I was brought up on carpet cleaning from when I was a baby. My parents used to clean nightclubs and put me in a crib on the carpet while they cleaned around me. So you could say the industry is in my blood.

My wife and I brought an established carpet cleaning business 19 years ago that was struggling to make money. I remember seeing the past owner’s chemical shelf and he carried a 5lt container of petrol in it. When I asked him what he used that for, I was quickly told that it was the best way to remove chewing gum from clients carpets. Wow! What was I purchasing I thought?

Since then, we have made Mackay Carpetcare & Restoration Services North Queensland’s largest restoration company outside of Brisbane. Our company also has the largest rug cleaning facility outside of Brisbane.

We employ a great team of people and have 4 truck-mounted vans plus 4 service vehicles. We have started a Restoration service company solely for remediation works and for travelling distances.This is for meth labs, crime scene cleaning, mould remediation and water and fire. With over 500 pieces of restoration equipment ready for CAT events, we have certainly grown.

I am now a IICRC Master Water Damage Technician and Master Fire and Smoke Restoration Technician, trained extensively by American trainers and Australian in commercial and structural drying.

Recently I was elected to be the Vice President of SCRIA. This was a real buzz for me personally because of being involved in the industry and seeing it mature for so long. I believe it is important to be part of an association as well as being trained in every way because this is the only way you can get ahead in both your learning and customer-facing professionalism. Some people think that our industry is small, but in reality our industry, as a whole, is quite large when you combine all the other industry experts we envelope daily.

I look forward to the next year, watching SCRIA grow with strength and seeing the industry change with new ideas.