SEVERAL Roma contractors have put their hand up to thank the Garvie family for picking locals for the Royal on 99 project.
The Garvies, headed by Bruce and his son Justin on-site, selected only local contractors where possible for the building of the new Royal.
Roma Crane Hire and Transport manager Steve Bond said the work they received from being hired for the Royal had helped them during what had been a modest workload.
“It’s a big thing for us – work has been quite steady so this was a boost,” he said.
“We’ve got 50 guys employed, most of which are locals so it keeps them employed.
Mr Bond said what impressed him about the Garvies was their lack of interest in price, but rather whether the business was a local.
“Justin called us and said he wanted to use local guys for this,” he said.
“At no point did he ask for a quote.”
Along with working on one of Roma’s brightest additions to the main street in years, Mr Bond said the project had allowed them to pick up other jobs with contractors also working on-site.
“We’ve done a couple of jobs with Grulke Concreting since then,” he said.
Russell Grulke also congratulated the Garvies on the impending opening, having contributed all the concrete for the walls and floors in the building.
“(Bruce has) been a builder for 40 years and he’s always done the right thing by the local guys, whether he was building houses or pubs,” he said.
“It’s a credit to them (that they used local contractors) and that’s a big boost in the arm for the town.
“There’s a lot of financial balancing acts going on behind the scenes with businesses right now but that job is in the main street and it’s a big boost for the town.”
More than 300 cubic metres of cement and concrete was used in the Royal building.