Biltar puts Isuzu in the frame

After finishing his apprenticeship in carpentry, Ben Carr headed straight into business ownership, establishing Biltar Pty Ltd, a custom house framing company based in Melbourne’s south-east.

The first thing Ben did after his registration was completed, was run around to all the local job sites, grab numbers off the door and start ringing. And people answered. With the work locked in, he set out to hire a team of quality framers to maintain the impressive beginning Biltar had embarked on.

Over a decade, Ben grew his team to 18 members, hiring not only experienced team leaders, but also taking on apprentices who would be trained up until they could run their own worksite. And just like the rapid growth in their team, Biltar also recorded stellar years, finishing 215 house frames in just one year.

The COVID situation has not dampened their passionate approach to their work, though.

Ben explained, “Because of the nature of our work, it’s been pretty much a business-as-usual approach for us.

“When we work, we’re pretty spaced out, so there’s already that social distancing in place. We just keep doing what we do.”

Biltar’s focus on quality and building good relationships with builders and clients has allowed them to work on multiple projects within the same partnerships.

The sheer number of frames Biltar was constructing meant Ben needed to focus on having equipment that would improve business efficiency. And here the 2015 Isuzu NPR 55-155 Tradepack comes in, assisting in the transport of materials and tools between worksites.

“Before this, I would never have been able to fit all of the timber and other materials onto the old trailer, but I can now with the NPR Tradepack,” Ben said.

“If the timber needs to be moved by one of the other work crews but they can’t take everything, the truck can. So, it fixes those problems.

“We’ve got a couple generators as well, which we can put in the tray and drop them off at other sites. The Isuzu’s ability to hold a lot of the equipment and materials has been a big benefit to the business.”

The Tradepack’s GVM rating of 5500kg and GCM of 9000kg allows it to easily carry a load full of timber in its heavy-duty aluminium tray, giving Biltar the ability to improve workflow and reduce extra trips to the supplier or to jobs.

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Improving efficiency matters to Biltar, whether it be on housing estate projects or three million-dollar homes with tricky architectural structures and lots of steel — meeting deadlines is an important priority, and the Tradepack helps them achieve that.

Another feature of the truck Ben has found joy with is the genuine Isuzu bullbar, which he said has saved him from damage from kangaroos around his home. “Unfortunately, I’ve hit a couple of kangaroos when driving the truck and thank god for the bullbar on the front… it’s saved me and the truck,” he concluded.