Tailored Isuzu pays off for Trubild

South Australian construction and restoration firm, Trubild, says its latest truck, an Isuzu NLR 45-150, gives a great snapshot of the health of its relationship with the Japanese truck brand – a relationship that extends back over three decades.

“It started with the pump,” said Trubild Managing Director, Adrian Krollig.

“I took the pump to [Adelaide’s] Northeast Isuzu and asked them to put a truck under it. That’s exactly what they did, and I must say they did it very well.

“I knew they’d look after me. I’ve had Isuzus right through from the early ’90s because they’ve always been so reliable for us.”

Those Isuzus have underpinned Trubild’s success as it goes about its widely varied work, which encompasses everything from carrying out brick and stonework repairs, to restoring heritage buildings, repairing silos, even constructing weighbridges.

It’s an incredibly wide brief, and that means it’s all hands on deck from one day to the next.

“I might be out on site with the guys, setting out and measuring, supervising or even just getting my hands dirty,” said Adrian. “In the evenings it’ll be a bit of administration and quoting; a full day.”

Northeast Isuzu was able to sort Adrian out with an Isuzu NLR 45-150, kitted out with a genuine Isuzu bullbar and, of course, the pump on the back. But while any new Isuzu is a great advertisement for the business it serves, what Adrian hadn’t counted on was him and his truck being featured on a billboard in Adelaide, after winning the South Australian category of Isuzu’s 50th Anniversary Billboard Competition.

To be in the running, businesses had to come up with a slogan that highlighted the dependability of their Isuzu truck, with Trubild’s entry of “We’re celebrating reliability by getting from A to B every time” seeing the company promoted before thousands of passers-by for a week.

Back on street level, Adrian says Trubild’s work with heritage buildings certainly keeps the company on its toes.

“Most of these buildings are well over a century old,” he said.

“Residences of all the old officials and other old houses, people love to see them brought back to life, but you have to use all the old techniques. There’s legislation saying it all needs to be done in a certain way. It’s not easy.”

The new NLR 45-150, however, takes the work in its stride, whether its carting all the gear necessary for these refurbishments, or utilising its superb towing capacity – now up to four tonnes – when hauling everything required for weighbridge construction.

“They’re much more common than you think,” Adrian said, adding that Trubild completes roughly one weighbridge each month.

“Businesses can’t sell in volume anymore; it has to be by weight.

“Retailers can’t sell a trailer of firewood, they’d have to price it by weight. For example, 350kg of wood instead of just saying a trailer full.

“Laws like that, and of course the Chain of Responsibility stuff, have really kept us busy.”