Beyond The Brush - History

Their friendship grew, rooted in their shared experiences of working in their respective trades, and laid the foundation for an extraordinary enterprise.

It didn’t take John and Gilbert long to understand that there was more work in painting than in building at the time. The pair then worked together as painters for Duncan Brothers Painters until the company wound up. 

John and Gilbert officially went into business together and formed their initial partnership in 1962, Sims & Blue.

James Wren & Co Ltd passed the first job to Sims & Blue, number 43 Carnarvon Street.

From its inception, the success of Sims & Blue has been driven by its commitment to training apprentices. 

It was John and Gilbert's passion, and the essence of the company's growth, to bring on young employees and train them in the Sims and Blue way of doing things. This is a tradition the company holds dear to this day, as they head steadily towards 100 apprentices trained.

In the early years the company grew steadily, operating from their yard at the old stables down North East Valley. Their work was mainly residential homes. Then a move to Fox Street where the company kept consistent work in the local area.  In the early days it was slow and steady.

In the 1980’s Sims and Blue opened a branch in Central Otago, based in Alexandra run by Roddy Macdonald. This branch consisted of two to three men, covering the whole Central Otago region. Roddy being a local to the area, Sims and Blue was well accepted. Key jobs included the new Alexandra Post Office, the Railway houses and buildings, and a number of schools. This, along with new homes and a large number of farmhouses, kept these guys busy for a number of years. Over time the Central Otago branch was finished up and work in the region is now run from Dunedin, with the area still very pleasurable to work in with many fond memories. 

The next move for Sims and Blue was to 29 Lees Street, just above The Oval. This is where things started to move forward. Raewynn Sims came on board and the office side of things was brought up to a high standard, and things were done in a professional manner. At this point in our history we had a team of up to 18 staff members. 

School work came to the fore with many schools around Otago being painted at one stage or another by the company. We hold a proud record to this day of painting 149 separate schools, some of which aren’t even open anymore! Our first school was Kaitangata School, and we have worked on schools as far south as Waikoikoi School and as far north as Dunback School. 

In the 1990’s we moved to our current premises at 23 Braemar Street, just across the road from the Old Gas Works. 

Gilbert retired, however was still at work daily helping with deliveries and any way he could. Sadly Gilbert passed away, followed by his wife Raima a few years later. John continued to run the office with Raewynn’s help, and Glenn Sims began actively running the jobs, measuring work, and meeting with the clients to assess their needs. 

The company has now moved into its new formation. Nathan Sims joined the company and alongside Glenn they make a grand team. Both fully involved in running the team on the jobs, meeting with clients and making sure their needs are met, and keeping our team up to the high standards expected from work completed by Sims and Blue.