Featuring profiles on new members to the association.
N & Sons was
formed in 2000 by a father and two sons; and was primarily a “tile cutting service” for the tile
industry. The business initially made borders and panels for a large part of the industry and
developed machinery according to certain developments.
Today, their expertise has
led them to making bullnosing out of tiles - which is not a new concept but in
order to make it work, it took almost eight months before they started producing
any product.
Producing a large amount of bullnosing for pools in particular has led N & Sons to SPASA. Not many pool companies know about their business or services on offer so they decided that the upcoming Pool and Spa Expo would be a great opportunity to showcase their products. Their participation in the expo will act as a meet & greet exercise to share information with the people who actually make the pools.
In this edition we catch up with Co-Director, Mira Babic who tells us more about N & Sons and a typical day in his world.
What
does your business offer?
We
are a service; we don’t buy or sell tiles. We ask people to bring in their
tiles in order for us to make any bullnosing needs they have. You will
not find many tiles which have bullnosing. So we offer this service and give
certain advice as to their tile selections; or the profiles they are
after. There is a minimum amount required so you need to speak to us for
quantity that is required.
What
are the most exciting & challenging parts of your business?
We
would say the most exciting part of our business is when customers pick up the
bullnoses and find it is exactly what they envisioned. New customers find
a sense of relief knowing that a service is available to customise almost any
tiles that are out there. As far as challenges are concerned we have had
quite a few and we take pride in the products and services we provide.
For example, when we produce a bullnose, the first, the middle and the last
bullnose have to be almost the same. So the challenge we acquired is to make
them all consistent.
What’s
a typical day in your world?
Coffee - that’s the start.
Either my brother or myself on our way to work would pick up two medium cappuccinos
from Macca’s. Usually we start at about 7am; have a small meeting to discuss at
which stage we are at with certain products. Check emails, any
messages and turn the machinery on for another day. Throughout the day it
has its moments but we get through it all. It’s never the same so we are
kept on our toes. The products we produce are numerous so it’s always
good not doing the same over and over again. When it’s time to finish up
it's back to our families and try to leave work at work.
Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Our
inspiration has to be our father who had a vision of a family business. Nothing
would exist without his knowledge of building machinery for certain
purposes. When we had an idea of what could help us he would plan, source
out what is needed then build it. You see, our machinery cannot be bought
anywhere; if we buy something we would customise it and make sure it works on
tiles. It’s great having him around; but also has its moments.
Bonus question... Boardies or Budgies??
For
both of us “Boardies” cause we have seen our old man in budgies.
View N & Sons website
for more information.