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| Auto shop paints the town green |   |
| Author:
The Province | Date:
03/18/2008 | Names: Bernhard Rubbert.
Business: False Creek Collision Plus, Vancouver.
Contact: 604-731-4154; www.falsecreekcollision.com.
Number of employees: 10.
Time in business: Almost two years.
What do you do? I own an automotive collision repair and refinishing shop that uses an environmentally friendly paint system for vehicles. It's a classic body shop, but it's special because we use water-based paint rather than the solvent-based products that contribute to smog and global warming.
How did you get into this business? I worked for the German chemical company BASF for more than 27 years. For three of those years, I was in Michigan, working as a marketing manager for the firm to introduce environmentally friendly paint systems to North America.
We visited Vancouver on vacation, but we had no intention of leaving Germany. But we came here again in 2003 for a vacation on the Sunshine Coast and fell in love with the city. I started looking for an opportunity and saw this business for sale. We started the immigration process and in April 2006 my wife and I moved here and a month later I took over the business.
At the time it was a stinky shop with all those nasty solvents being blown into the air. We became the first shop in Western Canada to introduce water-based paint.
What do you like about owning your own business? I like being my own boss, even though I am working much harder. I build my own team -- it's much more fun than doing it for someone else. I could never go back to working for a corporation.
Future plans? I would like to make a difference in the collision-repair industry. It is not the greenest industry and I would like to take the challenge to turn that image around. I would also like to work with other autobody shops on environmental and health-and-safety programs.
© The Vancouver Province 2008 |
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