CEO’s Report

Susan Phillips, CEO SSAA

At the time of writing this column we are busy planning for the return of our in-person events.

The schedule as per the SSAA 2021 mousepad of events includes: l Adelaide on 3 June l Brisbane on 29 July l Perth on 26 August l Auckland on 14 October l Sydney on 28 October.

These Industry Networking Events have changed following feedback from members. The timing and format have been shortened and now commence after lunch allowing interested members to have less time away from their businesses. The events include educational sessions, followed by a facility tour and networking drinks and nibbles. All events are free of charge for facility members due to the sponsorship and contributions by our generous service members.

A new event for you to add to your calendar is the Storage Summit on Thursday 5 August in Sydney. This event will bring together Owners, Senior Executives and key Industry Stakeholders in an afternoon of education and an evening of dinner and networking overlooking one of the most iconic harbours in the world – Sydney Harbour. Please refer to the website for costs and delegate registration for the Summit.

The SSAA Team are looking forward to welcoming you to one of these events soon. l

Storage Summit 2021

Managing Yourself to Success

5 August 2021

Pier One Sydney Harbour

To meet your presenters turn to page 13 or go to www.selfstorage.org.au/event/storagesummit

Major sponsor

Joe Barbaro

30 years in the self storage industry

Joe has been in the industry for 30 years both as a facility owner and as a Service Member. He has been a regular and generous supporter of the Self Storage Association of Australasia, personally attending 25 National Conventions as well as being a generous convention sponsor over this time.

In the late 1980s, Joe was operating a successful printing business in Canberra. His brother and family developed a storage facility at Mitchell, ACT, in 1989. As the project progressed, additional funds were needed, and Joe was invited to invest in the facility. Joe and his family found the initial trading period difficult, and Joe admits that they were short on operating experience. This, combined with the 1990s recession (Keating’s – the recession we had to have) and high-interest rates, made the early 1990s a difficult period for Joe and his family.

Joe attended his first Self Storage Convention in 1991 in Melbourne and remembers how this convention reset his thinking as he gained a significant amount of additional knowledge from local operators and visiting US experts. Joe returned to Canberra with his new knowledge and took on the management of the family facility. He applied more disciplined fee rate pricing and made changes to on-site staff. After several years of hard work, the 450 unit Mitchell facility was performing well and returning money to the family.

At the same time as managing the Mitchell facility, Joe was building his business Homestead Press. He saw the opportunity to provide specialty products to the self storage industry. Offering a high level of personal service, he built up a customer base of over 400 facility owners, including major operators such as Storage King.

Joe sold his storage facility at Mitchell to Abacus Property Fund in February 2019, and he has now retired from his Homestead Press business at the end of April.

Homestead Press will be run as a separate entity after being bought by the Elect Printing Group in Canberra. Where to from here? Joe looks forward to attending the next SSAA Convention with the new owners but intends to play golf and go fishing at his beachside retreat in Bermagui, travel around Australia and catch up with friends from the storage industry. Joe would like to thank everyone from the industry for their support and friendship over the years. l “Joe sold his storage facility at Mitchell to Abacus Property Fund in February 2019, and he has now retired from his Homestead Press business at the end of April.

Southwell Service & Modernisation Refurbish your old hoist - For a free assessment contact 02 4655 7007 or email service@southwell.com.au

Southwell Engineering doesn’t just engineer market-leading lifts and hoists. Our experienced team of technicians can make tired and broken-down hoists work better than they did brand new. We can also add new functionality more cost-effectively than installing a replacement.

Southwell’s expert technicians will bring back ‘as new’ functionality to your lift Upgrade from goods-only to goods plus personnel and disabled access to meet the latest codes NCC/BCA, WHS Standards at a fraction of the cost of a new hoist Enhance your lift communication system to GSM standard for better workplace safety Switch out manual doors to an electric roller door for efficiency and ease of use Quick turnarounds for reduced downtime Guaranteed and maintained by Southwell Lifts and Hoists with 100% parts backup

Problem Solution

Existing hoist manufactured in 1993 and with manual doors. Its mechanical door lock was broken beyond repair, the part discontinued and the old electrical controls did not meet the new codes. Southwell upgraded the existing manual doors to powered doors to provide their storage clients with easier automated more lift-like operation. We also painted the hoist and gave its facade a much-needed facelift.

Southwell Engineering - Since 1945

Southwell is a proud, family owned company. Since 1945 we’ve been engineering, high-quality cantilever and scissor products in-house here in Camden, New South Wales, delivering and installing them around Australia and the world. We design registered one of the original Australian hoist designs and we’ve continued to innovate, with creations like our Car Lift with Integrated Turntable.