Local businesses waiting for post-election certainty
Local construction and interiors company Partek marked 25 years in business, happy to be “hanging in there in a tough market”.
While Partek maintains its business and holds onto its 30 staff and 100 contractors, many other companies in the construction sector have gone under.
Last Friday Modular Furniture at Royal Park closed its doors, leaving 40 people out of work. The news came as the July unemployment rate topped 7.1 per cent.
“It’s a very tough market these last couple of years,” Partek’s managing director Brenton Lunn told InDaily.
“Some of us are going well; some are struggling.
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“We’ve found that it’s our business relationships that have been our base. We’ve been prepared to sacrifice profit levels to build those relationships.”
Partek started at Mile End in 1988 and Lunn and his co-director Peter Berrington were part of an employee succession plan to take over from founder Gerry Green.
The company has built projects for On The Run fuel and convenience outlets, Solitaire Automotive, Redarc Electronics, Calvary Hospital and several government projects.
“We were a small business that adopted big business systems and procedures,” Lunn said.
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“When business slowed down we built a bit of a war chest and resisted the temptation to pitch for jobs that would stretch us too far.
“Many of those businesses that have gone by the wayside have gone for jobs that are too large and the margins too tight.”
Lunn told InDaily that most businesses in SA were hanging on the expectation that the coming federal election will deliver certainty and boost business confidence.
“We hope so; it’s been too tight for too long.”
At the company’s 25th anniversary celebrations Lunn paid tribute to his staff.
“We are firm believers in developing and investing in our staff for the benefit of them, us and our customers.
“Be them aspiring project managers, estimators, site managers or tradespeople, we will continue to identify, employ and strategically develop future construction professionals, providing and supporting them with real-life experiences and challenges, along with formal education and training.”
In this sector of the state economy, hanging on to jobs and keeping your business is a success story.
