By CASEY NEILL
JUST a month after fire flattened its warehouse, a Dandenong South flooring business has a new home and is well on its way back to full strength.
QEP Australia managing director Bruce Maclaren was inside the company’s Dunlopillo Drive base when flames took hold on 19 September.
“We have found ourselves some alternate premises on an interim basis until the rebuild,” he told the Journal last week.
“Our expectation is we’ll then move back into Dunlopillo.”
The new home is just five minutes away, in Keysborough, and is across two warehouses with offices.
Mr Maclaren said warehouse staff were sharing shifts during the location’s fit-out.
“That’s giving everybody a bit of a lift,” he said.
“They’ve all been working multiple days each week.”
The business is running at about 60 per cent and should be back to full strength within four months.
“The best thing that happened as the result of a fire was it was apparent from 30 minutes in that all was gone,” he said.
“We just set out from scratch. It would have been more challenging to work through if it was half-destroyed.
“We’ve got a fair amount of stock in. That’s growing each week.
“But we’re missing things and we’re making errors. I’ve got staff in about four different locations.”
Mr Maclaren has been “staggered” at the support he’s received from his workers in the fire’s aftermath.
“They’re all available any time. They’re working in conditions that would be less than acceptable normally,” he said.
“I’m inspired by that.”
He’s also received support from QEP Australia’s parent company in the US.
Its president is due to visit the new premises in the coming weeks.
