Catch up with Bruno Favretti, Managing Director of Favcote Pty Ltd

Bruno Favretti had heard about ICN NSW before, but it wasn’t until meeting ICN NSW’s Defence Industry Manager Dusko Bajic at Land Forces conference in Brisbane in 2020 that he started looking into ICN Gateway and reaching out to Dusko to find out more.

 “Abrasive blasting and painting are the core capability of our business. One of the reasons I got in touch with ICN was for further defence work, but we’re also interested in increasing our work on manufacturing plant or facility maintenance related projects and contracts, including on-site maintenance blasting and painting,” said Bruno.

 “ICN NSW has been helpful in putting us in contact with companies we’d like to work with. We have a profile on ICN Gateway and at the moment we’re being very selective about which work packages we submit EOIs, as we focus on delivering a quality product and good service – which is essential to my business.”

 It all started with a conversation

Favcote Pty Ltd started as a small domestic, commercial painting and decorating business, J&B Painters and Decorators Pty Ltd, established in 1984. They eventually became the sole NSW distributor of a specialised multicolored fleck paint by Macpherson's Paints, a UK company. They were approached in 1992 by a Navy officer based at Garden Island in Sydney who wanted them to paint the junior sailors' cafeteria in the HMAS Sydney because of the clear sealer’s excellent washable qualities. After taking on more work at Garden Island and growing the team, Bruno bought out his partner and began as the sole owner of Favcote in January 2008.

The business has since grown its offering to more than 40 people across its NSW and WA offices and working with leading defence industry companies, including Thales, BAE Systems, Naval Ship Management (NSM) Australia [part of the Babcock Group], and Atlantic & Peninsula Australia.

They also work with Veolia on maintenance work at its Kurnell desalination plant and its other locations.

It’s all about quality

Favcote has worked on Landing Helicopter Docks and the Anzac-class frigates for the Navy on both coasts, as well as abrasive blasting and painting of panels and components for Australian Army vehicles, including the Bushmaster and Hawkeye, at their Ingleburn facility.

 “We can take components weighing up to 2.5 tons at our Ingleburn facility and we also have teams that will travel to our client’s locations to carry out work there. We work on both the internal and externals of the ships and also specialise in epoxy flooring applications, which could be passageways, pump rooms or even vinyl tiles in an Officers' lounge,

 “For the industrial and the marine sector, it’s more than just applying a couple of coats of paint – there is a mechanical preparation and applying paint systems where you have to prepare the surface, apply a primer and a number of other coats. There are a lot of quality assurance and reporting required in the marine sector, including measuring the thickness of the paint, and monitoring the temperature and the humidity that you applied it at,” said Bruno.

Tips for business success 

“Quality and service are essential to Favcote. We don’t take on jobs where we can’t deliver those two things. Quality and service is instilled in every part of the business.”