Scott Blackadder,
could see it was time to take stock of his
own business model.
Scott Blackadder says “the SMart shops
take a lot of the light and medium repairs.
this type of insurance work, along with avis
and Budget fleet repairs, makes up a big
chunk of our own repairs. However, we also
do a lot of structural work, for ourselves
and other shops. So i decided to put more
investment into this side of the business.
He’s also started promoting the mechanical
workshop that is part of the company.
Scott’s strategy included moving to bigger
premises, staying as close to his central city
location as possible.
Scott Blackadder started out as a car painter
at 15 and has owned Hammonds since 2013.
“i bought it from the receivers and some of
the original staff still work with me.”
Over the first few years, Scott introduced
new systems and invested heavily in
equipment upgrades and additional staff, but
he was constrained by the building itself.
“We didn’t have any parking attached and
used an area about 50 metres away. i worked
it out once that all the moving around of
cars was costing me around $60,000 a year
in lost time.” The old workshop was not
‘user-friendly’ and had an aging paint booth.
It took Scott more than three years to find
the right building in the right location.
ahead of his move to new 1,200m²
premises in Sydenham a few months
ago, Scott began investigating
ways to become more efficient,
using technology and processes
to improve his workflow. “I
talked to a lot of equipment
suppliers, who are in and
out of other workshops, and
thought through the layout of
the new building and how to
make it work for us.”
Hammonds Collision +
Mechanical employs 2.5
mechanics, seven panel beaters
(including two apprentices), six
painters (one apprentice) and two
estimators (with a vacancy for a
third). There are also two office staff
and a full-time groomer.
the move
Scott and his team built a large spreadsheet
with timelines and tasks to help with the
move, but it wasn’t what you’d call a smooth
process.
“There were lots of delays with the fit-out
by the building owner and lots of costs that
went over budget. We made the actual move
over a weekend, with everyone turning up
to help out – including friends and families.”
But moving in doesn’t mean that everything
is finished and ready to go. When Radiator
visited a month or so later, Scott was still
waiting on the rear carpark to be finished
and tarsealed, which meant he’s still dealing
with a shortage of parking and a backlog of
cars trapped in the workshop, restricting
the workflow. But the new iBody
quoting package has just been
installed and already the workflow is
improving.
“We’re nearly there and will soon
be realising all the benefits of
moving to a new site.”
Scott reckons the biggest
tip he has for anyone else
contemplating shifting to new
premises is to work out the
budget and then double it.
oh, and don’t put the spray
booth in before the interior
work is completed and signed
off. He says the delays in the fit out
meant his lovely new spray booth
got covered in dust and debris.
business model
along with increasing his focus
on structural repairs, Scott has
also been pushing his mechanical
workshop harder. “We have an advantage
over other collision repairers because we can
do more in house. it also saves the insurance
company money because we’re not towing
cars to other shops for work on airbags or
dash scanning and so on. the mechanical
side is also open to the public and the
exterior sign on the new fence advertising
WOFs is already paying off with drive-by
customers.
as part of the move, Scott also triggered
a marketing campaign to advertise the
change of address to existing customers
and to the general public. “We rebranded,
with new uniforms and signage that added
‘Mechanical’ to our name. We are now
officially Hammonds Collision + Mechanical,
where before we advertised as Hammonds
Collision Repair Centre.” The business has
also refreshed its website and run a radio
advertising campaign.
providing loan cars to customers is
something of a tradition – the firm has 27,
including two vans. But it’s an expensive
courtesy. Being so close to the central
city, Scott came up with the idea of also
providing two electric scooters on loan.
they’ve proved really popular.
“Younger customers who just need to drop
their car off and get back to work like the
scooters because they’re something different
but also really convenient. they’re also great
for staff who’re dropping off or picking up
cars. We can just take a scooter and throw it
into the boot.“ He says it frees up staff time.
“it means we don’t have someone delivering
a car somewhere and then needing to be
picked up and brought back to the workshop
by someone else. they can just scooter
back.”
46 Battersea street, sydenham | 03 366 1809 | hammonds.nz
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