April 7, 2025 • 51 mins
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#135 Brad Cullen shares his journey from plumbing apprentice to founder of Offroad Creative, a rapidly growing business that designs and manufactures premium vehicle canopies and accessories.
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https://offroadcreative.com.au/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's your advice, mate, for people out there that
are sitting on the fence, maybehesitating to start their own
business or give it a crackthemselves?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Be prepared for a lot of hard work.
You need discipline.
You need a lot of discipline.
It doesn't matter what'shappening.
You've still got to get yourfoot out of that bed, get up and
keep going.
And then, when you turn up,you've got to be the leader.
You've got to be happy.
Happy doesn't matter what'sgoing on your life it's, it's
about everybody else okay, guys,welcome back to another episode
(00:36):
of level up.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We are ready for another cracking episode this
afternoon.
Look, if you haven't heard, weare putting on the greatest
event that construction industryhas ever seen in Australia.
It's on the 30th of May thisyear.
We have got internationalguests coming, such as Paula
Baker-Lepore and Matt Risingerthe two biggest names in the
building industry when it comesto building science and building
healthy homes as well as awhole other list of top quality,
(01:00):
world-class speakers.
But we also have over 60 ofAustralia's biggest and best
brands coming to have part of atrade show, and something I
really wanted to do was getthings at this event that just
set it apart from all the otherevents that you see our industry
having, and so I wanted tobring things that tradies and
builders need, and that includesthings like the vehicles we
(01:23):
drive.
So one of our major sponsorsthat has come on board is, uh,
the guys from off-road creative,and we're lucky enough to have
brad the man behind off-roadcreative here with us today.
How are you, mate?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
yeah, good thanks how you doing excellent.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Really appreciate you getting behind the event and,
uh, becoming one of our majorsponsors and I I think, for
people that come to the event tosee your vehicles because, like
I know, you guys are justalways innovating and coming up
with solutions and I know thattradies will get a lot out of
seeing your vehicles and thecanopies and the systems you
have.
So, yeah, I'm looking forwardto seeing what you're going to
(01:58):
bring, mate.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah well, we all know tradies, love a good rig.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
So yeah, I want to go back a little bit before we get
into Off-Road Creative and allthat sort of thing, because you
actually are a tradie Yep.
So can you tell us a little bitabout your backstory?
I guess, right back fromschooling Were you one of those
guys that didn't really fit inat school and just wanted to get
out and get your hands dirty.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
No, I was probably one of those guys that the
teachers didn't really like alot of unfocused potential I
suppose.
So you know a lot of boardsports, skating, surfing and
stuff that during school.
So I just sort of cruisedthrough school.
I was really interested in theback then.
It was technical drafting, Isuppose, graphics on the old
T-squares and with the pens andstuff like that Right back then.
(02:47):
So I was really interested inthat when I was going through
school.
And then when I finished schoolI started working on AutoCAD.
I'd done some AutoCAD in schoolfor a house building company
and then after a few months theycaught me sleeping in the
office a few too many times.
(03:08):
So an opportunity came up.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You got up too early.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
you're going for a surf mate, yeah yeah, just, I
guess, yeah, a little bit ofboredom setting in there.
So an opportunity came up for aplumbing apprenticeship with
those guys.
So, yeah, I jumped at that andstarted doing that with cottage
work, things like that.
And then, after you know aperiod of six months, they've
(03:34):
sort of folded I've, you know,got a job at the plumbing supply
shop down the road and then oneof the bigger companies that
was coming through there sort ofgrabbed me and jumped on board
with those guys for a couple ofyears.
And then, yeah, after that sortof, as I was living at a home,
living with the boys, you know,I'd have to go in and do
(03:55):
laboring for a little while to,you know, bank up a bit more
coin and then jump on withanother company, knock off a bit
more of my apprenticeship, andyou know life and circumstances
and everything else happened.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So, um, yeah, I ended up 10 years kept chipping away
at it and, uh, yeah, eventuallygot my, got my trade done so,
from when you started yourapprenticeship to when you
finished, you just like you yeah, did you do it with different
companies, or you went back andjust worked wherever you could
yeah, different companies.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So I might, you know, pick up a job laboring on a
high rise with the Jeep Rockersor something like that.
So you know, I'd do that forsix months and that was a lot
better money than you know the$12 an hour I think I was
getting you know as a second orthird year apprentice way back
then.
So, yeah, I'd do that for awhile, bank up a bit of money
and then, you know, hit up theplumbers on site at one of the
(04:45):
jobs and say, hey, you know,let's knock off a bit of time
and I'll dig some holes for you.
Yeah, yeah.
So I guess over that 10 years itwas took a while and I was
definitely committed to becominga tradesman.
That was the big thing.
I definitely wanted my tradecertificate but I guess doing it
that way probably worked outpretty well because I got a big
(05:07):
range of skills and you knowenvironments.
It wasn't just you know all newhouse, cottage work for my
whole apprenticeship, it wasshopping centers, it was high
rises, drainage, gas, fitting,the whole works.
So it it was actually a reallygood way to do it.
Wouldn't recommend it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But in the end?
Yeah Well, you committed mate.
Yeah, like doing anapprenticeship.
Over that time obviously meanta lot to you to actually finish
it, complete it and get thetrade ticket behind you.
Once you got it, did you use it?
Did you go and work as aplumber?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, I did a little bit um, and then you know a lot
younger and stuff like that I'd,um, when I was sort of kicking
off, I'd uh just be hanging outthe local reese, uh, plumbing
supplies, and you know someonewould come in and want a hot
water system done, and you knowwhen I think done, and then you
know other trades had come inand so I actually picked up a
(06:05):
lot of work just kicking outthere.
But yeah, I didn't know a lotabout business back then and so
it's a common story in the well,not just in the building
industry.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I'm sure it's the same in the industry you're in
now.
Like it like we all have apassion for something, but the
business sort of thing isgenerally what slows us down or
takes the passion away.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yep absolutely so.
You know, while you're quotingthe work, you're not doing the
work.
And then when you're doing thework, you're always looking for
the next job, because what areyou going to do after that?
And then there's, you know,invoices, tax, all that other
sort of stuff that when you'reyou know mid-20s and haven't
really thought about that typeof thing, it all you know
(06:45):
mid-twenties and haven't reallythought about that type of thing
.
It all comes on pretty quickly.
So yeah, I worked contractingfor a couple other plumbing
companies as well.
While I was doing that, too,yeah, unreal.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So where did the change take place?
What got you into the industryyou're in now?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Actually I'd hurt my wrist too many times, you know
doing board sports and stufflike that, so I'd put off
getting an operation on my wristfor a long time.
Financially it just didn't makesense to sit at home for six
months because you couldn't useyour hands.
So while I was off I actuallywent to TAFE, started doing some
(07:23):
engineering and then I did thatfor full-time for about maybe
eight months and then startedgetting some part-time work with
a mates work that was at aaluminium tipper manufacturing
facility.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So like tippers for body trucks and tip trucks, yeah
yeah, yeah, big aluminiumtippers and things like that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And they knew I was sort of, you know, had a couple
of brain cells between my earsand, yeah, I had a little bit of
experience on the design sideof things.
I was definitely keen to getinto it.
So they sort of put me throughthe different areas of the
factory over a period of timeand then moved me into the
office and that's where Istarted getting my first getting
(08:10):
my hands into proper design on3D programs.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, man.
And like when did you take thepunt to like go out on your own
or try your own thing?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
it was, I think.
I was working for a fewdifferent companies for a couple
years at a time and then, um, Istarted working for a global
mining company in the city.
At the time when I started,there was 32 designers there and
I worked my way up to top leveldesigner running teams so what
was designing Like bodies formine trucks and stuff?
(08:45):
We'd do some of our coal exportfacilities that we have up the
coast.
We'd be doing studies onexpanding stockyards, things
like that.
I was designing big bucketwheel reclaimers, big ship
loaders.
When the 2011 floods camethrough, we got contracted to
(09:10):
redesign the ferry terminalsbecause they all got washed away
, so I was part of a big team inthere and we won a design award
for those ones.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Jeez, mate, you've got some experience.
Yeah, yeah, I've been around alittle bit.
Well, that look it definitelyshows in the products that
you're developing now.
So yeah, but what was the pointwhen you got to that?
You took the punt to go andhave a crack, or were you
designing?
I assume someone like yourselfwould have been tinkering behind
the scenes.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
After the you know, coal prices went up, um, I think
they had like over 30 designersand I think I was one of the
very few left that got maderedundant.
Um, design work was a littlebit few and far between.
And then I went to work for a?
Um camper trailer manufacturera?
(10:09):
Um camper trailer manufacturerand started designing for those
guys.
Uh, and because, you know, I wasalways camping my whole life
and always full driving and uh,doing that sort of thing, so it
was right up my alley uhcertainly didn't pay as well as
the mining industry, but yeah,um, you know, you do what you do
for your passion, so, uh, yeah,so I worked with those guys for
five years and by the time weleft there, I had a two-year-old
(10:32):
boy and I was sort of sittingthere with the wife one night
and said, well, you know, I feellike I can do more.
I feel like I'm just cruisingat the moment and I can push
myself more.
And if we take a punt and if weknuckle down for, you know,
four years, five years, we canreally set those guys up the
kids.
So that's what we did.
(10:54):
So over the next couple ofmonths we basically sold the
camper, trailer and what we hadand, yeah, rented a shed, opened
the door and said what are wegoing to build?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, I've actually followed you for a long time,
mate, and I think like I saw aheap of the stuff when you very
first started, I think you weremucking around with some bars
and stuff.
And then I think, and the onethat I think got me over to
following what you were doingand I could see you just started
out was, um, the guys at ransomransom.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, michael ransom.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, some constructions, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so is it like that was one ofthe first full-on builds that
you did, wasn't it yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
yep, um, very lucky that he knocked on our door.
Uh, I'd known him through theuh, through the hylux community.
We've been on a few sort ofcamping trips you know big group
camping trips and I knew himthrough there and um, he'd
gotten a ram and he was planningtouring with his family and um,
(11:55):
so I was very lucky that heknocked on our door and and said
, hey, I want something custom.
Um what I want, no one's gonnado it for me.
Can you do it?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I said yeah yeah, I for it so so I guess, I guess,
if you haven't worked it out yet, the, the guys that created
off-road creative, basicallybuild the best canopies and you
do trays.
Yeah, we do trays, we dobasically anything that comes
through the doors but like thebest canopies, I think, on the
market, not just in Australiabut probably globally.
But they are insane, yeah, andyou're always innovating, like
(12:29):
from what I've seen in the like.
So how long's off-road creativeactually been going?
we're just coming on four and ahalf years now, yeah, and so in
four and a half years, you'vegone from renting a reasonably
small shed and that was a couplehundred meters and doing
everything on your own.
Yep, so what are you?
What are you in now?
10, how many square meters,this shed?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
uh we have 3 000 square meters of factory space
and over 45 employees yeah,candidate last night actually um
, yeah, I think there's about 47look, it's unbelievable, mate.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I just think it's fantastic.
You guys are just getting intoit and then you've hit the
American truck market prettyhard.
That's definitely ramping up inAustralia.
Yep, you don't just do Americantruck gear, do you?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
We are specialising in that at the moment.
We found with the work andeverything that we put into our
builds it was about a year and ahalf ago we were getting a lot
of enquiries but we're a littlebit sort of too high priced for
the Australian domestic utemarket.
So we don't do it the easy way,we do it the hard way and
(13:44):
there's a lot of components, alot of work and, you know, a lot
of quality and care that goesinto our builds.
So we found we're a little bitsort of over-capitalizing on
those utes.
So we did do a few.
We've done probably half adozen 79s, a few 200s, a couple
of Rangers.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I wouldn't say you do it the hard way.
I'd say you do it the properway, oh yeah yeah, like
everything I've seen is just allquality, like I've got a couple
of mates that have got yourgear and it's next level, like
there's no two ways about it.
It is the best in the industry.
And the thought that's goneinto the layouts and the setups
and just the ease of use is yeahit blows my mind.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
It's um, I guess when I'msitting there designing them,
one thing I didn't like aboutwhat was currently on the market
was when you look at the truckit's, it just looks like this
big box that's been plonked onthe back of the truck.
And then at the time when Istarted designing them, um, and
then you know they're thrown afridge here, a set of drawers
(14:47):
there, there was a pantry there.
So even as you see it drivingdown the road, you could see,
you know welds coming throughthe exterior, you know rear wall
doors, you could see where itwas welded, you could see it.
Just, it just wasn't suited tothe vehicle at all.
And then when you open the door, you could just see everybody's
(15:09):
stuff.
And when you wanted to make acoffee, you'd be pulling the
coffee machine out, sticking ithere, plugging it in, and when
you want to make a toaster,you'd be pulling that out,
plugging it in as well.
So I guess I wanted somethingthat when you're spending the
money on these trucks, you wantit to look as good as it
(15:30):
possibly can.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So it's like it come from the factory yeah, yeah,
pretty much.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So you know, I wanted to follow the body lines of the
truck.
Really nice, I want to.
You know, approach angles, allof the important stuff, a lot of
, um, you know, a lot of storagespace, uh, functionality etc.
But then at the same time whenyou open the door, that you just
couldn't see all your stuff.
It just looked messy.
For you know back then what wason the market.
(15:58):
So, um, I was just sort ofdesigning.
I'm like, well, you know, Iwant a coffee machine, I want a
toaster on a soda stream, I wanta microwave or this is in the
back of a four-wheel drive.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Oh yeah.
I've done some, some crazystuff in cars you recently,
don't mind, with buddy, a set ofkegs in it, haven't you?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
yeah, yeah to to beer kegs and a twin tap pour on the
front of the front of thepantry.
We've done another one.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Um marla designer locky, he designed up a mini bar
so it has your spirit bottleswith hoses coming out and then
you just go to the side, pushthe button and it pours you,
pours your spirits out into yourdrinks, and it's insane, mate
so I want to go back a littlebit on that because, like, a lot
of people listen to thispodcast, um, and what you've
done applies a little bit onthat because, like, a lot of
people listen to this podcastand what you've done applies,
(16:47):
like it's a lot of.
There's a lot of people outthere that are not quite happy
with the job they have at themoment or know they can do
better, similar to yoursituation, but so many people
don't take that step to trustthemselves, believe in
themselves and, I guess, put iton the line.
Like it takes a lot to sell upwhat you've got and put it all
(17:10):
on the line and take that stepto start a business.
Like you mentioned briefly, abig driver was your family.
Yep, what else was driving you?
Was it that you wanted to doyour own thing?
You wanted to put your stamp onthe on the industry uh, what's
the saying?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
you, um, you give up a job that's paying a wage,
working nine to five, so thatyou can start your own business,
and and nothing, work 24, 7.
Uh, that's, that's pretty truefor the first couple of years.
I don't know, I guess it's hard, hard to say.
I just felt like I could justdo more.
I felt like I was just cruisingthrough and you know, at the
(17:49):
end of it we could have beenreasonably comfortable.
But you know, we weren't really.
You know the same old story.
I didn't come from much and Iwanted more for my kids when I
was finished.
So I knew I had the skills todo it and, yeah, didn't really
have much of a business idea oranything like that.
(18:11):
But yeah, I spoke to a fewpeople and I guess when you've
got some good designs in yourhead and you're laid out there,
then you know the right peopleare gonna notice and start from
there.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So so you're obviously a very creative person
, mmm.
I guess also like a lot ofthose posts.
I saw you doing the early daysmucking around with bars and
things and did you do somethingwith a?
Was there something that foldedout of a mudguard or a guard or
something?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, it was actually a design taken from Brad
DeBerti in the US where they didan F truck where the sides of
the tub swing up like gullwingdoors and then you've got a
service body in behind that.
So we were contracted byanother company to do a couple
of those.
Yeah, so we did them.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
That's it.
Well, I'm no expert, but thatlooked to me like a shitload of
work.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, yep, in that one there was a lot of like old
school fabrication.
So you get a bit of plate andhow are we going to make this
work?
Drill a hole here, weld a biton there, you know, get it
working.
Oh, that's not quite right.
Change it again.
A lot of the stuff that I do,we design it on the CAD and it's
(19:30):
95% by the time it goes ontothe truck.
A little bit of tweaking andstuff like that, that, and it's
good to go where that one there,that that job there was
actually extremely difficult toget that working and, um, yeah,
not very practical for australiaand yeah, all that sort of
stuff.
But yeah, it was, it was athing.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
So well, you've obviously got like you tried and
tested.
Now, like I don't personallyknow um um the ransom guys, but
like I follow them, I love theircontent, like I think they're
one of the probably one of themost real ones out there.
Yeah, like they're just doingit because they want to do it.
Like not to uh not to try andlive up to anyone else's
expectations but, they'vedefinitely put that setup that
(20:14):
you built through its paces overthe last three or four years.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, that one was really cool.
So we did an electric rooftoptent which was fabricated onto
the top of the canopy.
It was three meters long so itoverhang the cab so that him,
his wife and his kids couldsleep in there when they're away
from the van.
(20:37):
Him, his wife and his kidscould sleep in there when
they're away from the van.
And we had electric actuatorsrunning down to the floor of the
canopy um and then canvasaround the outside, so you just
push a button in the canopy andthen the roof of the rooftop
tent would just lift up, likethat, yeah, and then inside we
had, you know, custom c deck inthe roof and it was all custom
canvas, custom mattresses,custom custom everything on that
(20:58):
.
We did a few of those rooftoptents but um, yeah, they were.
There's a very intensive labor,intensive wise yeah um, so we
ended up stopping those because,again to later on down the
track, if you want to go to sellthe vehicle or anything like
that, someone might not want arooftop tent on there and want
to use it for something else.
So, yeah, um, but yeah, thatwas one of the first things.
(21:20):
The first one on ransoms um,yeah, he had a lot of great
ideas and a lot of things thathe wanted and you know we did a
lot of work together to try andfit it in.
So, you know, two pull outpantries uh, the original idea
was to get his kids peeweemotorbikes on the driver's side
as well, and he also wanted histools so he could work on the
(21:42):
road.
He was planning a year-longtrip.
Four years later he stillhasn't come back so is that how
you work?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
like my main business is we build high-end custom
homes and renovations, but um is, is that how you sort of do it
with your canopies?
Does everyone get theopportunity to come in and like
they're custom designed, or doesit start with a basic sort of
model and you build on it, likehow does it actually work?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, we won't really change the outside of the
canopy so much.
We have a bunch of differentoptions for, you know, chainsaw
holders, jack holders, jerrycans on the back and things like
that, obviously, rooftop tentsand all that sort of thing.
But we like our style that wehave with the outside of the
(22:27):
canopies, the structure.
We know they're strong, we knowthey're light and they work.
So we don't want to mess aroundtoo much with the outside.
But interior wise, we do spenda lot of time with the customers
.
They have a lot of, and a lotof times great, ideas about what
they want to see in theircanopy.
So a lot of the time everythingthat we were doing was new.
(22:48):
I must have 50 different pantryconfigurations.
Someone wanted an air fryer, acoffee machine this particular
size coffee machine, you knowsandwich press on a drawer.
All this so that you know whenyou open it up, you pull this
out, you cook your toaster, youclose it again, you know it's
(23:08):
all there, you just turn theinverter button on.
Everything has a home whenyou're packing up.
It's really quick, it's reallyneat.
Everything is functional and itjust works works.
So, over the years with the,you know what, learning what
really works and what doesn't.
Our current design now for the,the passenger side, it just
(23:30):
really works.
So, uh, you know, previouslywith two drawers on top of the,
on top of each other, you know,with the height of these,
difficult to see in that seconddrawer, and then you're left
with a small width table andthen you've got this big, heavy
pull-out pantry right at therear of the truck.
So I developed a new layout forthe passenger side where it
(23:56):
gives you a massive table and weput induction cookers and sinks
in that table, um two drawersthat are easily accessible and
then, you know, move to minipantries.
So we put three-in-onemicrowaves or um food pantries,
full-size breville espressomachines it's insane.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
This is like that's not really camping anymore.
Is it like people are takingthe the kitchen with them?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, what we did find is, you know a lot of
people, a lot of a lot of the,they go I'm just not going to
use all that kitchen stuff, youknow, cause we're going to be
with the van most of the time.
You know my kids a time awayfrom the van.
So really, in that kitchenstuff.
(24:40):
But we do a lot of downselling.
So you know people come in withthese grand ideas and it's like
, well, yeah, we can do that,but how much are you going to
use it?
Is the juice worth the squeeze?
Yeah, but one thing we did findwas you know, especially
tradies and stuff like that,they're so used to getting up at
(25:12):
four or five o'clock in themorning that you know we say
this is one consideration.
When you are looking at thatkitchen side of your canopy, do
you get up earlier thaneverybody else, the kids and the
missus.
You can come outside, you canstart breakfast, you can make
your coffee, you can watch thesunset, you can potter around
campsite and they can still besleeping inside and you're not
waking them up because caravans,everyone's on top of each other
.
So you turn on the coffeemachine, everybody's awake.
So you're like, oh, I've neveractually thought of that.
(25:34):
So it's about just talking withthe customers and you know how
do you want to use it.
What do you see yourself doing?
And have you thought of thisand you know you want this.
We have this which does whatyou're asking, but it's actually
(25:54):
a bit more functional than youridea.
Is that something you want togo with?
And we found that this layoutthat we've got now nails about
80% of the builds that we do now, yeah, and you're doing other
stuff as well, don't you?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You're doing front bars for most vehicles now,
aren't you?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, so we do front bars for all of the American
trucks, front bars for all ofthe American trucks, and then
we've just started getting intofront bars for the domestic
market as well.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So that's what your Prados Cruzes Rangers yeah, it's
Hiluxes at the moment.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
We sort of bought the IP of a company that was a
little bit burned out and wasn'table to keep up with what
they're doing.
Um so, uh, he's in as a as aconsultant in that side of
things.
Um so it's high luxes at themoment and then we're going to
expand the range throughout therest of the domestic market as
(26:51):
well yeah, yeah, because youeven your bars like they're.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
They're one of the best looking bars on the market.
Like they.
Everything else is so, I don'tknow, old-fashioned agricultural
, I don't know what you want tocall it, but you're again.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
You even your bars seem to just they look like
they've been there from factoryyeah, the bars were a good one
to design because over in thestates they're their bars are
quite.
You know they're really small.
Um, you know a lot of angles, alot going on and a lot of you
know they're really small.
You know a lot of angles, a lotgoing on and a lot of that, you
(27:24):
know, four years ago was alittle bit too much for the
Australian market.
But then what we had a lot ofover here was a lot of old
school big triple hoop things.
You know that didn't look verygood.
So when I came in on our frontbars I wanted to try and tone
down that american thing forthis market, but also not make
(27:44):
grandpa spec bars as well.
So, yeah, we came up with apretty good uh, I suppose hybrid
of the two ideas there and yeahthey've been going.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
They've been going really good and do you do like
I'm?
I know you do the bars, thecanopies and things, but is
there any um in the futureyou're going to like build
trucks or is you're just goingto leave that for for other
companies, or are you going tohave a crack at doing the whole
thing?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
uh, yeah, yeah.
So we're looking at you know,doing turnkey builds, uh that
sort of thing as well.
We, we know our demographicquite well.
We do get a lot of tradies comethrough, but we also get a lot
of developers and, above,company owners.
So a lot of guys that have runa company for years.
(28:32):
They've either sold or steppedright back from it and just
selling, know, selling houses,whatever to buy the ultimate van
, build the ultimate truck andand just take off.
So they want it to look good,be functional and just work.
So, yeah, that's what we can do.
(28:53):
So now we're just going to tryand make that a little bit
easier for those guys.
So the time it takes to build atruck with multiple different
companies, we both know takingtime out of the business at a
certain day, at a certain timeto just get up and then drop
your truck off, on the otherside of the city, for example,
and then Uber back, is very rareto be able to just get up and
(29:18):
walk out like that.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
So um, yeah, it makes sense, mate, like I just again,
it comes back and it's sodifferent to me.
Building a luxury home forsomeone like you, you leave it
to the experts.
So if you can, uh, get acompany that just takes care of
everything for you, you you cantrust them and know that when
you come back there that you'regoing to have a vehicle that
just exceeds your expectations.
(29:39):
Yeah.
Like why wouldn't you do?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
that we're getting a lot more requests for that, more
and more so.
They're, like you know, in fourmonths or in six months time
we're selling up.
We want to leave at this dateand we want it just all done,
ready to go, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And then you know the whole vehicle.
I'd imagine doing a canopy likeyou.
You're touching 50, 60 of thevehicle anyway, yeah, major
transformation.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And if you're putting a bar on, like like all that's
left is wheels, tires,suspension and maybe a roof rack
, like yeah, so we're nottackling that area ourselves,
we're leaving it to the expertsin that field.
Yeah, um, and just yeah, teamedup with a couple of different
companies to, um, yeah, tofacilitate that whole process.
Yeah, write down the vehiclewraps and and things like that
yeah, awesome man, I can't waitto see that like.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
It just seems to me like every time I see an
instagram post where youfinished a new truck, like
they're just getting better andbetter and some cool colors, and
just yeah, I think it'sfreaking awesome.
But I've also enjoyed seeingI'm not sure if it's something
you do regularly, but, um, I'veseen you put out some pretty
cool options for tradies.
Um, yep, like I think there wasone, I don't know it was, maybe
(30:49):
it was more economical setup.
I think it might have even justbeen a bed cover, but when you
open the bed cover, like it hada slide on one side with a
fridge and a and a space with Idon't know like a pantry type
thing, but it still gave youhalf the the tray to throw
timber or tools or I actuallydesigned that one for me.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, yeah so we had.
Uh, we had a f-150 coming and Idon't get time to go touring and
so I didn't want to drivearound with a canopy on all the
time.
But I did want to take off for,you know, long weekends or
weekends, that sort of thing,you know, take the boy out up to
the beach, you know fishing,whatever.
We'd take the family out for aweekend as well.
(31:29):
So what I wanted there was adesign that you know I had
enough water for the weekend,enough power for the weekend,
fridge space, cooking, rooftoptent, lights, so we made sure
all of that was in there.
But then every other weekend Icould go to bunnings and still
(31:50):
throw stuff in the back.
I could throw his pushy in theback, we could throw sandy stuff
in the back and just hose itall out.
It was all waterproof, it wasall specked up.
So we do boat loaders on thoseas well.
It's a good weight compromise.
For those with big bands whodon't want full-size canopy as
well, the weight on that issignificantly lower than a
(32:13):
full-size canopy too.
So that works out with people'sGVMs and what they want to use
it for and how long.
So you know, a lot of guys justwant to go caravanning for the
six-week school holidays butthen they've still got to drive
around in the truck for the restof the year.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Um, and the tub look does look good I reckon that was
a cracking setup, like it wasthe best thought out like
solution that I've ever seen,like just to be able to have
that on one side still have thewhole other half of the tub, but
, yeah, to have your fridge.
You had a pantry in that yeah,it had a storage space.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I put all my plates and, yeah, everything I needed
in there as well.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, like you combine that with the, with the
rooftop tent or a rooftop rackand that, and like, literally
like yeah, there's not a lot,you can't do with that.
But you mentioned weight a fewtimes because, um, like, when we
um spoke yesterday or the daybefore, I said to you like I
actually spoke to you on thephone I think it was three or
four years ago when I was yeahwanting to get a canopy on my.
(33:11):
I think it was around the sametime ransom was getting you to
do his.
And then, uh, literally in thetime I was talking to you, I
there was another guy inmelbourne that was selling a
full setup f250 ready fortouring.
He'd done his two years touringand was selling it, so I jumped
on that and bought that.
But the um, like the truck thatI've got now, which I'm I'm due
(33:32):
to uh upgrade it it's so heavylike the canopy on it, mate, is
I don't know, it'd have to weighsix or seven hundred kilos,
like it's a jack off one andit's a mission.
The canopy on it, mate, is Idon't know, it'd have to weigh
600 or 700 kilos.
It's a jack-off one and it's amission to get it on and off.
But you guys seem to only putin what you need to put in.
It's still really structurallysound and really well built, but
(33:52):
you're not putting inunnecessary weight.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
I mean, it's cheaper and more efficient to make, you
know, all of the aluminium inthat canopy out of the same
thickness, but what you end upwith is, you know, these
structural parts underneath needto be thicker, and then you
continue that through the rest.
You end up with a heavy canopy.
So you know, through the designit's, you know, a bit lighter
on the roof sheets and then ourstructure inside of it is, you
(34:21):
know, heavy.
So we have that structure, thefloor structure and everything's
quite heavy.
So and then even the way thatwe do our, our structure and how
that's attached to the rearwall has evolved over time so
that the guys don't have to jigit or measure it at all in
(34:42):
fabrication.
It all kind of clip blockstogether and then where they're
putting the welds it's it'sputting the least amount of
deformation on the rear wall ofit.
So we sand that off completelyflat.
So now, less sanding, yeah,even our doors.
So I did about probably threedifferent versions of the canopy
(35:03):
door over time and I was ableto take about I think it was
eight kilos and about six partsout of the door.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
But make it stronger they're definitely the best
looking canopies from theoutside.
The way you integrate yourlocking systems and your handles
and stuff.
Like it's um, it dead set, justlooks like it is part of the
car, like it's something thatyou've said.
It ticked a box at the factorythat you you want a canopy and
it's, it's put on there and itlooks like it's meant to be
there, yeah, which you don't see, like you said before, like you
(35:32):
don't actually see that a lotwith most um canopies.
But I think another bigdifference with your stuff is
like you open most canopies,including the one I've got at
the moment, and it's.
It looks like it's all modular,like it's like we just click a
drawer in here and we click afridge in here and it's, and so
by doing that, there's like alot of wasted space.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yeah whereas extra holes and a lot of yeah yeah,
yeah, like your stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
From what I've seen, I've got a couple of mates that
have got yours and they're just,they're next level, like
everything's just so wellintegrated and neat and there's
no wasted space, everything'sthought out, even the your
drawers.
Like just your one bloody touch, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Drawers.
Yeah, that was really good.
It's, yeah, just throughexperience and all that sort of
stuff, every time you want tostick something in the drawer,
you've got something in yourhand, you know.
So the locking slides, thereare two-handed action, so we did
that straight away.
And then also doubles as a youknow, a T-tail holder as well,
and you know, yeah, justfunction and usability and all
(36:31):
that sort of stuff is key.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
So, mate, you must be pretty proud of where it's come
to like what's a short periodof time.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, you've got to allow yourself to step back
every now and then and, yeah,sort of take it in for what it
is so you can have anotherbreath and get back into it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Do you take the time out to sit back and reflect on
it and just appreciateeverything you've done?
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Yeah, I can't be there for a lot of the handovers
anymore with customers, but Ido like taking the time to come
out and meet them and gettingtheir initial feedback and stuff
like that.
There's been a few times wherewe've got the biggest, burliest
block layer and he's come topick up his and we rolled up the
the roller door and you can seehis eyes well enough yeah uh,
(37:18):
that those moments is is whatgets me um, and then recently we
had our open day, um, craigorganized all that one um, and
with that one, yeah, mayor tomtade and mark hamill, the the
local councillor, and that sortof stuff came out and uh, yeah,
(37:39):
so you know, promoting industryin the area and and um, you know
, growth as well, um, that was areally cool moment.
Yeah, couldn't get that sort ofrecognition as well.
So, but realistically, now it'sthe whole team and it always
has been.
You can't get where you'regoing without the people around
you.
Um, so that's, that's where ourfocus is.
(38:02):
It's it's on the team andgrowing the team personally.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Um, you know, and when you grow somebody
personally and build, you know,ethic and build character in
them as best you can, then youcan't lose as a boss yeah, and
culture like yeah create aculture and I'd imagine, with
your um, like with your business, like, I would assume, a lot of
people that work there wouldhave an interest in four-wheel
(38:28):
driving camping outdoors likemixed bag yeah, yeah, mixed bag.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
So we do get a lot of people who do that.
Um, you know, half our streetis full of drives.
But then too, you know, we'vegot, you know, people who are
mechanics but don't likeactually mechanicing, but on the
weekend they'll go and fixtheir own car.
You know, yeah, it's just areal mixed bag.
(38:55):
But we look for somebody who,yeah, who just wants to get in
and achieve something and andthat's the people that we really
help grow.
And, yeah, stick with.
It's been hard as we grow totry and keep in touch of, you
know, every single person thereand how they're going in their
lives and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
But I still, you know , cruise around and high five
everybody and have a bit of ayarn and what's your advice,
mate, for people out there thatare sitting on the fence, maybe
hesitating to start their ownbusiness or give it a crack
themselves?
Be?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
prepared for a lot of hard work.
You need discipline, you need alot of discipline.
It doesn't matter what'shappening.
You've still got to get yourfoot out of that bed, get up and
keep going.
And then, when you turn up,you've got to be the leader.
You've got to be happy.
Doesn't matter what's going onyour life, it's, it's about
everybody else.
Yeah, there's a lot ofsacrifice, but at the end
(39:52):
there's a lot of reward too.
You know you have that sense ofachievement, you know you're
doing something great.
But yeah, it's be prepared forsacrifice.
But if you're comfortable beinguncomfortable, then you can do
that.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, yeah but it's risk equals reward, like you've
got to take every anyone thattakes risks generally, like if
they put in the effort, they'reconsistent, they're, as you said
, discipline's a massive thing.
Like they, then generally youcan push through and do well,
like so, like you're past allthat now.
Like what's the plans for thefuture?
Speaker 2 (40:23):
we're still looking to go bigger.
Um, yeah, we moved in october.
We've already done oneexpansion already.
Uh, our previous factory westarted running um the other
bull bar company that weacquired in there, and then we
(40:43):
were looking at putting laserimpressors in our fabrication
shed.
And then we worked out prettyquickly that once we do that, we
can't grow fabrication anymoreand we can't grow the laser
impressor sort of thing.
So we swapped that around,built another whole row of
fabrication booths, um, and thenwe actually just landed our
(41:05):
presses and laser in ourprevious shed this week yeah yep
.
So we did a little switch aroundthere, expanded our fabrication
and and um.
Now we have room to expand ourour laser and press factory as
well.
Now too.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Because there's a massive opportunity for growth
Because really the Americantrucks they're only just taken
off the last couple of years.
You're definitely seeing moreof them, but if they keep
expanding at the rate they are,the market's huge.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, there's more and more big manufacturers
seeing how big australia is andhow much we like driving all
over it and traveling around.
There's a lot of amazing sitesin the country to see.
So, uh, you know, they see thatand they see what's been
happening over the last, youknow, four, five, six years with
the the need for these trucks.
It's when you're towing a bigvan.
(41:59):
There is nothing safer on theroad to tow it with.
You could have a 200 series, itcould be very well built, but
when you go up a big hill withfour and a half ton on the back,
the motor is at its limit, yourfuel economy is down.
You know, there's just a lot ofwear and tear on that.
And then, even if you have likethree and a half ten ton van
(42:21):
towing it with an everest, thevan's heavier than the car
that's what I don't, that's whatI've never got like.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
If you're gonna tell a big van you, your car should
weigh more than what you've been.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yep so now, these things, they're, they're
cruising around with massivevans on them pulling, you know,
17, 19 liters per hundred, 110kilometers for those or 100
kilometers for those, is idlingyou've got the power there to
get yourself out of trouble whenyou need to, and it feels like
you're doing it all in a loungechair.
So you know, big days ofdriving, six, seven, eight hours
(42:51):
of driving doesn't feel like amission anymore, because it's
just easy and a lot of peoplehave always said the the cost is
a restriction.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
But like, look how many people have dual cab 79s.
And like, if you take the costof a dual cab cruiser or a 200
series and then you do your gvmupgrades, you do all your
suspension upgrades, you do youryour side mirrors, like you do
everything that actually comesstandard in an american truck,
yeah, like you you're spendingmore money.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Uh, what's the saying ?
You buy a 79, you're justputting a deposit down on the
truck you actually want, yeah,yeah.
And then, oh, you get in one ofthose now, compared to the
trucks that we're so used togetting into, and it it
generally feels like a jimny.
Yeah, um, you put the seat backso that you can drive it as a
driver and and I'm not a bigdude and then you look in the
(43:41):
back seat and you've got thismuch room.
Yeah, so you know, when yourkids start getting older, doing
those six-hour drives all day,it's going to be very fatiguing.
Yeah, you know these trucks here.
You put your seat back, you'recomfortable, you're cruising
along, along, you're not gettingthat fatigue.
And then in the back seat, thekids have all the room in the
(44:02):
world you can put, you know,ipads, books, bags, whatever
across the front, keep them up,you know, on the floor in front
of them and keep them occupiedthe whole time.
And, yeah, it's, it is reallychalk and cheese when you're
talking these trucks againstwhat, um, this country's been
used to for a while.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yeah, especially when you get out in the outback.
We've done a few trips now, ora lot of trips now.
I've only ever had F trucks.
I'm a bit of an F truck guy.
Craig's been chewing my ear offthat I should get a 550.
I was asking him about the 550s.
Who knows what will happen withthe next truck.
But you get them out on therough roads and the corrugations
(44:41):
and they just don't feel itLike they do it with ease.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Yeah a good suspension set up and all that
sort of stuff, it really goes along way.
The factory suspension isreally just set up for long
highway sort of touring.
It's not meant for constantload all the time.
It's not meant forcorrugationsations.
Our roads, a lot of the roadsthat we have, is you might as
well be driving on a dirt trackanyway.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
So, um yeah, the factory suspension is not really
set up for that and you don'twant to be caught somewhere in
the middle of nowhere with afailure so you set it up to do a
little bit more than what youthink you're going to do, and
then you're going to be fine,yeah yeah, well, mate, uh, look,
I really appreciate your yourtime today, but I definitely
appreciate you getting behind umthe level up experience and and
(45:25):
becoming a major sponsor of theevent.
Um, how can people find youguys like you?
Speaker 2 (45:31):
uh, predominantly instagram and our website.
Um so we have a contact form onour website.
Um so the boys get in there,you know, if it's over the
weekend or after hours, everymorning they're in there
replying to emails and stuff.
We're very responsive we.
You know customer service hasalways been high on our priority
list.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
So, yes, the contact your Instagram's offroad
underscore.
Is it Offroad underscorecreative?
Yeah, offroad underscorecreative.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yep and then our website as well, so you can have
a look on there and and choosecontact and someone will be
giving you a call in 24 hoursyep, awesome mate.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Well, like I said, appreciate your time.
Look, guys, if you're out thereand you are considering an
american truck or a touringsetup or you want to talk to the
guys about what sort of setupthey can do for your tools or
for your trade, or whatever thecase may be, the guys are gonna
have a few trucks on display atthe level up experience.
So make sure you come along,check them out, go and say good
day to Brad and the rest of theteam.
(46:27):
I'm really looking forward towhat you bring to the show Same.
What are you gonna have there?
Three, four vehicles orsomething.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yeah, I think we're working on four, I think we have
the space for four.
So we're trying to get a bit ofa mix of jobs that we've done.
So we're currently, you know,teaming up a few customers that
we've done and getting a bit ofa mix.
So a bit of a tradie one, a bitof a touring one, a bit of more
of a weekend warrior type oneas well.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
So yeah, Well, make sure you come along to the show
guys and check it out because,seriously, they they are leading
the game when it comes tokennebys in australia and, who
knows, probably around the world.
But um, really appreciate yourtime, mate, appreciate getting
behind the event.
Um, and guys, look, go to thewebsite, duanepeircecom.
Make sure you get your ticketsthey're selling fast for the
(47:12):
level up experience.
We look forward to seeing youthere.
It will be an unmissable day Ifyou're interested in business
development, personaldevelopment, healthy homes,
building, science.
Australia has never seen anevent like this, so you've got
to be there and you need aticket to be there.
So go get your tickets.
We look forward to seeing you onthe next one and, as usual,
(47:33):
like share, subscribe, all thosetypes of things.
Go and check out the guys atoff-road creative and we'll see
you on the next podcast.
Are you ready to build smarter,live better and enjoy life?
Then head over to live likebuildcom forward, slash, elevate
to get started.
Everything discussed during thelevel up podcast with me, duane
(47:59):
pierce, is based solely on myown personal experiences and
those experiences of my guests.
The information, opinions andrecommendations presented in
this podcast are for generalinformation only and any
reliance on the informationprovided in this podcast is done
at your own risk.
We recommend that you obtainyour own professional advice in
respect to the topics discussedduring this podcast.
What's your advice, mate, for people out there that
are sitting on the fence, maybehesitating to start their own
business or give it a crackthemselves?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Be prepared for a lot of hard work.
You need discipline.
You need a lot of discipline.
It doesn't matter what'shappening.
You've still got to get yourfoot out of that bed, get up and
keep going.
And then, when you turn up,you've got to be the leader.
You've got to be happy.
Happy doesn't matter what'sgoing on your life it's, it's
about everybody else okay, guys,welcome back to another episode
(00:36):
of level up.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We are ready for another cracking episode this
afternoon.
Look, if you haven't heard, weare putting on the greatest
event that construction industryhas ever seen in Australia.
It's on the 30th of May thisyear.
We have got internationalguests coming, such as Paula
Baker-Lepore and Matt Risingerthe two biggest names in the
building industry when it comesto building science and building
healthy homes as well as awhole other list of top quality,
(01:00):
world-class speakers.
But we also have over 60 ofAustralia's biggest and best
brands coming to have part of atrade show, and something I
really wanted to do was getthings at this event that just
set it apart from all the otherevents that you see our industry
having, and so I wanted tobring things that tradies and
builders need, and that includesthings like the vehicles we
(01:23):
drive.
So one of our major sponsorsthat has come on board is, uh,
the guys from off-road creative,and we're lucky enough to have
brad the man behind off-roadcreative here with us today.
How are you, mate?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
yeah, good thanks how you doing excellent.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Really appreciate you getting behind the event and,
uh, becoming one of our majorsponsors and I I think, for
people that come to the event tosee your vehicles because, like
I know, you guys are justalways innovating and coming up
with solutions and I know thattradies will get a lot out of
seeing your vehicles and thecanopies and the systems you
have.
So, yeah, I'm looking forwardto seeing what you're going to
(01:58):
bring, mate.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah well, we all know tradies, love a good rig.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
So yeah, I want to go back a little bit before we get
into Off-Road Creative and allthat sort of thing, because you
actually are a tradie Yep.
So can you tell us a little bitabout your backstory?
I guess, right back fromschooling Were you one of those
guys that didn't really fit inat school and just wanted to get
out and get your hands dirty.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
No, I was probably one of those guys that the
teachers didn't really like alot of unfocused potential I
suppose.
So you know a lot of boardsports, skating, surfing and
stuff that during school.
So I just sort of cruisedthrough school.
I was really interested in theback then.
It was technical drafting, Isuppose, graphics on the old
T-squares and with the pens andstuff like that Right back then.
(02:47):
So I was really interested inthat when I was going through
school.
And then when I finished schoolI started working on AutoCAD.
I'd done some AutoCAD in schoolfor a house building company
and then after a few months theycaught me sleeping in the
office a few too many times.
(03:08):
So an opportunity came up.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You got up too early.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
you're going for a surf mate, yeah yeah, just, I
guess, yeah, a little bit ofboredom setting in there.
So an opportunity came up for aplumbing apprenticeship with
those guys.
So, yeah, I jumped at that andstarted doing that with cottage
work, things like that.
And then, after you know aperiod of six months, they've
(03:34):
sort of folded I've, you know,got a job at the plumbing supply
shop down the road and then oneof the bigger companies that
was coming through there sort ofgrabbed me and jumped on board
with those guys for a couple ofyears.
And then, yeah, after that sortof, as I was living at a home,
living with the boys, you know,I'd have to go in and do
(03:55):
laboring for a little while to,you know, bank up a bit more
coin and then jump on withanother company, knock off a bit
more of my apprenticeship, andyou know life and circumstances
and everything else happened.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So, um, yeah, I ended up 10 years kept chipping away
at it and, uh, yeah, eventuallygot my, got my trade done so,
from when you started yourapprenticeship to when you
finished, you just like you yeah, did you do it with different
companies, or you went back andjust worked wherever you could
yeah, different companies.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So I might, you know, pick up a job laboring on a
high rise with the Jeep Rockersor something like that.
So you know, I'd do that forsix months and that was a lot
better money than you know the$12 an hour I think I was
getting you know as a second orthird year apprentice way back
then.
So, yeah, I'd do that for awhile, bank up a bit of money
and then, you know, hit up theplumbers on site at one of the
(04:45):
jobs and say, hey, you know,let's knock off a bit of time
and I'll dig some holes for you.
Yeah, yeah.
So I guess over that 10 years itwas took a while and I was
definitely committed to becominga tradesman.
That was the big thing.
I definitely wanted my tradecertificate but I guess doing it
that way probably worked outpretty well because I got a big
(05:07):
range of skills and you knowenvironments.
It wasn't just you know all newhouse, cottage work for my
whole apprenticeship, it wasshopping centers, it was high
rises, drainage, gas, fitting,the whole works.
So it it was actually a reallygood way to do it.
Wouldn't recommend it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But in the end?
Yeah Well, you committed mate.
Yeah, like doing anapprenticeship.
Over that time obviously meanta lot to you to actually finish
it, complete it and get thetrade ticket behind you.
Once you got it, did you use it?
Did you go and work as aplumber?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, I did a little bit um, and then you know a lot
younger and stuff like that I'd,um, when I was sort of kicking
off, I'd uh just be hanging outthe local reese, uh, plumbing
supplies, and you know someonewould come in and want a hot
water system done, and you knowwhen I think done, and then you
know other trades had come inand so I actually picked up a
(06:05):
lot of work just kicking outthere.
But yeah, I didn't know a lotabout business back then and so
it's a common story in the well,not just in the building
industry.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I'm sure it's the same in the industry you're in
now.
Like it like we all have apassion for something, but the
business sort of thing isgenerally what slows us down or
takes the passion away.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yep absolutely so.
You know, while you're quotingthe work, you're not doing the
work.
And then when you're doing thework, you're always looking for
the next job, because what areyou going to do after that?
And then there's, you know,invoices, tax, all that other
sort of stuff that when you'reyou know mid-20s and haven't
really thought about that typeof thing, it all you know
(06:45):
mid-twenties and haven't reallythought about that type of thing
.
It all comes on pretty quickly.
So yeah, I worked contractingfor a couple other plumbing
companies as well.
While I was doing that, too,yeah, unreal.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So where did the change take place?
What got you into the industryyou're in now?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Actually I'd hurt my wrist too many times, you know
doing board sports and stufflike that, so I'd put off
getting an operation on my wristfor a long time.
Financially it just didn't makesense to sit at home for six
months because you couldn't useyour hands.
So while I was off I actuallywent to TAFE, started doing some
(07:23):
engineering and then I did thatfor full-time for about maybe
eight months and then startedgetting some part-time work with
a mates work that was at aaluminium tipper manufacturing
facility.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So like tippers for body trucks and tip trucks, yeah
yeah, yeah, big aluminiumtippers and things like that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And they knew I was sort of, you know, had a couple
of brain cells between my earsand, yeah, I had a little bit of
experience on the design sideof things.
I was definitely keen to getinto it.
So they sort of put me throughthe different areas of the
factory over a period of timeand then moved me into the
office and that's where Istarted getting my first getting
(08:10):
my hands into proper design on3D programs.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, man.
And like when did you take thepunt to like go out on your own
or try your own thing?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
it was, I think.
I was working for a fewdifferent companies for a couple
years at a time and then, um, Istarted working for a global
mining company in the city.
At the time when I started,there was 32 designers there and
I worked my way up to top leveldesigner running teams so what
was designing Like bodies formine trucks and stuff?
(08:45):
We'd do some of our coal exportfacilities that we have up the
coast.
We'd be doing studies onexpanding stockyards, things
like that.
I was designing big bucketwheel reclaimers, big ship
loaders.
When the 2011 floods camethrough, we got contracted to
(09:10):
redesign the ferry terminalsbecause they all got washed away
, so I was part of a big team inthere and we won a design award
for those ones.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Jeez, mate, you've got some experience.
Yeah, yeah, I've been around alittle bit.
Well, that look it definitelyshows in the products that
you're developing now.
So yeah, but what was the pointwhen you got to that?
You took the punt to go andhave a crack, or were you
designing?
I assume someone like yourselfwould have been tinkering behind
the scenes.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
After the you know, coal prices went up, um, I think
they had like over 30 designersand I think I was one of the
very few left that got maderedundant.
Um, design work was a littlebit few and far between.
And then I went to work for a?
Um camper trailer manufacturera?
(10:09):
Um camper trailer manufacturerand started designing for those
guys.
Uh, and because, you know, I wasalways camping my whole life
and always full driving and uh,doing that sort of thing, so it
was right up my alley uhcertainly didn't pay as well as
the mining industry, but yeah,um, you know, you do what you do
for your passion, so, uh, yeah,so I worked with those guys for
five years and by the time weleft there, I had a two-year-old
(10:32):
boy and I was sort of sittingthere with the wife one night
and said, well, you know, I feellike I can do more.
I feel like I'm just cruisingat the moment and I can push
myself more.
And if we take a punt and if weknuckle down for, you know,
four years, five years, we canreally set those guys up the
kids.
So that's what we did.
(10:54):
So over the next couple ofmonths we basically sold the
camper, trailer and what we hadand, yeah, rented a shed, opened
the door and said what are wegoing to build?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, I've actually followed you for a long time,
mate, and I think like I saw aheap of the stuff when you very
first started, I think you weremucking around with some bars
and stuff.
And then I think, and the onethat I think got me over to
following what you were doingand I could see you just started
out was, um, the guys at ransomransom.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, michael ransom.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, some constructions, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so is it like that was one ofthe first full-on builds that
you did, wasn't it yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
yep, um, very lucky that he knocked on our door.
Uh, I'd known him through theuh, through the hylux community.
We've been on a few sort ofcamping trips you know big group
camping trips and I knew himthrough there and um, he'd
gotten a ram and he was planningtouring with his family and um,
(11:55):
so I was very lucky that heknocked on our door and and said
, hey, I want something custom.
Um what I want, no one's gonnado it for me.
Can you do it?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I said yeah yeah, I for it so so I guess, I guess,
if you haven't worked it out yet, the, the guys that created
off-road creative, basicallybuild the best canopies and you
do trays.
Yeah, we do trays, we dobasically anything that comes
through the doors but like thebest canopies, I think, on the
market, not just in Australiabut probably globally.
But they are insane, yeah, andyou're always innovating, like
(12:29):
from what I've seen in the like.
So how long's off-road creativeactually been going?
we're just coming on four and ahalf years now, yeah, and so in
four and a half years, you'vegone from renting a reasonably
small shed and that was a couplehundred meters and doing
everything on your own.
Yep, so what are you?
What are you in now?
10, how many square meters,this shed?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
uh we have 3 000 square meters of factory space
and over 45 employees yeah,candidate last night actually um
, yeah, I think there's about 47look, it's unbelievable, mate.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I just think it's fantastic.
You guys are just getting intoit and then you've hit the
American truck market prettyhard.
That's definitely ramping up inAustralia.
Yep, you don't just do Americantruck gear, do you?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
We are specialising in that at the moment.
We found with the work andeverything that we put into our
builds it was about a year and ahalf ago we were getting a lot
of enquiries but we're a littlebit sort of too high priced for
the Australian domestic utemarket.
So we don't do it the easy way,we do it the hard way and
(13:44):
there's a lot of components, alot of work and, you know, a lot
of quality and care that goesinto our builds.
So we found we're a little bitsort of over-capitalizing on
those utes.
So we did do a few.
We've done probably half adozen 79s, a few 200s, a couple
of Rangers.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I wouldn't say you do it the hard way.
I'd say you do it the properway, oh yeah yeah, like
everything I've seen is just allquality, like I've got a couple
of mates that have got yourgear and it's next level, like
there's no two ways about it.
It is the best in the industry.
And the thought that's goneinto the layouts and the setups
and just the ease of use is yeahit blows my mind.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
It's um, I guess when I'msitting there designing them,
one thing I didn't like aboutwhat was currently on the market
was when you look at the truckit's, it just looks like this
big box that's been plonked onthe back of the truck.
And then at the time when Istarted designing them, um, and
then you know they're thrown afridge here, a set of drawers
(14:47):
there, there was a pantry there.
So even as you see it drivingdown the road, you could see,
you know welds coming throughthe exterior, you know rear wall
doors, you could see where itwas welded, you could see it.
Just, it just wasn't suited tothe vehicle at all.
And then when you open the door, you could just see everybody's
(15:09):
stuff.
And when you wanted to make acoffee, you'd be pulling the
coffee machine out, sticking ithere, plugging it in, and when
you want to make a toaster,you'd be pulling that out,
plugging it in as well.
So I guess I wanted somethingthat when you're spending the
money on these trucks, you wantit to look as good as it
(15:30):
possibly can.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So it's like it come from the factory yeah, yeah,
pretty much.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So you know, I wanted to follow the body lines of the
truck.
Really nice, I want to.
You know, approach angles, allof the important stuff, a lot of
, um, you know, a lot of storagespace, uh, functionality etc.
But then at the same time whenyou open the door, that you just
couldn't see all your stuff.
It just looked messy.
For you know back then what wason the market.
(15:58):
So, um, I was just sort ofdesigning.
I'm like, well, you know, Iwant a coffee machine, I want a
toaster on a soda stream, I wanta microwave or this is in the
back of a four-wheel drive.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Oh yeah.
I've done some, some crazystuff in cars you recently,
don't mind, with buddy, a set ofkegs in it, haven't you?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
yeah, yeah to to beer kegs and a twin tap pour on the
front of the front of thepantry.
We've done another one.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Um marla designer locky, he designed up a mini bar
so it has your spirit bottleswith hoses coming out and then
you just go to the side, pushthe button and it pours you,
pours your spirits out into yourdrinks, and it's insane, mate
so I want to go back a littlebit on that because, like, a lot
of people listen to thispodcast, um, and what you've
done applies a little bit onthat because, like, a lot of
people listen to this podcastand what you've done applies,
(16:47):
like it's a lot of.
There's a lot of people outthere that are not quite happy
with the job they have at themoment or know they can do
better, similar to yoursituation, but so many people
don't take that step to trustthemselves, believe in
themselves and, I guess, put iton the line.
Like it takes a lot to sell upwhat you've got and put it all
(17:10):
on the line and take that stepto start a business.
Like you mentioned briefly, abig driver was your family.
Yep, what else was driving you?
Was it that you wanted to doyour own thing?
You wanted to put your stamp onthe on the industry uh, what's
the saying?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
you, um, you give up a job that's paying a wage,
working nine to five, so thatyou can start your own business,
and and nothing, work 24, 7.
Uh, that's, that's pretty truefor the first couple of years.
I don't know, I guess it's hard, hard to say.
I just felt like I could justdo more.
I felt like I was just cruisingthrough and you know, at the
(17:49):
end of it we could have beenreasonably comfortable.
But you know, we weren't really.
You know the same old story.
I didn't come from much and Iwanted more for my kids when I
was finished.
So I knew I had the skills todo it and, yeah, didn't really
have much of a business idea oranything like that.
(18:11):
But yeah, I spoke to a fewpeople and I guess when you've
got some good designs in yourhead and you're laid out there,
then you know the right peopleare gonna notice and start from
there.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So so you're obviously a very creative person
, mmm.
I guess also like a lot ofthose posts.
I saw you doing the early daysmucking around with bars and
things and did you do somethingwith a?
Was there something that foldedout of a mudguard or a guard or
something?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, it was actually a design taken from Brad
DeBerti in the US where they didan F truck where the sides of
the tub swing up like gullwingdoors and then you've got a
service body in behind that.
So we were contracted byanother company to do a couple
of those.
Yeah, so we did them.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
That's it.
Well, I'm no expert, but thatlooked to me like a shitload of
work.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, yep, in that one there was a lot of like old
school fabrication.
So you get a bit of plate andhow are we going to make this
work?
Drill a hole here, weld a biton there, you know, get it
working.
Oh, that's not quite right.
Change it again.
A lot of the stuff that I do,we design it on the CAD and it's
(19:30):
95% by the time it goes ontothe truck.
A little bit of tweaking andstuff like that, that, and it's
good to go where that one there,that that job there was
actually extremely difficult toget that working and, um, yeah,
not very practical for australiaand yeah, all that sort of
stuff.
But yeah, it was, it was athing.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
So well, you've obviously got like you tried and
tested.
Now, like I don't personallyknow um um the ransom guys, but
like I follow them, I love theircontent, like I think they're
one of the probably one of themost real ones out there.
Yeah, like they're just doingit because they want to do it.
Like not to uh not to try andlive up to anyone else's
expectations but, they'vedefinitely put that setup that
(20:14):
you built through its paces overthe last three or four years.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, that one was really cool.
So we did an electric rooftoptent which was fabricated onto
the top of the canopy.
It was three meters long so itoverhang the cab so that him,
his wife and his kids couldsleep in there when they're away
from the van.
(20:37):
Him, his wife and his kidscould sleep in there when
they're away from the van.
And we had electric actuatorsrunning down to the floor of the
canopy um and then canvasaround the outside, so you just
push a button in the canopy andthen the roof of the rooftop
tent would just lift up, likethat, yeah, and then inside we
had, you know, custom c deck inthe roof and it was all custom
canvas, custom mattresses,custom custom everything on that
(20:58):
.
We did a few of those rooftoptents but um, yeah, they were.
There's a very intensive labor,intensive wise yeah um, so we
ended up stopping those because,again to later on down the
track, if you want to go to sellthe vehicle or anything like
that, someone might not want arooftop tent on there and want
to use it for something else.
So, yeah, um, but yeah, thatwas one of the first things.
(21:20):
The first one on ransoms um,yeah, he had a lot of great
ideas and a lot of things thathe wanted and you know we did a
lot of work together to try andfit it in.
So, you know, two pull outpantries uh, the original idea
was to get his kids peeweemotorbikes on the driver's side
as well, and he also wanted histools so he could work on the
(21:42):
road.
He was planning a year-longtrip.
Four years later he stillhasn't come back so is that how
you work?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
like my main business is we build high-end custom
homes and renovations, but um is, is that how you sort of do it
with your canopies?
Does everyone get theopportunity to come in and like
they're custom designed, or doesit start with a basic sort of
model and you build on it, likehow does it actually work?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, we won't really change the outside of the
canopy so much.
We have a bunch of differentoptions for, you know, chainsaw
holders, jack holders, jerrycans on the back and things like
that, obviously, rooftop tentsand all that sort of thing.
But we like our style that wehave with the outside of the
(22:27):
canopies, the structure.
We know they're strong, we knowthey're light and they work.
So we don't want to mess aroundtoo much with the outside.
But interior wise, we do spenda lot of time with the customers
.
They have a lot of, and a lotof times great, ideas about what
they want to see in theircanopy.
So a lot of the time everythingthat we were doing was new.
(22:48):
I must have 50 different pantryconfigurations.
Someone wanted an air fryer, acoffee machine this particular
size coffee machine, you knowsandwich press on a drawer.
All this so that you know whenyou open it up, you pull this
out, you cook your toaster, youclose it again, you know it's
(23:08):
all there, you just turn theinverter button on.
Everything has a home whenyou're packing up.
It's really quick, it's reallyneat.
Everything is functional and itjust works works.
So, over the years with the,you know what, learning what
really works and what doesn't.
Our current design now for the,the passenger side, it just
(23:30):
really works.
So, uh, you know, previouslywith two drawers on top of the,
on top of each other, you know,with the height of these,
difficult to see in that seconddrawer, and then you're left
with a small width table andthen you've got this big, heavy
pull-out pantry right at therear of the truck.
So I developed a new layout forthe passenger side where it
(23:56):
gives you a massive table and weput induction cookers and sinks
in that table, um two drawersthat are easily accessible and
then, you know, move to minipantries.
So we put three-in-onemicrowaves or um food pantries,
full-size breville espressomachines it's insane.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
This is like that's not really camping anymore.
Is it like people are takingthe the kitchen with them?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, what we did find is, you know a lot of
people, a lot of a lot of the,they go I'm just not going to
use all that kitchen stuff, youknow, cause we're going to be
with the van most of the time.
You know my kids a time awayfrom the van.
So really, in that kitchenstuff.
(24:40):
But we do a lot of downselling.
So you know people come in withthese grand ideas and it's like
, well, yeah, we can do that,but how much are you going to
use it?
Is the juice worth the squeeze?
Yeah, but one thing we did findwas you know, especially
tradies and stuff like that,they're so used to getting up at
(25:12):
four or five o'clock in themorning that you know we say
this is one consideration.
When you are looking at thatkitchen side of your canopy, do
you get up earlier thaneverybody else, the kids and the
missus.
You can come outside, you canstart breakfast, you can make
your coffee, you can watch thesunset, you can potter around
campsite and they can still besleeping inside and you're not
waking them up because caravans,everyone's on top of each other
.
So you turn on the coffeemachine, everybody's awake.
So you're like, oh, I've neveractually thought of that.
(25:34):
So it's about just talking withthe customers and you know how
do you want to use it.
What do you see yourself doing?
And have you thought of thisand you know you want this.
We have this which does whatyou're asking, but it's actually
(25:54):
a bit more functional than youridea.
Is that something you want togo with?
And we found that this layoutthat we've got now nails about
80% of the builds that we do now, yeah, and you're doing other
stuff as well, don't you?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You're doing front bars for most vehicles now,
aren't you?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, so we do front bars for all of the American
trucks, front bars for all ofthe American trucks, and then
we've just started getting intofront bars for the domestic
market as well.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So that's what your Prados Cruzes Rangers yeah, it's
Hiluxes at the moment.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
We sort of bought the IP of a company that was a
little bit burned out and wasn'table to keep up with what
they're doing.
Um so, uh, he's in as a as aconsultant in that side of
things.
Um so it's high luxes at themoment and then we're going to
expand the range throughout therest of the domestic market as
(26:51):
well yeah, yeah, because youeven your bars like they're.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
They're one of the best looking bars on the market.
Like they.
Everything else is so, I don'tknow, old-fashioned agricultural
, I don't know what you want tocall it, but you're again.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
You even your bars seem to just they look like
they've been there from factoryyeah, the bars were a good one
to design because over in thestates they're their bars are
quite.
You know they're really small.
Um, you know a lot of angles, alot going on and a lot of you
know they're really small.
You know a lot of angles, a lotgoing on and a lot of that, you
(27:24):
know, four years ago was alittle bit too much for the
Australian market.
But then what we had a lot ofover here was a lot of old
school big triple hoop things.
You know that didn't look verygood.
So when I came in on our frontbars I wanted to try and tone
down that american thing forthis market, but also not make
(27:44):
grandpa spec bars as well.
So, yeah, we came up with apretty good uh, I suppose hybrid
of the two ideas there and yeahthey've been going.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
They've been going really good and do you do like
I'm?
I know you do the bars, thecanopies and things, but is
there any um in the futureyou're going to like build
trucks or is you're just goingto leave that for for other
companies, or are you going tohave a crack at doing the whole
thing?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
uh, yeah, yeah.
So we're looking at you know,doing turnkey builds, uh that
sort of thing as well.
We, we know our demographicquite well.
We do get a lot of tradies comethrough, but we also get a lot
of developers and, above,company owners.
So a lot of guys that have runa company for years.
(28:32):
They've either sold or steppedright back from it and just
selling, know, selling houses,whatever to buy the ultimate van
, build the ultimate truck andand just take off.
So they want it to look good,be functional and just work.
So, yeah, that's what we can do.
(28:53):
So now we're just going to tryand make that a little bit
easier for those guys.
So the time it takes to build atruck with multiple different
companies, we both know takingtime out of the business at a
certain day, at a certain timeto just get up and then drop
your truck off, on the otherside of the city, for example,
and then Uber back, is very rareto be able to just get up and
(29:18):
walk out like that.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
So um, yeah, it makes sense, mate, like I just again,
it comes back and it's sodifferent to me.
Building a luxury home forsomeone like you, you leave it
to the experts.
So if you can, uh, get acompany that just takes care of
everything for you, you you cantrust them and know that when
you come back there that you'regoing to have a vehicle that
just exceeds your expectations.
(29:39):
Yeah.
Like why wouldn't you do?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
that we're getting a lot more requests for that, more
and more so.
They're, like you know, in fourmonths or in six months time
we're selling up.
We want to leave at this dateand we want it just all done,
ready to go, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And then you know the whole vehicle.
I'd imagine doing a canopy likeyou.
You're touching 50, 60 of thevehicle anyway, yeah, major
transformation.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And if you're putting a bar on, like like all that's
left is wheels, tires,suspension and maybe a roof rack
, like yeah, so we're nottackling that area ourselves,
we're leaving it to the expertsin that field.
Yeah, um, and just yeah, teamedup with a couple of different
companies to, um, yeah, tofacilitate that whole process.
Yeah, write down the vehiclewraps and and things like that
yeah, awesome man, I can't waitto see that like.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
It just seems to me like every time I see an
instagram post where youfinished a new truck, like
they're just getting better andbetter and some cool colors, and
just yeah, I think it'sfreaking awesome.
But I've also enjoyed seeingI'm not sure if it's something
you do regularly, but, um, I'veseen you put out some pretty
cool options for tradies.
Um, yep, like I think there wasone, I don't know it was, maybe
(30:49):
it was more economical setup.
I think it might have even justbeen a bed cover, but when you
open the bed cover, like it hada slide on one side with a
fridge and a and a space with Idon't know like a pantry type
thing, but it still gave youhalf the the tray to throw
timber or tools or I actuallydesigned that one for me.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, yeah so we had.
Uh, we had a f-150 coming and Idon't get time to go touring and
so I didn't want to drivearound with a canopy on all the
time.
But I did want to take off for,you know, long weekends or
weekends, that sort of thing,you know, take the boy out up to
the beach, you know fishing,whatever.
We'd take the family out for aweekend as well.
(31:29):
So what I wanted there was adesign that you know I had
enough water for the weekend,enough power for the weekend,
fridge space, cooking, rooftoptent, lights, so we made sure
all of that was in there.
But then every other weekend Icould go to bunnings and still
(31:50):
throw stuff in the back.
I could throw his pushy in theback, we could throw sandy stuff
in the back and just hose itall out.
It was all waterproof, it wasall specked up.
So we do boat loaders on thoseas well.
It's a good weight compromise.
For those with big bands whodon't want full-size canopy as
well, the weight on that issignificantly lower than a
(32:13):
full-size canopy too.
So that works out with people'sGVMs and what they want to use
it for and how long.
So you know, a lot of guys justwant to go caravanning for the
six-week school holidays butthen they've still got to drive
around in the truck for the restof the year.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Um, and the tub look does look good I reckon that was
a cracking setup, like it wasthe best thought out like
solution that I've ever seen,like just to be able to have
that on one side still have thewhole other half of the tub, but
, yeah, to have your fridge.
You had a pantry in that yeah,it had a storage space.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I put all my plates and, yeah, everything I needed
in there as well.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, like you combine that with the, with the
rooftop tent or a rooftop rackand that, and like, literally
like yeah, there's not a lot,you can't do with that.
But you mentioned weight a fewtimes because, um, like, when we
um spoke yesterday or the daybefore, I said to you like I
actually spoke to you on thephone I think it was three or
four years ago when I was yeahwanting to get a canopy on my.
(33:11):
I think it was around the sametime ransom was getting you to
do his.
And then, uh, literally in thetime I was talking to you, I
there was another guy inmelbourne that was selling a
full setup f250 ready fortouring.
He'd done his two years touringand was selling it, so I jumped
on that and bought that.
But the um, like the truck thatI've got now, which I'm I'm due
(33:32):
to uh upgrade it it's so heavylike the canopy on it, mate, is
I don't know, it'd have to weighsix or seven hundred kilos,
like it's a jack off one andit's a mission.
The canopy on it, mate, is Idon't know, it'd have to weigh
600 or 700 kilos.
It's a jack-off one and it's amission to get it on and off.
But you guys seem to only putin what you need to put in.
It's still really structurallysound and really well built, but
(33:52):
you're not putting inunnecessary weight.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
I mean, it's cheaper and more efficient to make, you
know, all of the aluminium inthat canopy out of the same
thickness, but what you end upwith is, you know, these
structural parts underneath needto be thicker, and then you
continue that through the rest.
You end up with a heavy canopy.
So you know, through the designit's, you know, a bit lighter
on the roof sheets and then ourstructure inside of it is, you
(34:21):
know, heavy.
So we have that structure, thefloor structure and everything's
quite heavy.
So and then even the way thatwe do our, our structure and how
that's attached to the rearwall has evolved over time so
that the guys don't have to jigit or measure it at all in
(34:42):
fabrication.
It all kind of clip blockstogether and then where they're
putting the welds it's it'sputting the least amount of
deformation on the rear wall ofit.
So we sand that off completelyflat.
So now, less sanding, yeah,even our doors.
So I did about probably threedifferent versions of the canopy
(35:03):
door over time and I was ableto take about I think it was
eight kilos and about six partsout of the door.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
But make it stronger they're definitely the best
looking canopies from theoutside.
The way you integrate yourlocking systems and your handles
and stuff.
Like it's um, it dead set, justlooks like it is part of the
car, like it's something thatyou've said.
It ticked a box at the factorythat you you want a canopy and
it's, it's put on there and itlooks like it's meant to be
there, yeah, which you don't see, like you said before, like you
(35:32):
don't actually see that a lotwith most um canopies.
But I think another bigdifference with your stuff is
like you open most canopies,including the one I've got at
the moment, and it's.
It looks like it's all modular,like it's like we just click a
drawer in here and we click afridge in here and it's, and so
by doing that, there's like alot of wasted space.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yeah whereas extra holes and a lot of yeah yeah,
yeah, like your stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
From what I've seen, I've got a couple of mates that
have got yours and they're just,they're next level, like
everything's just so wellintegrated and neat and there's
no wasted space, everything'sthought out, even the your
drawers.
Like just your one bloody touch, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Drawers.
Yeah, that was really good.
It's, yeah, just throughexperience and all that sort of
stuff, every time you want tostick something in the drawer,
you've got something in yourhand, you know.
So the locking slides, thereare two-handed action, so we did
that straight away.
And then also doubles as a youknow, a T-tail holder as well,
and you know, yeah, justfunction and usability and all
(36:31):
that sort of stuff is key.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
So, mate, you must be pretty proud of where it's come
to like what's a short periodof time.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, you've got to allow yourself to step back
every now and then and, yeah,sort of take it in for what it
is so you can have anotherbreath and get back into it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Do you take the time out to sit back and reflect on
it and just appreciateeverything you've done?
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Yeah, I can't be there for a lot of the handovers
anymore with customers, but Ido like taking the time to come
out and meet them and gettingtheir initial feedback and stuff
like that.
There's been a few times wherewe've got the biggest, burliest
block layer and he's come topick up his and we rolled up the
the roller door and you can seehis eyes well enough yeah uh,
(37:18):
that those moments is is whatgets me um, and then recently we
had our open day, um, craigorganized all that one um, and
with that one, yeah, mayor tomtade and mark hamill, the the
local councillor, and that sortof stuff came out and uh, yeah,
(37:39):
so you know, promoting industryin the area and and um, you know
, growth as well, um, that was areally cool moment.
Yeah, couldn't get that sort ofrecognition as well.
So, but realistically, now it'sthe whole team and it always
has been.
You can't get where you'regoing without the people around
you.
Um, so that's, that's where ourfocus is.
(38:02):
It's it's on the team andgrowing the team personally.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Um, you know, and when you grow somebody
personally and build, you know,ethic and build character in
them as best you can, then youcan't lose as a boss yeah, and
culture like yeah create aculture and I'd imagine, with
your um, like with your business, like, I would assume, a lot of
people that work there wouldhave an interest in four-wheel
(38:28):
driving camping outdoors likemixed bag yeah, yeah, mixed bag.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
So we do get a lot of people who do that.
Um, you know, half our streetis full of drives.
But then too, you know, we'vegot, you know, people who are
mechanics but don't likeactually mechanicing, but on the
weekend they'll go and fixtheir own car.
You know, yeah, it's just areal mixed bag.
(38:55):
But we look for somebody who,yeah, who just wants to get in
and achieve something and andthat's the people that we really
help grow.
And, yeah, stick with.
It's been hard as we grow totry and keep in touch of, you
know, every single person thereand how they're going in their
lives and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
But I still, you know , cruise around and high five
everybody and have a bit of ayarn and what's your advice,
mate, for people out there thatare sitting on the fence, maybe
hesitating to start their ownbusiness or give it a crack
themselves?
Be?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
prepared for a lot of hard work.
You need discipline, you need alot of discipline.
It doesn't matter what'shappening.
You've still got to get yourfoot out of that bed, get up and
keep going.
And then, when you turn up,you've got to be the leader.
You've got to be happy.
Doesn't matter what's going onyour life, it's, it's about
everybody else.
Yeah, there's a lot ofsacrifice, but at the end
(39:52):
there's a lot of reward too.
You know you have that sense ofachievement, you know you're
doing something great.
But yeah, it's be prepared forsacrifice.
But if you're comfortable beinguncomfortable, then you can do
that.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, yeah but it's risk equals reward, like you've
got to take every anyone thattakes risks generally, like if
they put in the effort, they'reconsistent, they're, as you said
, discipline's a massive thing.
Like they, then generally youcan push through and do well,
like so, like you're past allthat now.
Like what's the plans for thefuture?
Speaker 2 (40:23):
we're still looking to go bigger.
Um, yeah, we moved in october.
We've already done oneexpansion already.
Uh, our previous factory westarted running um the other
bull bar company that weacquired in there, and then we
(40:43):
were looking at putting laserimpressors in our fabrication
shed.
And then we worked out prettyquickly that once we do that, we
can't grow fabrication anymoreand we can't grow the laser
impressor sort of thing.
So we swapped that around,built another whole row of
fabrication booths, um, and thenwe actually just landed our
(41:05):
presses and laser in ourprevious shed this week yeah yep
.
So we did a little switch aroundthere, expanded our fabrication
and and um.
Now we have room to expand ourour laser and press factory as
well.
Now too.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Because there's a massive opportunity for growth
Because really the Americantrucks they're only just taken
off the last couple of years.
You're definitely seeing moreof them, but if they keep
expanding at the rate they are,the market's huge.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, there's more and more big manufacturers
seeing how big australia is andhow much we like driving all
over it and traveling around.
There's a lot of amazing sitesin the country to see.
So, uh, you know, they see thatand they see what's been
happening over the last, youknow, four, five, six years with
the the need for these trucks.
It's when you're towing a bigvan.
(41:59):
There is nothing safer on theroad to tow it with.
You could have a 200 series, itcould be very well built, but
when you go up a big hill withfour and a half ton on the back,
the motor is at its limit, yourfuel economy is down.
You know, there's just a lot ofwear and tear on that.
And then, even if you have likethree and a half ten ton van
(42:21):
towing it with an everest, thevan's heavier than the car
that's what I don't, that's whatI've never got like.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
If you're gonna tell a big van you, your car should
weigh more than what you've been.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yep so now, these things, they're, they're
cruising around with massivevans on them pulling, you know,
17, 19 liters per hundred, 110kilometers for those or 100
kilometers for those, is idlingyou've got the power there to
get yourself out of trouble whenyou need to, and it feels like
you're doing it all in a loungechair.
So you know, big days ofdriving, six, seven, eight hours
(42:51):
of driving doesn't feel like amission anymore, because it's
just easy and a lot of peoplehave always said the the cost is
a restriction.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
But like, look how many people have dual cab 79s.
And like, if you take the costof a dual cab cruiser or a 200
series and then you do your gvmupgrades, you do all your
suspension upgrades, you do youryour side mirrors, like you do
everything that actually comesstandard in an american truck,
yeah, like you you're spendingmore money.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Uh, what's the saying ?
You buy a 79, you're justputting a deposit down on the
truck you actually want, yeah,yeah.
And then, oh, you get in one ofthose now, compared to the
trucks that we're so used togetting into, and it it
generally feels like a jimny.
Yeah, um, you put the seat backso that you can drive it as a
driver and and I'm not a bigdude and then you look in the
(43:41):
back seat and you've got thismuch room.
Yeah, so you know, when yourkids start getting older, doing
those six-hour drives all day,it's going to be very fatiguing.
Yeah, you know these trucks here.
You put your seat back, you'recomfortable, you're cruising
along, along, you're not gettingthat fatigue.
And then in the back seat, thekids have all the room in the
(44:02):
world you can put, you know,ipads, books, bags, whatever
across the front, keep them up,you know, on the floor in front
of them and keep them occupiedthe whole time.
And, yeah, it's, it is reallychalk and cheese when you're
talking these trucks againstwhat, um, this country's been
used to for a while.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yeah, especially when you get out in the outback.
We've done a few trips now, ora lot of trips now.
I've only ever had F trucks.
I'm a bit of an F truck guy.
Craig's been chewing my ear offthat I should get a 550.
I was asking him about the 550s.
Who knows what will happen withthe next truck.
But you get them out on therough roads and the corrugations
(44:41):
and they just don't feel itLike they do it with ease.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Yeah a good suspension set up and all that
sort of stuff, it really goes along way.
The factory suspension isreally just set up for long
highway sort of touring.
It's not meant for constantload all the time.
It's not meant forcorrugationsations.
Our roads, a lot of the roadsthat we have, is you might as
well be driving on a dirt trackanyway.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
So, um yeah, the factory suspension is not really
set up for that and you don'twant to be caught somewhere in
the middle of nowhere with afailure so you set it up to do a
little bit more than what youthink you're going to do, and
then you're going to be fine,yeah yeah, well, mate, uh, look,
I really appreciate your yourtime today, but I definitely
appreciate you getting behind umthe level up experience and and
(45:25):
becoming a major sponsor of theevent.
Um, how can people find youguys like you?
Speaker 2 (45:31):
uh, predominantly instagram and our website.
Um so we have a contact form onour website.
Um so the boys get in there,you know, if it's over the
weekend or after hours, everymorning they're in there
replying to emails and stuff.
We're very responsive we.
You know customer service hasalways been high on our priority
list.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
So, yes, the contact your Instagram's offroad
underscore.
Is it Offroad underscorecreative?
Yeah, offroad underscorecreative.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yep and then our website as well, so you can have
a look on there and and choosecontact and someone will be
giving you a call in 24 hoursyep, awesome mate.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Well, like I said, appreciate your time.
Look, guys, if you're out thereand you are considering an
american truck or a touringsetup or you want to talk to the
guys about what sort of setupthey can do for your tools or
for your trade, or whatever thecase may be, the guys are gonna
have a few trucks on display atthe level up experience.
So make sure you come along,check them out, go and say good
day to Brad and the rest of theteam.
(46:27):
I'm really looking forward towhat you bring to the show Same.
What are you gonna have there?
Three, four vehicles orsomething.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yeah, I think we're working on four, I think we have
the space for four.
So we're trying to get a bit ofa mix of jobs that we've done.
So we're currently, you know,teaming up a few customers that
we've done and getting a bit ofa mix.
So a bit of a tradie one, a bitof a touring one, a bit of more
of a weekend warrior type oneas well.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
So yeah, Well, make sure you come along to the show
guys and check it out because,seriously, they they are leading
the game when it comes tokennebys in australia and, who
knows, probably around the world.
But um, really appreciate yourtime, mate, appreciate getting
behind the event.
Um, and guys, look, go to thewebsite, duanepeircecom.
Make sure you get your ticketsthey're selling fast for the
(47:12):
level up experience.
We look forward to seeing youthere.
It will be an unmissable day Ifyou're interested in business
development, personaldevelopment, healthy homes,
building, science.
Australia has never seen anevent like this, so you've got
to be there and you need aticket to be there.
So go get your tickets.
We look forward to seeing you onthe next one and, as usual,
(47:33):
like share, subscribe, all thosetypes of things.
Go and check out the guys atoff-road creative and we'll see
you on the next podcast.
Are you ready to build smarter,live better and enjoy life?
Then head over to live likebuildcom forward, slash, elevate
to get started.
Everything discussed during thelevel up podcast with me, duane
(47:59):
pierce, is based solely on myown personal experiences and
those experiences of my guests.
The information, opinions andrecommendations presented in
this podcast are for generalinformation only and any
reliance on the informationprovided in this podcast is done
at your own risk.
We recommend that you obtainyour own professional advice in
respect to the topics discussedduring this podcast.
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