System of success

Watching people waste time and money installing plasterboard partitioning in their commercial premises was the impetus

tradesman Michael Worthington needed to find a better way.

While working for a partitioning company, he noticed traditional methods of erecting and finishing internal plasterboard walls caused mess and disruption to business, and too often wasted thousands of dollars worth of material when mistakes were made.

Seizing an opportunity, Mr Worthington spent six months of his spare time and $6,000 devising a partitioning system that could lock pre-fabricated 70 millimetre thick MDF wall panels together and suspend them along discrete floor and ceiling rails.

He said the success of the method was based on the fact the 1,200mm wide partitions were made to measure and painted according to a client’s specifications before being installed on site in less than three days using very little hardware.

An average installation is priced at $65 per square metre.

“From the client’s perspective there’s no mess like that of plasterboard, which you have to patch up and sand down on-site to make it smooth,” he said.

“Good plasterboard jobs usually take two to three weeks, but with Quicklock we can manufacture to order within seven days and install them in a fraction of the time.”

Clients can choose a plain or textured finish and have windows, doors, recesses for shelving and insulation included.

Mr Worthington said it was difficult to put power and data cords through the plasterboard walls without wasting material and repairing holes.

“Quicklock allows the cords to be laid easily or dismantled if the need arises,” he said.

The business has already grown out of its 170sqm premises in Bayswater and Mr Worthington is moving his two apprentices to a 275sqm workshop in Malaga shortly, where he plans to build a 150sqm mezzanine floor.

In the space of a year, Quicklock can boast a turnover of $600,000 working in predominantly industrial markets and, next year, the business is on track to more than double the figure to $1.5 million.

Wholesaling to other partitioning companies and franchising the business are also on the cards, in addition to employing more apprentices and infiltrating commercial office markets.

Mr Worthington said rather than take a commission from franchisees, he planned to charge a fixed fee each year in exchange for service support.

“Franchisees will be trained to build the partitions themselves and assist clients to design interior layouts,” he said. The Quicklock system has a patent pending.