Brian McAuley and Scott Wallis are part of the Ochre Trade Services team – skilled tradesmen who will do everything from patching holes to mulching gardens and finishing up with a tip run. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
Less than a month after a company called All States Fire and Electrical launched, its founders, both qualified tradesmen, stumbled on their true calling.
The business had been created to cater for the niche market of fire protection services, but also offered an ad hoc handyman and maintenance department – a side hustle that proved overwhelmingly more popular than its primary product.
So, they pivoted, and a Canberra success story was born. Service manager and carpenter Brian McAuley says this adaptability has proven to be the crew’s most useful tool – and that’s saying a lot for a handyman service.
“Our maintenance crews do about 10 jobs a day. They might start the day by installing an awning or vanity someone purchased online, move onto removing branches that have fallen onto a skylight, replace the skylight, sand back and stain some timber furniture, assemble an IKEA flatpack and hang a picture frame just right,” he says.
“At the same time, we have a projects crew working on jobs like small office fit-outs – everything from the installation of glass wall and door to the joinery. As we speak, that team is doing a full repaint and exterior clean on a large commercial building in Canberra.
“Within our service lines we do it all – there’s been no job too big or small.”
Brian says Ochre Trade Services fills a hole in the market for the mundane jobs that more focused tradespeople aren’t that keen on, but still are of great importance for clients.
“We find our real market is in helping people who’ve had sub-par work done, but whose repairs aren’t necessarily of interest to builders and most carpenters,” he says.
“Trying to get a carpenter or builder to patch a single hole in your wall where a fire extinguisher has been removed can be a real pain, or can sometimes attract cost-prohibitive prices. Because we diversified into multi-trade, we’ll do the Gyprock and the painting, but then stick around to mow the lawn and mulch the gardens, if you want. Then they’ll finish up with a tip run.”
The business in the ACT currently comprises landscapers, gardeners, carpenters, painters and “general hands”. The team services both residential and business clients, with a large clientele coming from strata-titled buildings.
Brian says servicing the property industry played a big part in making the business adaptive.
“Having to cater for everything from the vast maintenance requirements of a 400+ unit complex to a standalone home, and being able to say ‘Yes’ to everything has informed our evolution,” Brian says.
Though a broad remit allows the Ochre Trade Services team to cover all manner of jobs, the company exists to fill a gap in the local Canberra market by offering qualified trades services under a handyman banner. In other words, these “jacks-of-all-trades” are also masters.
“Anyone can get a van and some tools and start a handyman business, but our clients want peace of mind that their job is being done by someone with the right skills and know-how,” Brian says.
For more information, contact Ochre Trade Services.
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