Nuss Relocations Australia. A caring multicultural team who know and understand the problems of relocating, but have the solutions!
Ray Beard and Nigel Saunders, were delighted to catch up to tell us all about Nuss Relocations, one of Australia’s oldest relocation companies.
November 2021
Tell me about the history of Nuss Relocations
Nuss Relocations first traded as a local removal company in Sydney back in the late 1890s, so we really were pioneers of the Australian moving industry. Bob Nuss, the company’s owner, is the fourth generation of his family to work in the business, and he is rightly proud of the company’s heritage.
Over the last 130 years, the company has grown from a small, local removal company to a sizeable player in the Australian market, providing domestic and international removals and more recently, DSP services, managed from our offices in Sydney.
In the late 1990s, we became one of the first moving companies to expand into the DSP (destination services) market. Many of our clients would ask if we could support them with things like home and school searches and so with our knowledge and reputation, it seemed like the obvious thing to do. Some 22 years later, we are proud to provide the full range of DSP services to our clients around Australia including home search, school search, city familiarisation and settling in services etc.
Since 2014, we have been proud members of the Harmony Relocation Network meaning that we have international associates the world over. Additionally, we are FIDI FAIM accredited, ISO27001 certified, and we’re members of the Australian Furniture Removers Association (AFRA), Australian International Movers Association (AIMA), OMNI, and EURA.
The quality of the services that we offer today is what really matters, but longevity in the business plays an important part in demonstrating to clients that we are a trustworthy brand with service in our DNA. We are really proud to have a 1924 Nuss Removals truck of the type that was used by Bob’s grandfather that is still in full working order. An ‘International Harvester’ in prime condition, which we use for display purposes though, as it’s a little slow for deliveries with a top speed of 40kms an hour!
Tell me a little about yourself and your role in the company
Ray: I’m based in Melbourne and I’m the manager for sales and operations in the state of Victoria with additional responsibilities for strategic planning. I’ve been with Nuss for 20 years now, but I’m an expat myself, originally from the UK. I’ve been in the moving industry for more than 40 years now though, and I worked in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and France before moving here to Australia. There are few issues that a relocating client has that I haven’t dealt with myself in my years of moving around the globe!
What services does Nuss offer?
Nuss Relocations offers domestic and international moving services and warehousing and storage services. In addition, Nuss Relocations offers DSP services to multinational corporations in Australia. We are fortunate to work with many of the world’s major Relocation Management Companies (RMCs) and have a strong reputation for quality in all areas of our business.
We operate a fleet of more than 40 vehicles in Sydney and we own our own company main warehouse. We have two large facilities in Sydney with a yard for storage of 200 TEU’s and of course a custom’s approved ‘bonded’ warehouse for our imports. As a part of the AMG (Australian Movers Group) we provide interstate removals throughout the country using over 1000?20’ high cube containers specially equipped with blankets and ties, which are railed between capital cities; with AMG partners collecting the containers from the rail head and delivering on behalf of the booking partner. As the AMG partner (some of which are fellow Harmony members) is usually the largest independent mover in their region, the AMG actually provides us a resource and service advantage over the ‘national’ competitors.
What makes your company special?
“Our people make the difference.” It’s our corporate strapline and it really is true. We have always operated a deliberate strategy when recruiting staff of employing those with a great, caring, ‘can do’ attitude, who have a global mindset and outlook on life, and often, this is due to the fact that they themselves are expats or that they have had experience of living abroad. That real life experience means that our team can truly empathise with our clients by drawing on their own personal experiences, and that empathy is the key to the excellent customer service that we consistently provide to our clients. We always say that our people know and understand the problems, but they also have the solutions! We are a truly multicultural team, and this rich diversity makes for a very interesting place to work.
We are able to deliver our high standards of service thanks to the dedication of our colleagues, many of whom have been with us for many, many years. We have an excellent retention rate because our people really do love their jobs and working for Bob Nuss.
Of course, this desire to do the best for our clients has to come from the top, and Bob Nuss is truly a special leader. He trusts people and believes in them, and ensures that as a business, no matter what the cost, we always do the right thing. Honesty and truthfulness are so critical in today’s world, and we go above and beyond what’s demanded from a legal and compliance point of view to do what is right by our people and our clients.
We have a fantastic and developing team of young, enthusiastic and talented staff who are in touch with todays’ ways and show great connective empathy with our younger clientele. As a result, we believe that we have the balance just right in terms of experience and developmental staff that will see us well into the next phase of our growth.?
Photo, left to right: Sergio Navas-Perez, Helen McCallum, Janet Reyes, Margo Boudewyns, Albert Michels, Neville Saunders, Kashish Navlani, Mercedes Stevens, Bob Nuss. (not present: Sherman Pereira, Zelda Ellerbrock, Wendy Falconer, Dale Lukas, Alex Marshall, Catherine Keelan)
How has the Covid-19 situation affected your organisation?
Here in Australia, the COVID-19 situation has been managed very well and we have had very few cases and few deaths as we are an island so the Australian government took the decision to close our borders early on in the pandemic. Of course, this strategy is quite easy to manage in a country as big as Australia with a population of just 25 million that is so spread out. The government made a quick decision at the beginning of the pandemic, and we have been thankful for that immediate action in that, aside from taking the usual precautions such as wearing masks and using antibacterial gel, there have been few restrictions on life for us, other than a few lockdowns here and there. Of course, at the beginning of the pandemic when it was such a global shock, we all moved to working from home and put into place our business contingency plans, but we very quickly adapted and it was business as usual within a day or two with just the odd hiccup. However, as a business, we are of course greatly affected by what is happening in the rest of the world so our international moving business has been affected by the pandemic but things are starting to return to some form of normality now with the high vaccination rates that have been achieved. Recently, we have had to cope with sudden government-imposed restrictions on removal workers being allowed into clients’ homes which reduced capacity and made it very difficult for those crews which were still permitted to work. This together with state border closures and restrictions on intrastate movement has created huge difficulties for the removal industry here. We have got by though!
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Is technology important in your business?
We’re investing heavily in technology to enhance the service that we provide to our clients and it has played a vital part in us achieving our ISO27001, which we gained almost on schedule last year despite the pressure of the pandemic! This reflects the commitment and continued hard work of our colleagues here at Nuss. The reality is, everything we ever achieve is down to their hard work and great attitudes.
Tell me about some unusual things that you have moved
Cat hormones! They were important to someone so were important to us too! Somewhere, over the rainbow, there must be a very hairy cat with a lot to be grateful to Nuss for!
Does your company get involved in any charities?
As a company, Bob Nuss contributes to his favourite charity which he has supported for years. With our colleagues we have supported charity and some community events over the years, for example each August employees support the ’Jeans for Genes’ charity raising money for children affected by genetic disorders.
What is your company doing in terms of sustainability initiatives?
We are proud of our commitment to the environment and sustainability and are accredited with ISO 14001. We have our own recycling bays at our facility and a robust system for monitoring our impact on the environment which is reflected in our operating methods and purchasing arrangements. We only have one world and we want it to be as clean and as safe as possible!
When purchasing materials, we consider the environmental impact.?All carton types can be recycled as can our bubble wrap and export wrap.?We have a separation process for disposal of debris in that all recyclables are isolated from general waste. An example of what we have achieved is that we recycled 86 tonnes of paper and carton materials last year.?This is equal to saving 1,560 gigajoules of energy which is sufficient to power 72 homes in a year.?Put simply, it has saved 35 tonnes of Co2.?
Photo, left to right. Cathy Foster, Rob Sharp, Andrew Gibson
What is the household goods removals and relocation market like in your country?
Australia is a vast country, the size of continental USA but with a population of under 30 million people, most of who live within 100km of one of about eight major metropolitan areas. So servicing those who live outside of these areas is not easy. For its population, Australia has a high rate of movement domestically as well as internationally. Consequently, most international movers here do a lot of domestic removals too. Historically, imports have always been high with the UK, South Africa and New Zealand being major origin points. In recent years moves from Asia and other parts of the world have increased in number. The past 18 months of pandemic have reduced imports though as our borders have been closed, although there have been and remain large numbers of Australians returning. Exports have slowed in the last 18 months but now seem to have increased greatly and we think this will continue to grow into next year and beyond.
Domestically the market has been strong with a strong housing market encouraging movement. Storage continues to grow in demand but as in many other parts of the world much of that growth is reflected and accounted for in self-storage. DSP has been consistent, at least it was until the pandemic hit when it went off the edge of the cliff! We are confident of its return and so kept our DSP team together and they readily involved themselves in the removals side of the business to help there. The benefit if this cross training will support our growth in coming years, of this we have no doubt.
Contact - Nuss Removals
T: +61 2 9425 4600 || E: [email protected] || W:?https://nuss.com.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nussremovals
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NussRemovals
Contact - Harmony Relocation Network
W: www.harmonyrelo.com || #harmonyrelo