Chapter 4

While we had been busy buying and re-erecting the new building, I became more deeply immersed in the running of the business. Frank reiterated his desire to taper off to retirement. He would still be a major factor and would always be party to any decisions that effected the future of the company.

"You and the twins are the future Tony, young blood, new ideas, I'll be looking over your shoulders but I won't interfere unless I see something dramatically wrong ... then we will talk."

"Thanks Unc, I'm sure we will make a few blunders so don't hesitate to let us know."

"That's why I'm just going to taper off son, there's a lot of things you didn't have anything to do with, that changes now. You'll pick it up in no time." And so my training began.

When we started on the expansion program, we held a meeting with the men outlining the new direction we were headed. I indicated we would be open for any suggestions and would welcome them. After the meeting Brian asked if we had given any thought to computerisation.

"The thought had occurred to me Brian but I must admit I know stuff all about them. I've seen a few in different offices that I've been in but that's about it I'm afraid."

"The reason I asked ... two reasons actually, first, the last place I worked at used them for printing out cutting lists, ordering materials and a raft of other tasks. The main reason though, is my wife Jen is looking for work ... she was the operator I'm talking about. She's got a good grasp on computing and without being biased, I think she's just what's needed for your new direction."

"Great, ask her to come in and we'll see how things go, we obviously need to get past the pen and paper mentality, Jen might just be the answer."

Brian went and brought Jen in for an interview. An attractive, well dressed lady, Jen impressed both Frank and myself with not only her computer knowledge but also, she outlined a just about complete office management system.

"Brian has given me a bit of an overview of your business Mr Merlin, with what I learnt at my last employment, I've put together what I think you need. If You employ me, then obviously I would reassess the system I've outlined."

"Jen, the old guy is Mr Merlin, I usually go under the name of Tony, though usually it's Wiz, feel free to use either. I'm very impressed, what do you think Unc?"

"When can you start Jen, as Brian has probably told you we are expanding and what you have to offer fits nicely into our plans. Welcome aboard." And so we had an office manager.

I bumped into Mr Price one day, he looked to be at a lost end.

"Hello Mr Price, how are you finding retirement?"

"Hello Tony, to be quite honest, bored stiff, the wife doesn't want me underfoot and it's putting a fair bit of stress on our marriage."

I brought him up to date with the extensions and plans for the future, a thought occurred to me while we were talking.

"How would you like a part time job Mr Price. We've employed a lady to computerise the office, one of the jobs is to build cutting lists, instead of pencil and paper she just prints them on a printer. Jen's a bit out of her depth. I think if you were to sit with her, with your knowledge you'd make a good team. Would you give it some thought please, this isn't me making a job just because you worked for us before, we really do need your help."

"Thank you Tony, I'll talk to my wife when I get home but I'm sure the answer will be yes."

And so Mr Price became part of the management team.

Manchester had done a great job of transporting the hanger and re-erecting it. As I had envisaged, we bridged it to our existing building and gained extra space between, this became the office, tool store and crib room. The floor was concreted and we were set to inhabit our new shop.

First item was a straddle crane that could be moved around as required, we chose this option rather than a fixed gantry type, it proved to be more versatile in the long run. I arranged for a steel construction company to build three large dollies, they had rubber tyred wheels that could move in any direction and were large enough to construct half a house on.

While we were setting up the new shop, I tasked Mr Price and Jen with designing a prototype house.

"What I want is for you to look through all of the old drawings that previous clients have had made and select three options you think would sell, then plan for a left and right hand layout. This will be our first step into the home market. Next step will be to cost them in varying stages of construction, Stage 1 would be lock up, Stage 2 would be lined and electrical wired but not painted and no fixtures, Stage 3 would be painted and all fittings included."

"Dominic came up with an idea we might consider Tony, I'll get him to come in and explain it himself." Jen paged Dom and he came in with a quizzical look on his face.

"Dom, Jen tells me you have a suggestion?"

"Yeah Wiz, when people like me come to Australia, we leave family in old country, when we get a bit settled we arrange for family to come here as well. Some family may have both or one parent, they live with family. What I think would be good thing is small granny flat, maybe one bedroom but with like house, you know, kitchen and bathroom. This would give them independence."

"Great idea Dom, that's just the sort of ideas we are looking for, what do you think Mr Price, Jen?"

"Definitely a good idea Dom, I think this should be number one on our agenda, I don't know of anyone else building granny flats so that would give us an edge in the market," said Mr Price.

I ran the idea by Uncle Frank and the twins and they thought it a good way to go. Mr Price and Jen, with some help from Brian and myself came up with a suitable design in both left and right hand configurations. Jen queried the configurations.