Into the Spotlight, sponsored by Huddersfield-based Scriba PR, is a weekly feature which highlights some great independent businesses. Here, we introduce Mike and Liz Mayes who run Colourcube Automotive in Lepton.
Husband and wife team Mike and Liz Mayes run an award-winning bodyshop repair business that punches above its weight.
The couple set up Colourcube Automotive in Greave House Terrace, Lepton, in 2016 aiming to put the quality and standards of top bodyshops into the heart of the local community.
And where some bodyshops can be a little intimidating to visit, Liz is the friendly customer face of the business while Mike brings almost 30 years’ experience in bodywork repairs including working for top marques Porsche and Mercedes.
Liz, mum to Sophie, 14, Betsie, eight, and Ernest, seven, said: “We are very transparent about who we are. We are a small, family business but we have the facilities and the expertise that you would find in a much bigger operation.
“Mike will give an honest appraisal and we are always open with our customers and we never over-promise. We are quite happy for people to come in and ask for advice. It’s not all about doing business there and then.”
Colourcube’s online reviews show customers appreciate their down-to-earth, friendly approach helping people when they may have had an accident or a bump or scrape.
Mike, 46, is from London and he met Liz, originally from Skelmanthorpe, when she lived and worked in the capital.
The couple had started a family and Liz wanted to move back to her roots and after a spell of Mike splitting his time between work in the South and home in the North, the couple took the plunge to launch Colourcube.
“Mike had worked in some top quality bodyshops and he wanted to replicate them and have the same kind of facilities,” said Liz, 40.
That meant a near £60,000 investment including a large spray oven – bigger than many small bodyshops would have – and a paint mixing room.
The couple found premises in Franklyn Court and opened for business in 2016. By 2019 Colourcube had won an award as Best New Bodyshop in the national Bodyshop Live! Awards and the couple’s journey had begun.
They hired an apprentice, Jonny, who has since qualified and the investment in equipment, facilities, training and staff has paid off.
“The oven is larger than you would expect for a bodyshop of our size – it’s large enough to accommodate a Mercedes Sprinter van,” said Mike. “And upstairs we have a mixing room where we mix paint ourselves to manufacturers’ standards. Also, we only use genuine parts because we want our repairs to have the best finish possible.”
Liz is the business manager, looking after the marketing, finance and administration. She’s the public face on social media and also supports the community through her voluntary role with the Almondbury Business Association.
Through the association she helps organise the scarecrow festival, the Christmas lights switch-on and the annual calendar competition.
Looking to the future, the landlord is to carry out some improvement works to the facia of the building and the couple have plans for growth.
Covid brought its own challenges, of course, but Mike carried on working through lockdown as people working from home and spending less decided to go ahead with repairs they’d put off or invested in the restoration of a classic car.
“We have been here five years and every year we have been busier than the last,” said Mike. “People know where we are now and customers come back to us – not that we want them to have bumps of course! – but they know we’re here if they need us.
“We are very organised and take time to do our planning, ordering parts well in advance so that customers get their cars back as quickly as possible but I know we can do more business and we’re looking at plans for the future.”
For more on Colourcube click HERE or search for them on Facebook.
