Metro Truck Body Builders: Building Truck Bodies in Melbourne Since 1989
Metro Truck Body Builders has been building, repairing and modifying truck bodies in Melbourne since 1989. What is now an established family-owned truck body building business in Seaford, Victoria started with Doug, a Datsun 120Y station wagon, a welder and an oxy-acetylene set.
Before there was a Metro factory, Doug travelled to customers under the name Doug’s Welding Service, repairing tip trucks, fitting aluminium floors and doing fabrication work wherever the customer had a shed and somewhere for him to set up.
He later borrowed $2,500 from his father to buy a Bedford van, painted it maroon with a silver stripe and put the line “Doug’s Welding Service keeps your tipper tipping” on the side.
From those beginnings came a Melbourne truck body building business with more than 35 years of fabrication experience.
Today Metro Truck Body Builders operates from 24 Keppler Circuit, Seaford, Victoria, designing and building custom truck bodies for working trucks across Melbourne, Victoria and suitable interstate projects.
How Did Metro Truck Body Builders Start?
Metro did not start with a factory full of equipment, a production line or a grand business plan.
Doug started on his own, carrying his welding gear in the back of a Datsun 120Y station wagon and travelling to customers to perform truck repairs and fabrication work on site.
After upgrading to the Bedford van, Doug eventually became involved with a small panel beating workshop in Dennis Street. That gave him a factory base while he continued taking on welding, repair and fabrication work.
Then came one of the jobs that changed the direction of the business.
Doug won a contract to build a run of tipper bodies. He remembers it as around 15 to 20 trucks. The exact number has become a little hazy after more than three decades, but the important part has not.
Metro had to build them.
Doug had a MIG welder, oxy-acetylene equipment and a cut-off saw. Components requiring specialist cutting or folding were sourced elsewhere because he did not yet own the machinery to do everything in-house.
The first body was built and inspected. The customer was happy with the work, but there was one problem.
“Doug’s Welding Service” did not sound much like the name of a truck body manufacturer producing a commercial run of tippers.
Doug’s wife Jenny came up with the answer.
Metro Truck Bodies.
And Metro was born.
From Doug’s Welding Service to Metro Truck Bodies
Winning that early tipper contract gave the young business something more valuable than a new name. It gave Doug the opportunity to start building the workshop capability Metro needed.
In those early years, there was no fully equipped fabrication shop waiting behind him.
Doug recalls cutting sheet with oxy equipment and taking components elsewhere when they needed to be folded. Once the early truck contract was completed, he was able to invest in a guillotine and folder of his own.
Piece by piece, the equipment improved.
So did the scale of the work.
Metro developed from mobile welding and truck repair and modification work into a dedicated truck body fabrication and manufacturing business.
Today Metro builds commercial bodies including Tipper Bodies, Chipper Tippers, Beavertail Truck Bodies, Flat Trays and custom truck trays, Drop Side Trays, Service Bodies and other custom commercial truck-body configurations.
More Than 35 Years of Truck Body Building Experience
Since 1989, Metro has watched the trucks, equipment and technology around the industry change considerably.
The workshop Doug started with a handful of tools bears little resemblance to the fabrication capability Metro has today.
What has remained is the practical knowledge involved in turning a bare cab chassis and a customer’s requirements into a working truck body.
That experience covers custom truck body design, steel fabrication, welding, fitting, truck body repairs and modifications across commercial vehicles built for a wide range of applications.
Some trucks need a familiar body configuration. Others arrive with a problem, unusual equipment or an application requiring something different.
Metro’s approach starts with understanding what the truck has to do.
Explore Metro’s wider range of custom truck bodies, or see completed fabrication and finished trucks in Recent Builds.
Two Generations of Truck Body Building
Metro is now owned and run by Doug and Jenny’s sons, Scott and Troy.
Neither arrived one morning with a shiny new title and instructions on how to run somebody else’s factory.
They grew up around Metro.
Scott worked in the business from a young age and spent years learning the workshop side of truck body building. Troy also became part of the business and developed his role across quoting, design, ordering, customer communication and management.
When Doug and Jenny were ready to step back, Scott and Troy bought Metro and the factory.
The business stayed in the family. More importantly, the knowledge stayed close to the work.
Scott and Troy have continued investing in equipment, people, technology and production capability while retaining the direct, practical approach that helped build Metro in the first place.
Who Owns Metro Truck Body Builders Today?
Metro Truck Body Builders is owned by brothers Scott and Troy, the second generation of the family behind the business.
Both remain directly involved in its day-to-day operation.
Troy handles much of Metro’s quoting, ordering, customer communication and management. He also develops custom jobs in Fusion 360, producing detailed 3D technical drawings and working through the body configuration before material reaches the workshop floor.
Scott runs the workshop and works alongside the fabrication team. He keeps jobs moving through production, deals with workshop problems and stays across the details as drawings and raw material become finished truck bodies.
This creates a short line between the customer, the person quoting and designing the job, and the people responsible for building it.
There are no layers of departments separating the owners from the workshop.
Is Metro Truck Body Builders Still Family Owned?
Yes. Metro Truck Body Builders remains an Australian family-owned truck body builder.
Doug and Jenny established the business. Their sons Scott and Troy now own and operate it.
Founder Doug is retired.
Technically.
He still appears around the factory often enough, sometimes finding himself on a ladder, roof or involved in whatever needs doing, so Metro’s interpretation of retirement remains fairly loose.
The family connection is not a line invented for a marketing campaign. It runs through the history of the business, the people who built it and the people running it today.
The owners know where the business came from and put their own family name behind what leaves the workshop.
Custom Truck Body Fabrication Without the Production-Line Approach
One advantage of remaining an independent family-owned truck body builder is the ability to listen when a customer needs something outside a standard specification.
Doug identified this as one of the reasons customers continued coming back to Metro.
His explanation was simple:
“Because we do a good job. And I think because we’re easy to get along with.”
There was another part to his answer. If somebody wants something different, Metro is prepared to work through it.
That matters in custom truck body fabrication.
The cab chassis, available payload, equipment, access requirements, storage, loading method and day-to-day work all influence the finished body. Building the same thing repeatedly and expecting every customer to adapt to it defeats much of the point of going custom.
Metro instead works through the requirements of the individual truck and application.
That approach extends across custom Tipper Bodies, Chipper Tippers, Beavertail Truck Bodies, Flat Trays, Drop Side Trays, Service Bodies and other specialist builds.
Truck Body Design Has Changed. Hands-On Fabrication Hasn’t.
Truck body manufacturing in Melbourne looked different when Metro started in 1989.
Doug remembers quoting work over the phone and sketching details on pieces of paper, sometimes with mixed success when it came to finding the bloody thing again later.
Council and commercial tender opportunities appeared in newspapers such as The Age. Paperwork was manual. Drawings were simpler. The tools available to a small truck body builder were different.
Metro now uses modern communication, workshop equipment and 3D truck body design as part of its workflow.
Troy develops custom builds in Fusion 360 so dimensions, components and body configuration can be worked through before fabrication begins. The workshop then turns those drawings into the physical truck body.
The welders are better. The saws are better. The design tools are better. The jobs are getting bigger.
But somebody still has to build the bloody thing.
Metro’s technology supports the fabrication work. It does not replace the people doing it.
The team still measures, cuts, welds, fabricates, fits, checks and finishes the components that turn a cab chassis and a set of requirements into a commercial vehicle ready for work.
For answers about Metro’s design process, fabrication, materials, engineering and custom builds, visit the Truck Body FAQ.
What Truck Bodies Does Metro Build?
Metro designs and manufactures custom truck bodies for commercial and working trucks, with each build configured around the cab chassis, payload, intended load and working application.
Metro’s body-building capability includes:
Metro also performs truck body repairs and modifications where an existing body needs fabrication work, repair or alteration rather than complete replacement.
Does Metro Build Flat Trays & Custom Truck Trays?
Yes. Metro builds custom Flat Trays and steel truck trays for commercial trucks.
At Metro, the preferred terminology is Flat Tray. The same general body style is sometimes described online as a flatbed truck tray or flatbed truck body, particularly in overseas terminology.
Metro Flat Trays provide an open commercial carrying deck for applications including pallets, timber, building materials, equipment, freight and trade loads. Tray dimensions, floor specification, load restraint, storage, racks, towing equipment and other fitted components are worked through around the individual truck and application.
For detailed information about construction, 3mm and 5mm steel floors, side combing, rope rails, toolboxes, crane provision and other options, visit Custom Flat Trays & Truck Trays.
Why Do Customers Keep Coming Back to Metro?
Doug did not need a corporate mission statement to explain it.
“Because we do a good job.”
Then he added that Metro is easy to get along with and willing to change things when a customer wants something different.
That combination has followed the business from Doug’s early mobile welding days through to the modern Metro workshop.
Customers deal with people who understand truck body fabrication and remain directly involved in the business. Requirements are discussed with people quoting, designing, managing or building the work rather than disappearing through layers of departments.
For a working truck, the finished result matters more than sales language.
The body needs to suit the application. It needs to match what was ordered. And it needs to be built properly.
See examples of what Metro is building now in Recent Builds.
Why Choose a Family-Owned Truck Body Builder?
For Metro, being family owned keeps responsibility close to the work.
Troy is talking to customers, quoting jobs, ordering materials and developing drawings. Scott is on the workshop floor with the fabrication team, keeping builds moving and checking what leaves the factory.
If something unusual needs to be worked out, the customer is dealing with people close enough to the project to understand it.
That matters when commissioning a custom truck body, because there is often more to the job than selecting a body from a list.
Different operators carry different loads. They use different equipment. They load trucks differently. They need access in different places. Some need storage, towing, hydraulics, lighting, cranes or other equipment integrated into the finished vehicle.
A family business does not automatically build a better truck body.
The useful part is accountability. At Metro, the owners remain close to the customer and close to what gets built.
Truck Body Repairs & Modifications From an Experienced Melbourne Workshop
More than 35 years around working trucks also gives Metro experience with what happens after a body has spent years doing its job.
Truck bodies get damaged. Floors wear. Hinges, doors and fabricated components need attention. Businesses change the way a vehicle is used. Equipment gets added. An existing body sometimes needs altering rather than replacing.
Metro performs truck body repairs and modifications in Melbourne from its Seaford workshop.
Suitable repair and modification work is assessed around the existing body, its condition, the problem and what the customer needs the truck to do when it returns to service.
If you have an existing truck body requiring attention, send Metro photographs, the truck details and a description of what needs to be repaired or changed.
Family-Owned Truck Body Builders in Seaford, Melbourne
Metro operates from 24 Keppler Circuit, Seaford, Victoria, in Melbourne’s south-east.
From this workshop, Metro builds, repairs and modifies commercial truck bodies for customers throughout Melbourne and Victoria, with suitable work also coming from regional and interstate customers.
The Seaford location places Metro close to Frankston, Carrum Downs, Dandenong, Cranbourne, the Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne’s south-east industrial areas.
For customers searching for an experienced truck body builder in Melbourne or truck body builder in Victoria, Metro brings together more than 35 years of business history, modern 3D design, commercial fabrication capability and direct family ownership.
For more information about Metro’s location, regional service area and interstate enquiries, visit the Truck Body Builds, Repairs & Modifications Across Victoria FAQ.
Australian Truck Body Building Since 1989
Metro’s history is tied to Australian truck body building and hands-on fabrication.
The business began with Doug travelling around doing welding and truck repairs himself. It grew into a factory producing truck bodies. Doug and Jenny built the business over decades. Their sons now own it and are developing its next stage.
That history is difficult to manufacture with a marketing campaign.
Metro has been doing the work since 1989.
Today the equipment is better and the design process is more advanced, but truck bodies still leave Metro because somebody in Seaford has measured, cut, welded, fabricated, fitted, checked and finished them.
Where Does Metro Go From Here?
Scott and Troy want Metro to take on more work, develop the team, increase production capability and eventually have more room for bigger trucks and bigger jobs.
The goal is not to turn the business into an anonymous production line.
They want a bigger, better Metro while retaining the things customers have dealt with for decades.
Know the work. Be easy to talk to. Listen to what the customer wants. Build it properly. If the standard answer does not suit the job, work out another one.
Doug started with welding equipment in the back of a station wagon.
Scott and Troy now have the opportunity to take what Doug and Jenny built and develop it for another generation of trucks, customers and work.
Metro Truck Body Builders: The Short Version
- Founded: 1989
- Founder: Doug
- Current owners: Scott and Troy
- Workshop: 24 Keppler Circuit, Seaford, Victoria
- What Metro does: Custom truck body design and fabrication, commercial truck body building, truck toolbox fit-out, repairs and modifications.
- What Metro builds: Tipper Bodies, Chipper Tippers, Beavertail Truck Bodies, Flat Trays, Drop Side Trays, Service Bodies and other custom commercial truck-body configurations.
- How Metro works: Direct customer communication, practical design, hands-on fabrication and owners who remain closely involved in the work.
- Still family owned: Bloody oath.
Talk to Metro About Your Next Truck Body
If you have a custom truck body project in mind, start with the truck and what you need it to do.
Tell Metro about the cab chassis, what you carry, how you load and unload it, what equipment you need and anything unusual about the job.
If you already know exactly what you need, send the specification through. If you do not, start with what you know.
Explore Metro’s custom truck body building, see what has been leaving the workshop in Recent Builds, read common answers in the Truck Body FAQ, or contact Metro Truck Body Builders to discuss your project and request a quote.
