We continue our series chatting to local businesses, and sharing what interesting things people in our community are up to. This time, we spoke to Heath Graham at Graham Automotive in Deloraine.
Matt: Can you tell us your name and what business you’ve got here?
Heath: My name’s Heath Graham. It’s essentially an automotive business. We used to do quite a bit of welding and fabrication work. A lot of rural work for Westby Rural and build skip bins and that sort of thing, but having difficulty getting getting the guys to do that sort of work and not having the time myself was sort of (difficult)
We let the bigger stuff go on that sort of thing. So mainly just automotive at the moment.
Matt: When did the business start?
Heath: I started out the butter factory 25 or 26 years ago so I was doing the engineering side of things at the time. I think I was building and repairing skip bins for a couple of years for a couple of waste companies – and then when my dad had sold the service station. He sort of shut everything down and I thought ‘Well, that’s probably a bit of a business to let go’ so I sort of took on the automotive side and built it all back up again from there. And we bought this and moved in about about seven years ago I think.
After a bit over a year of refurbishing the, the building. It’s pretty run down, they did a lot of, a lot of work. So it was a very hectic 13 months trying to work and build this at the, at the same time.
Matt: Have you had some interesting challenges over the life of the business?
Heath: COVID put a bit of a spanner in the works, but we were an essential service. So we didn’t actually have to close down over COVID. But you know we took care with the vehicles, wiping things down and that sort of thing, which was a bit of a requirement at the time. But I think with any business, there’s always some sort of challenges afoot.
Matt: And in terms of the vehicles that you deal with, do you have a specialty or is it a wide range of vehicles that you service?
Heath: No, we sort of cover everything actually. So even from, you know, much older carby type vehicles, right through to modern fuel injected cars, diesels do everything.
We’ve got a couple of good guys, they’ve all got their own particular skill sets. So it’s a full, mechanical service. There’s not a whole lot that we can’t do. We’re sort of a man down at the moment, so we’re actually looking for another guy at the moment, which has proven a bit difficult. But we’ll find someone eventually.
Matt: How do you deal with electric cars? And have you seen many of those or any of the more unusual vehicles? I think I saw camper vans in here earlier.
Heath: We get all sorts of cars. We get a lot of different ones associated with the registration inspections that we do.
We’re an approved inspection station. So we get a vast array of vehicles from that. You know, people moving from the mainland, but a lot of older, more specialty vehicles (as well). Vehicles that go on special interest. Nice, old, well built cars. So, it’s interesting to get them through the workshop.
I’ve had a few EVs through. There’s a few that we service, not that there’s a lot that you do on them. Mainly sort of checking, brakes and steering, suspension, that sort of thing. You obviously don’t need to change oil and that on them.
Matt: Do you have any vehicle that you particularly enjoy working on?
Heath: Well, I guess I have a different appreciation for, for the older vehicles. I’ve always been a Ford Ford guy I guess. Now it’s just nice to see any of these old vehicles that have survived and are still on the road.
I don’t know that I’ve got a real preference of what I like working on. But I’ve got Mustangs. So I’m a big fan of them. I quite like working on them. We’ve done a few upgrades to one. Well, we’ve got two… But yeah, we’ve done a few upgrades to, to the black one.
The other one’s a prototype, so we’re looking at doing that up, putting some side scoops and stripes and possibly a supercharger. Doing that through the workshop, so that’ll be an interesting process.
Matt: Do you have plans for the business in the next little while?
Heath: Yeah, yeah. We’re sort of fairly well established, so we’re probably happy with what we’re doing at the moment. Can always do with a bit more room. So if we could get it through council, extending out the back of the workshop would be a longer term sort of goal, I guess. Just to put longer term jobs in, so we’re not taking up floor space or horse space for vehicles that we’re doing bigger jobs on, head gaskets or engines or that sort of thing.
Even with five hoists, we’re quite often pushed for space. It’s chockers. Yeah, it generally is. That’s a good thing. It’s better than you know, better than wanting work, or twiddling your thumbs. It’s a nice problem to have I guess – if you’d call it a problem.
Matt: Is there another business in town that you particularly like, or that you think deserves a bit of a shout out?
Well, not any in particular, I don’t suppose. I guess it’s all of them essentially. It’s a small town, so they all deserve equal exposure and credit.
I’ve lived here my whole life and certainly happy to. I actually really love the area. So it’s interesting seeing the changes that have happened over the years. The town’s really sort of marketed itself as an artistic and antique hub now.
So it’s got a lot of appeal for tourists and people going through – and it’s a beautiful little town. So it does get a lot of people in here. And that’s largely a credit to all the businesses around the area. I wouldn’t like to single any out, essentially, because they all deserve credit for how the town’s grown over the years.
You can find Graham Automotive at 11 West Barrack Street, Deloraine or call them on 6362 2955
