Car lovers: Josh and Darren Bohm are the father and son who turned their hobby into a career.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Only 20 years old and fresh out of a four-year apprenticeship, Josh Bohm is living his dream of being a full-time business owner — and so far, he’s loving it.
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In 2019, Josh and his dad, Darren, started their business, Bohm Motorpanel Transformations, in their own backyard as a side business after work.
Now, three years later, it’s become their primary focus after Josh took the plunge in January to work full time and Darren decided to lay down his tools as a carpenter this September and join Josh in a business partnership.
With business growing, the pair have also welcomed the addition of a new working space on Telsford Dve, Shepparton, proving that if you put in the time, effort and savings, owning and growing your own business is possible.
However, looking back four years ago, spray painting wasn’t Josh’s first choice of profession after leaving school at 16.
“I only started painting because I wanted to leave school and it was the only job available basically, so it would be more so work experience than a permanent career” Josh said.
“But I grew to love it and realised I had a talent for it.
Eye for detail: Josh Bohm started his own spray painting business at age 20 with his dad after finishing school at 16 and doing his apprenticeship.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
With both Josh and Darren passionate about cars, starting a car detailing and painting business came naturally.
“It’s always ‘cars cars cars’ with us,” Darren said.
“We’ll knock off from work and work on our cars, and on the weekend we’ll go race cars; if we’re not racing, we’ll take one of our four-wheel drives and go four-wheel driving.
“We’ve always worked a minimum of three nights a week in the shed on our own cars at home.
“We just wanted something that was enjoyable so it doesn’t really feel like work, it’s just expanded out of our hobby.”
However, for both men the best part of working together is the customers.
“It's more of a friendship than just a customer,” Josh said.
“Absolutely,” Darren said.
“They are our friends and there's a lot of trust on both sides of the fence that you get what they're saying and they understand what you're saying. That’s what I really like about it.”
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