MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
MPAQ MEMBER
BEAVIS & BARTELS
a history
Established in 1952, Beavis and Bartels has become one of Queensland’s Major Contractors.
1952 – 1996 Keith Beavis and Carl Bartels met and became friends while attending trade school in the Valley as part of their plumbing apprenticeship training. During this time, they became close friends and remained in contact after completing their college commitments. After completing their apprenticeships (Keith with Hornibrook Constructions and Carl with Mr Bob Anderson) and gaining their plumbers/ drainers licences, they obtained employment with separate employers in their neighbourhood of Bowen Hills. In their early twenties they decided to become business partners and commenced trading as Beavis and Bartels Plumbing and Drainage Contactors. Very quickly the company was commonly referred to in the building industry as B&B. Their first business address was 6 Jeays St, Bowen Hills, which was Keith’s parents’ house, where they stored their tools and material and ran most of the business from under the house. Some of the administration work was done across the street in Keith’s rental house. The company remained at this address for around eight years, in which time they grew from a twoman operation to up to fifty people. After completing a good number of projects on the Gold Coast, the firm opened a standalone plumbing company, Gold Coast Plumbing, which was managed by their close friend Trevor Morris. Trevor was also to become a mainstay for the Master Plumbers’ Gold Coast Branch for many years. Gold Coast Plumbing was located on the Gold Coast Highway, Miami; their large fluorescent sign was a local landmark.
In 1960, the firm moved to a purpose-built office, store, and hardware show room at 181 Abbotsford Rd, Mayne. The building was designed by architect David B. Bell, did not conform with the traditional commercial building style of the time, and included such design aspects as vertical sun louvers on the front elevation, an open stair with glass panels, and a large wall mosaic of a boy on a dolphin imported from Japan. Also, in 1960 the firm worked alongside Braybrook Homes in producing modular homes that were sent to the New Hebrides to replace cyclone damaged residences. At the same time, they worked with O’Neil Industries producing demountable and modular buildings including shower blocks, kitchens, and residential quarters, which B&B installed in projects such as Savage River Tasmania, Hay Point, 800-man hostel Gladstone, Gove, offshore drilling quarters Bass Straight, Black Water and Moura mines. At that point in time Queensland was at the forefront of the prefabricated building industry. In the mid-1960s to the early-1970s B&B’s workforce grew at times to over 100 employees. In one of their projects in 1971, the Theatre in Round La Boite, Hale Street, Petrie Terrace, B&B manufactured and donated a stainless-steel time capsule. Both the Brisbane and Gold Coast warehouses incorporated sheet metal manufacturing workshops. Drainage contracts played a large part in the business, the drainers stood alone in their own right, doing all the inground works and, for the most part, maintaining their own equipment. This provided a very efficient method with a high level of skill and experience developed over the years. During most of this time the drainage contracts were supervised by Joe Gibson who worked for B&B during most of this period. Until the late 1960s to the early 1970s specialised plumbing design practices where not established in Brisbane. Companies such as B&B priced mainly on architectural drawings and sometimes some civil engineering details and allowed to provide a design and coordinate with the architect. B&B were also one of the first companies to install two-way radios in their vehicles, which gave them an advantage in serving their maintenance clients. With the advent of mobile phones, a boom for smaller businesses, the radio system became redundant. Their workforce and the structure of that force played a major part in the company’s success. B&B appointed project supervisors and a works manager, which allowed the directors more time to secure work and manage the business. A great number of the company’s employees had long and successful careers with B&B. In the time before portable long service many employees were able to enjoy long service leave. Among the many longterm staff were:
Management: The team in front of the old truck
Brisbane: Michael Peck, John Fyfe, Keith Anderson, Geoff Halter Gold Coast: Barry Higginson, Bruce Williamson
Administration:
Nev Harrison, Robin Whyte, Max Scott, Annette Spenser, Herb Bradford
Site Staff:
John Foster, Graeme Burns, Eric Green, Ron Green, Peter Baker, Alan Asmussan, Peter Denman, Morrie Crosby, Glen Otway, Jeff Gibson, Tino Fallini, Peter Smith, Jack Mott
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| MASTER PLUMBER MAGAZINE Winter 2022
