Mid-Week Mugging: From small shop to 20,000 square feet, two-storey building (7 photos)

Nello Iannelli, Guy’s B&R Collision Centre manager, points to the careful, painstaking way in which one of the vehicles at his family’s auto body repair shop was being prepped for bodywork.

“Look at the way we’re going to treat a 12-year-old Volkswagen. That’s the way we treat every car,” he told us as we dropped in to chat and drop off some SooToday mugs. 

Guy’s B&R Collision Centre, more commonly known as Guy’s Auto Body, started off with founder Guy Iannelli, Nello’s father, operating a small auto body repair shop on Wallace Terrace in 1970.

Guy then went off to operate his own business in the Sault’s Industrial Park in 1980, located there for many years.

“When I was learning to be an auto mechanic I learned a lot about the auto body business,” Guy said.

Now, Nello Iannelli operates the business with older brothers Rob and Dennis.

Nello occupies himself primarily with paperwork, Dennis runs the auto body repair garage, Rob operates the front counter while Guy, officially retired, still loves to come to work every day as a customer service shuttle driver.

Rob bought B&R auto body in July, 1996, the business located behind Maitland Motors.

The two shops eventually combined, and now Guy’s employs 30 people at its new, spacious, two-storey location at 1044 Great Northern Road, which opened in 2015.

The business is approximately 19,000 square feet in size, situated on seven acres of land.

What’s the secret to the family's impressive business growth and success over the years?

“I think we’ve kept up with the times and all the innovations (using the latest hi-tech auto body equipment),” Dennis said.

Guy’s workers are trained and certified to do warranty work for several different makes (Honda, Ford, GM and Hyundai among them) and the business is one of only two shops in our area that repairs aluminum parts.

Guy’s large garage includes several prep bays and work bays, dust continually vacuumed out with the latest hi-tech equipment, the floor of the garage exceptionally clean at all times.

Another advantage of dealing with Guy’s, Dennis said, is their being a part of the CSN Collision Centres network since 2009, which means work done at Guy’s offers customers a warranty at other CSN shops across the country.

Since 2004, Guy’s has also specialized in auto glass, performing windshield repair and replacement for every dealership in town as the local operator of Apple Auto Glass.

More than anything, Nello said, it’s good old quality work and customer service.

“Once you’re a customer of ours, we like to make sure you’re happy and want to come back.”

“It’s customer service. People like dealing here, you get a great job for a good price. It’s all about relationships with customers,” Rob said.

“It’s customer service. We listen,” Guy said.

“As soon as the customers come in, we drop what we’re doing. We don’t make them wait.”

Clearly, the Iannelli family likes what they do.

While chatting to us, Nello said “I’d like to work until I’m 100. I love it. They say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.”