13/08/2026
The road to perfection is always under construction…🛣
- article featuring our CRA 2026 Best Overall Business Winner Rosiez Collision Repair, Sockburn, Christchurch.
Having a broad industry vision and implementing what he believes it will take to survive in the competitive and complex collision repair industry in New Zealand has landed Rosiez Collision Repair - Sockburn (RCR-SB) and owner Brendon Rosie (BR) with the top award at the 2026 CRA Annual Business Awards, held in Melbourne on May 15th.
The RCR-SB site is one of three RCR businesses owned and operated by BR; the other two sites are in Sydenham and Rolleston. All three sites are set up and held to the same high standards, and the Sockburn site's recent new build and the company's commitment to environmental care have made it stand out in this year’s awards.
We will cover the Sockburn build and RCR’s environmental focus further in this story, but as with any success story, nothing happens overnight, and it is never without setbacks and a generous helping of adversity along the way.
After completing his Refinishing Apprenticeship at Transport Repairs in Christchurch and now working at another business, BR was told that an opportunity to purchase the business might be available. This didn’t eventuate, so getting a little frustrated, BR found another business to purchase, and in 2007, BR and his wife, Bex, started RCR-Sydenham, taking on the existing fourstaff members.
After only nine months in business, the mechanic shop next door to RCR suffered a fire that also affected RCR. The building was a dual tenancy, so the RCR side also required repairs. Once the now-defunct mechanics side was repaired, RCR had to relocate to that side while their original side was repaired. Once these repairs were completed, RCR negotiated a lease for the entire building, which it still occupies today.
This is pre-earthquake in Christchurch, and one silver lining from the fire was that earthquake strengthening for the building was a mandatory part of the repairs.
This meant the building survived the devastating and tragic 2011 earthquake in which 185 people lost their lives, and Christchurch went into survival mode for many years after. BR feels that Christchurch has finally found its mojo again in 2026, but it has taken too long; it’s been 16 years since the first earthquake in 2010. Sydenham sustained extensive damage, resulting in the demolition of many buildings and prolonged cordons and road closures.
The RCR-Sydenham site has grown to around 16 staff, including a manager. BR strongly believes in having a management structure in place, even in a smaller enterprise. He said this gives the business a better chance of growth, and yes, you must sacrifice some profit to do this. This has allowed BR to truly work on the business rather than in it.
Post-earthquake, BR had expansion in mind. The Sydenham site had steadily built its retail client base and gained insurance contracts; amongst its clients were a fast-growing group of rental and fleet companies. To better support them, it was decided to find a second location closer to the airport.
The manager of the Sydenham site found a mechanical business in Sockburn that had added a spray booth to its facilities. The business was purchased and converted into a panel-and-paint operation. The Sydenham manager was given the opportunity to run what would become the original site for RCR-SB. The site's layout was less than ideal, comprising several separate buildings, but the location worked well, as it was a destination address that suited the site’s target customers.
In 2017, with an ever-present desire for growth and diversification, RCR-Rolleston was opened. The purpose-built buildings on this greenfield site were constructed through a partnership between BR and his wife, Bex, and a developer specialising in large clear-span builds. The partnership developed after a casual conversation at the gym. Rolleston in 2017 was a fast-growing town, situated 22 kilometres south-west of Christchurch, with a population of around 16700; this number has since grown to over 34000 in 2026. The rapid expansion of Rolleston has been driven mainly by people moving out of Christchurch city.
RCR-Rolleston started from scratch with a small staff and no contracts. It has grown into its space, mirroring the town's rapid expansion, and has further expansion on the horizon to help cater for the now 16 staff and the many and varied vehicles it serves.
Following their focus on training and upskilling of all staff, the then manager of RCR-SB in 2017 was made manager of the RCR-Rolleston site. The RCR Group’s strategy of promoting from within when possible has paid huge dividends.
Roll on 2020 and COVID, which closed our borders to tourists for two years and four months. As you can imagine, this decimated the rental vehicle industry and many of the support industries that supported it, including RCR-SB. Given that the RCR-SB sites’ work volume was mainly derived from the rental industry, the site was hibernated for 18 months. Any remaining work was done at the other two RCR sites. Once again, in another triumph-over-adversity moment, BR and the RCR team were able to utilise the RCR-SB site during a portion of this time, as the RCR-Sydenham buildings required structural repairs after a truck crashed into them.
By 2024, RCR-SB was back up and running but was out of space due to the excellent recovery in the tourism and rental-vehicle markets, including New Zealanders’ growing attraction to campervans. It was decided to seek larger, more user-friendly premises. This project was again undertaken in partnership with the developer who built the Rolleston site. After reviewing several buildings, 25 Lunns Rd, Sockburn, was purchased in September 2024. The intention was to have the site ready to use by December 2024, as the lease on the existing site was ending then, and the equipment, including the booth, had also been sold to another business.
As many of us have experienced, things don’t always go to plan. The Lunns Rd buildings weren't ready until April 2025, so, after two steps back, before taking three forwards, an office was leased very close to the Lunns Rd site, and customers were helped and redirected to the other two RCR sites in the interim. Crisis averted.
The RCR-SB site won Best New Build at the recent CRA Business Awards. To clarify, the new build category covers the full repurposing of an existing building, and this project falls under that category. The 2300 sqm site has around 2000 sqm of building and office space. It was previously a multi-tenanted site, and the fit-out required extensive work to add and upgrade office and amenity spaces. The exterior was fully repainted, and a large screen was added at the front corner to enhance aesthetics, modernise the building's appearance, and improve the customer experience by relocating the reception area to the front.
Initially, RCR-SB was going to occupy two of the three buildings, but in a build-it-and-they’ll-come scenario, the business has grown very quickly at this new site. BR attributes this to greater exposure on a much busier road and to having more space, which allows a larger number of staff to work more efficiently and accommodate more new equipment. No expense appears to have been spared. The new plant includes a 6-metre Car-o-Liner bench, a two-bay enclosed prep area, a new booth, and drive-over lifters for all staff. The panel and paint spaces are interconnected, and all plant and equipment are new.The third building was leased out for a very short time, but as things generally happen for a reason, when it became empty, the RCR-SB team found the extra space invaluable for storing non-drivable vehicles and other vehicles undergoing repair. It has now been decided that a 10m truck booth will be set up in the building to paint the still-growing number of campervans the business is repairing.
At the rear of the yard is an 80K dedicated washdown system. This was also part of the new build and is one of the reasons RCR-SB won the 2026 CRA Commitment to the Environment Award. The business also recycles as much as possible, including soft plastics, plastic bumpers, cardboard, steel, aluminium, batteries and thinners. A lot of recycling is kept in a screened-off area beside the washdown bay, easy to access but not visible, very tidy work.
Another major commitment by the RCR Group in the environmental field is the decision to transition its relief vehicle fleet from ICE to EVs or hybrids. With over 50 relief vehicles, this is no small investment; they have currently achieved just over 50% of this target, further demonstrating their seriousness in their endeavours.
All staff vehicles are hybrid.
When asked about this level of drive to improve the RCR Group's environmental impact, BR said it is good business practice. We can’t achieve everything at once, but many small steps will make a difference. The Selwyn Awards agreed when the RCR Group was a finalist in the 2025 Environmental Action Awards.
The RCR-Sydenham site won the 2023 CRA Best Presented Business Award, but there is so much more to this company. It has always been BR's strategy to have many tentacles within the RCR Group. The aim is that if they were to lose any one major supplier, the loss of an income stream should never be terminal for the business. How this has come to fruition could hold lessons for the difficult situations many shops are now facing amid the onslaught of consolidation in the collision repair market.
To break this down, the three sites are in different settings and serve a wide range of customers. Sydenham is in the CBD and caters to a city-centric clientele; Sockburn is an industrial area near the airport and serves mainly rental companies and fleets, with only about 30% of its income from insurance work; and Rolleston has a very rural feel and handles a higher volume of utes than the other two sites. You can see the diversity building in this approach. Couple this with a mix of insurer contracts, rental and fleet work, private work, and a stable of manufacturer repair approvals, and you have a well-balanced selection of income streams.
Manufacturer Approvals have been a focus for the RCR Group to help build market resilience. Pursuing this path requires significant financial investment and time. The RCR Group is investing around 50K per year in continuous training alone. Add to this the capital outlay for specialised equipment, and it quickly becomes clear that, as a business, it has to be an all-in approach. BR sees this as vital to the survivability of a modern collision repair business; you become needed.
Repair networks supported by the RCR Group include BYD, Tesla, EMD, Nordeast and Atteco. These networks cover many makes and models of vehicles. Another important aspect of this work, as BR stressed, is building solid business relationships with the local dealers who sell these vehicles. There needs to be more to this than just buying parts. All three RCR sites cover all brands, but the Sydenham site is the major structural repair base for the brands’ aligned work.
Another business tool with the potential for further income streams is the RCR Group’s membership of Car Craft. BR views this as belonging to a premium repair network that can only add value and strength to the company.
Christchurch is competitive, with many good shops, so you need to be well presented and provide great customer service to survive. It appears the RCR Group is up to the challenge. All aspects of growth are targeted to help ensure longevity and survival in what
is a volatile industry.
Having clear, structured roles at each site is a key factor in the smooth day-to-day running of operations. The branch manager at each site oversees customer managers, who handle estimating and end-to-end customer control for each job, and production managers, who oversee the panel shop, parts, and outwork. There is also a paint foreman. RCRs are employers who show a willingness to train all staff and, whenever possible, to promote from within, demonstrating clear pathways for those who want to progress and expand their individual skills. A life hack that BR has picked up and instilled in his management team is that if a member of staff comes to you with a problem, listen to them and ask whether they have a solution in mind, as they often do.
As stated at the start of this article, progress and refinement don’t happen overnight or by trying to do it all yourself, and BR wanted to thank Bex, who, while running her own company, still finds time to cast an auditing set of eyes over the monthly results and all staff members, both past and present, who have contributed to the RCR’s journey.
When accepting the award for CRA Best Overall Business at the Melbourne conference, BR commented that we all invest in our businesses to improve and succeed, so being recognised among our peers is very humbling and greatly appreciated.
So, what was the answer to the million-dollar question I put to BR: Is three shops enough?
Never say never.
This article featured in our recent July/August issue of Paneltalk. If you want to read this, or any other article online, please head on over to our website 🔗https://paneltalk.co.nz/issues/
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