When Karl Vass started his boilermaker apprenticeship in a Home Hill workshop on the corner of Ninth Avenue and Eighth Street, he didn’t realise he would go on to establish his own business in that exact same workshop years later.
Karl grew up in a farming family and started his apprenticeship at age 16, so agricultural engineering was almost destiny.
After relocating to the Gold Coast for 10 years, he moved back to the Burdekin in 2012 and was doing contracting work in the mining industry when his old workplace became vacant.
“I signed a rental contract not really knowing what I was going to do so I just started doing a bit of work for people I knew, and it just got busier and busier,” he said.
10 years later, Vass Engineering has become the pinnacle of agricultural excellence, designing and manufacturing farming equipment for the sugar cane and horticultural industries as well as providing sandblasting and painting services.
With a team of nine, Karl is proud of the progress the business has made.
“I was a really confident tradesman in what I did but I learnt pretty quickly that running a business has nothing to do with that,” he admits.
“I had to work out how to run a business and manage people and timeframes.
“I’m at the stage where I’m quite confident in the way my business is running and I’m pretty proud of that.”
Since establishing the business in 2014, Karl has always strived to utilise technology, from 3D AutoCAD modelling and the latest computer numerical control (CNC) equipment.
“I’m willing to push things in my design and think outside the boundaries,” he said.
“I think everyone who works with me and works in my industry, with the standard that we set, there’s a whole lot of job satisfaction at the end of the job.
“We do everything pretty much start to finish and I believe it’s world class.”
Karl also finds great satisfaction in training the next generation of boilermakers and engineers, with a current staff made up of four apprentices as well as local and international tradespeople.
His journey from a young Home Hill apprentice to the proud owner of Vass Engineering shows his resilience, innovation and commitment to the industry and the region.
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