McDonald & Roberts, Loyal Middy's Customers For 40 Years

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After 40 years we bid farewell to long term Middy's customers, McDonald & Roberts...

Originally trading as Duryea & Roberts, an account with Middy's was first opened in 1975. In 1984 Grant McDonald took over from Alan Duryea whom he had worked for prior to this for about 10 years in the Meeniyan and Leongatha areas.

Working with good commercial builders, McDonald & Roberts have been involved in some big projects including the Murray Goulburn Milk Factory, pub renovations, hospitals, schools, fire damaged rebuilds, industrial sheds and factories, caravan parks, resorts, police stations, Government department agencies and everything else in between, all around Victoria. On the domestic side, projects varied from new houses, breakdown services for insurance companies, commission residences, to name a few.

McDonald & Roberts loyalty with Middy's stemmed from the service they received in the early days when Middy's Reps would do most of the hard yards, delivering goods when something extra was required or needed in a hurry. Middy's Dandenong and then Middy's Warragul were the closest branches to McDonald & Roberts during this time.

What a revelation when the Leongatha branch opened the doors. According to the team at McDonald & Roberts, Jamey Allen did, and still does, a fantastic job as Area Manager, part time delivery driver, customer relations, complaints department and general dogs body.

In their words, "Middy's (the whole family and staff) main attribute is the interaction between management, staff and customers which has been passed down from Nick and Hugh Middendorp through to the rest of the family."

"Over the years, our experiences with Middy's have included some really good promotions, great Info Nights, festive Christmas breakups and even a few lemonades on a Friday arvo. Most of all though, Middy's service and relationships have been paramount in maintaining our loyalty and custom."

McDonald & Roberts P/L sold up last year and passed on a lot of their remaining contracts to some their past employees who still operate locally.

As for the team's future plans, Dave and his wife Ros plan to travel extensively to see parts of Australia and throw in a couple of cruises when they can, ultimately enjoying retirement after more than 50 years as sparkies. Grant remains undecided but still happily gets out the pliers when required and we're still waiting to see if his wife Christine decides to give it all away or not.

McDonald & Roberts leave behind a legacy including thirty-odd apprentices, work experience and school workplace kids and many local sparkies in and around Victoria and Australia that started or have at some point worked with the business and have ultimately made it, either in the electrical field or moved on to bigger and better things in their own lives.

In conclusion, "Together with Middy's and the Clipsal brand (Gerard family) we have had some fantastic trips over the years in Australia and overseas with the families and Reps looking after us as family members. GREAT TIMES."

"Grant and Dave are like the grandfathers of the electrical industry down our way. They have trained many electrical apprentices over the years. A vast majority of them going on to run their own businesses with success based on the training of Grant and Dave." - Jamey Allen, Area Manager

"Middy's, the whole family and staff, main attribute is the interaction between management, staff and customers which has been passed down from Nick and Hugh Middendorp through to the rest of the family." - Grant McDonald & Dave Roberts