Continuing the Port's Road to Recovery series, this week the Examiner looks at how COVID-19 has impacted the home improvement industry in Port Stephens. The Port's Road to Recovery series aims to paint a picture of individual industries and social issues, how they have been impacted and what the future looks like for them - as told by those on the ground.
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He could not have predicted just how much the coronavirus would affect the Australian way of life but Jim Robertson, who had been watching the situation develop when it first originated in China, had a feeling it could be bad and wanted to be prepared for when it eventually arrived down under.
At the start of January Mr Robertson, the owner of East Coast Timber Floors and More, began ordering additional stock from his suppliers so when COVID-19 did hit Australia, the first case was recorded in Victoria on January 25, he had plenty on hand to continue working through what became the pandemic.
"I could see something big was about to happen and I wanted to be ready for it," he said. "We had lots of stock in the shed when it got here."
Mr Robertson has been in the flooring industry for 20 years, two and a half of those operating his own business which is based at Taylors Beach. While the business has experienced a downturn during the pandemic, Mr Robertson said he has been fortunate to continue working.
"We took a bit of a hit, mainly on the residential side of the business," he said. "Early on, when people didn't really know what was going on, they didn't want us in their houses.
"Australian Timber and Flooring Association, who have been great, put out a COVID checklist for us to work with. We give the homeowners one and we have one, which helped us to ease people's minds about what we were doing and how we would be doing it. All those jobs put on hold early on have come back again."
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Mr Robertson added that once more was known about the coronavirus and the lockdown was in place he began fielding more calls for residential flooring jobs. He theorised that this was because more people were working from home to notice items they wanted to improve around the house, such as updating the floors or deck, and had the time to do so.
While fielding these calls, Mr Robertson continued flooring jobs at construction sites. East Coast Timber Floors and More is providing the flooring for Talmora, a set of townhouses currently under construction in Stockton Street, Nelson Bay.
"It has been a different experience working on these sites during the pandemic," Mr Robertson said. "On these sites there's usually a good amount of morale and banter.
"You hang out in the same lunch room and have a chat. When this all started everyone got spaced out and lunch breaks rotated. You're a bit more isolated on the site now, you have your own section to work in.
"We were fortunate that the government relaxed construction restrictions and we have been able to access work sites on weekends. Coming in on a Sunday has helped. I don't know how we would have gone if the government didn't ease those restrictions, particularly noise restrictions, on the weekends."
The pandemic also gave Mr Robertson a chance to bring forward furniture-making projects for a number of pubs and clubs which had been shutdown. He has also hired a new worker and is looking to hire another.
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