The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The principal of fire-ravaged SMG Millworks yesterday pledged that the company would rebuild “bigger and better if the opportunity is provided”, as he worked feverishly to find “temporary” jobs for 50 employees.

Darren Ginns said that while he and his wife were “absolutely devastated” by what had happened to a business they had spent 12 years building, they now had “a new canvas to design and build something”.

Confirming that SMG Millworks had a full order book through to the 2015 first quarter, with high-end jobs at the likes of Albany and Baha Mar, Mr Ginns said it was impossible to currently provide timelines and details on how the company would rebuild.

Declining to specify the value of fire-related losses and damage, he told Tribune Business that the company was now awaiting the fire and police reports so it can start the insurance claims process.

Indicating that much would depend on the pace and value of the insurance recovery, Mr Ginns said he hoped to build a new SMG Millworks complex at its existing Mount Pleasant site.

And, emphasising that its affiliate, SMG Construction, was still operating and in ‘business as usual’ mode, Mr Ginns praised other Bahamian contractors for their willingness to provide jobs for displaced Millworks staff.

Acknowledging that the growing company had suffered a “massive” setback after its premises were burnt to the ground, he told Tribune Business that its objective to be “the best of the best in the Caribbean and North America” would not change.

“In the last 12 years we built a millworks company from three people to 50 people,” Mr Ginns said.

“We were extensively booked through the rest of the year, and the first quarter of next year, doing great projects at Albany, Baha Mar and private contracts.”

He added: “My wife and I are absolutely devastated. The staff were absolutely devastated and in tears when they saw this place burned down.

“These guys have mortgages, families, and we’re going to do our best to find jobs for them to keep them going until we are operational again.”

Mr Ginns said some staff had been with him since SMG Millworks started, while others had also learned valuable skills in the multiple years they had been employed.

Revealing that he will meet with SMG Millworks staff today at 8.30am to see who else requires a job “before we get up and running again”, Mr Ginns said he was trying to shift some across to its SMG Construction affiliate, while finding posts for others with different contractors.

“Right now, we have no location,” he told Tribune Business of SMG Millworks. “We’re high-end, quality. I can’t just go into the middle of the bush and start SMG Millworks. We need the right equipment, the right space, to do the quality millworks clients have come to expect.”

Mr Ginns added that he had been heartened to discover more than 30 staff on-site on Sunday, helping to build a temporary administrative office for SMG Construction. This, he added, showed how committed employees were to the company.

SMG Millworks manufactures custom, high-end millwork found in luxury residences and communities such as Lyford Cay, Old Fort Bay, the Ocean Club and Albany.

It has also been praised as a model for ‘knowledge transfer’, with skills passed on to Bahamians who are fully integrated into the manufacturing process.

“Our goal is to be second to none - like the millworks in the US,” Mr Ginns told Tribune Business. “My wife and I are absolutely devastated because we thought we had something very exciting going on here, and we were getting the support of contractors in the growth of the company. This is just a massive setback.”

He added: “Our idea was to be the best of the best in the Caribbean and North America, Bahamian-made. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.

“The training and effort we’ve put into these guys, we want them back, as they know what the expectation of quality is.”

Pledging that SMG Millworks would be rebuilt, Mr Ginns said: “Our hope is that we are going to be building a new complex here [at Mount Pleasant].

“I can’t give you a date yet when we will have a building, or be re-opening. From the Millworks side we have no answers until we get all the answers from the fire report, the police report and the insurance companies - how big we’ll be rebuilding, how we’ll rebuild. It’s determining what we’re building.”

Focusing on the positive, Mr Ginns said: “It’s an opportunity. Now we have a new canvas to design and build something. It’s not what we wanted to do, but we are here now.

“It will be bigger and better if the opportunity is provided.”