From zero to 40 staff in three years
SOUTHPORT success story Orbitz Elevators was honoured with the Emerging Business Award at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards last night.
The company was established by Jonathan Dwayre with a credit card, a van and a dream in November 2014.
Barely three years later it employs 40 people and has branches in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
Orbitz Elevators supplies, installs, maintains, repairs and modernises elevators and
escalators and is now looking to expand further internationally.
Founder Mr Dwayre was raised in the lift business,
growing up in England his father owned an elevator company, teaching him the trade and passing on advice that would eventually allow him to see and capitalise on gaps in the Australian market.
The company uses the highest quality suppliers out of Europe and can cater for all buildings and tastes – right up to the Rolls Royce of lifts: the oak or chestnut-panelled, gold-plated 710 series.
The team have installed elevators of all sorts in buildings across the Gold Coast and are currently building one at the Spirit Sales Centre in Broadbeach.
Justin Lee of Orbitz said, as well as great product, the company’s swift growth was down to its professionalism and attention to detail – right down to the crisply ironed shirts of service staff.
“The business got bigger (Mr Dwayre) started to employ people with great experience from all the big lift companies from around the world,” he said.
“He’s continued to reinvest in the company with new people.
“As a smaller business we can really focus on our customers.”
At the business’s base in Goodyear St, the team is building a demo lift, with different panelling and fixtures on each wall so customers can see what they’re buying, with a showroom on the second floor and capacity to train the team’s apprentices in faults and service.