Relationships are important in every business setting, but perhaps even more so in Australia’s country towns where there’s an increased sense of community, and many people know each other either by name or sight.

For Murray Machining and Sheds owner, Darryl Wright, the relationship with Lysaght began in the 1980s when both Darryl and father Ross, worked at another Lysaght customer, Darryl as a fitter and turner and Ross as a shed salesman.

With their complementary skill sets, in the early 90s the father and son team decided to go out on its own and establish Murray Machining and Sheds – the close relationship with Lysaght came along with them and endures today.

“I’ve known some of the Lysaght team for 25 plus years, we have a strong relationship with the many of the people there that goes beyond just business, many have become mates and we sometimes catch-up outside of work,” Darryl said.

“Because we have built that solid relationship, if any issues come up, we can quickly sort them out amongst ourselves, it never becomes a problem. Working closely with Lysaght also helps us price jobs more quickly for customers, because we know there’ll be no surprises with cost of materials.”

While Ross passed away in 2007, Murray Machining and Sheds still employs three generations of the Wright family, including Darryl’s mother Val. All up there are over 10 staff who are kept busy throughout the greater Murray Bridge region servicing clients across the agricultural, industrial, warehousing and commercial sectors. Darryl also operates a sister company Rivercity Sheds, to service customers wanting smaller garage-style sheds.

Darryl said that while a lot has changed during his time in the industry, there’s also much that’s remained the same.

“From the early days, the Lysaght product quality was always there – Lysaght were the innovators back then and they continue to be now,” he said.

“There are a lot more product profiles and colours that customers can select from these days, but our two most popular materials are CUSTOM ORB® and TRIMDEK® cladding; in terms of finishes, about 75 per cent of our customers go for COLORBOND® steel with the remainder choosing unpainted ZINCALUME® steel.”

Offering completely bespoke shedding solutions that can range from a single or two car garage for Rivercity Sheds, through to large scale warehouses in the case of Murray Machining and Sheds, the businesses can produce around 100 and 60 sheds per year respectively.

Given the highly customised nature of each structure, which allows customers to design a shed that meets their exacting needs, Murray Machining and Sheds is reliant on Lysaght for quick ordering and delivery of steel materials.

“We do keep stock of some generic materials on site but because most sheds are different sizes, colours, have different length purlins and so on, it’s not viable to have everything in stock,” Darryl said.

“Ordering Lysaght materials is easy – we normally have two deliveries per week, but if we need to, we could have a truck here on the day.”

Darryl said that one of his main selling points for both businesses was the use of high quality, Australian-made steel products.

“We reinforce with customers that we use Lysaght materials in our sheds because of the higher quality and the fact that it’s Australian-made,” he said.

“You can pay a little more for it but you’ll be better off in the long-run and most customers agree with us. I think it’s a great achievement for Lysaght to have manufactured in Australia for such a long time – there aren’t too many companies who can claim to have reached 100 years of local manufacturing that’s for sure.”