The Painting and Decorating company of Jeff Dermott Limited was founded in 1970 by Jeff and Sandra Dermott.

In the early days of the company Jeff ran the painting and decorating business during the day and operated a local bread home delivery in a draughty old Bedford van during the early hours of the morning. His run was based around the areas of Halswell and outer Cashmere which in those days were semi rural and quite separate from the bustling city of Christchurch. This is obviously no longer the case with Halswell now a large community which is certainly part of the greater Christchurch area. Cashmere has also grown.

The Painting and Decorating work rapidly increased during those first months of the company and it became apparent that help was required. Jeff hired his first employee, Fred. Jeff and Fred got on famously and together shifted mountains of work. The home bread delivery run was eventually sold with painting and decorating becoming the main source of income for the Dermotts. Home bread runs no longer exist at all in our fast paced life but that’s another story.

The company gained a great reputation and as a result was leaping away in great leaps and bounds. It became obvious that the company had developed a winning formula and consequently more labour was required to handle the ever increasing workload. More tradespeople were hired. The company also moved into the area of textured and specialist coatings.

The eighties arrived along with a commercial building boom. It was during this time that large contracts were completed such as, The Park Royal (now, The Crowne Plaza), Durham Towers (now Copthorne, Durham Street) and the Christchurch Public Hospital redevelopment among many others. The company also completed a great deal of painting and decorating works within the area of light commercial building, heavy commercial building, architectural housing, government housing, and works for the private resident and commercial building owner. In 1980 the business was relocated to a commercial building in Ferry Road, Linwood with the addition of a paint shop for the trade and public alike. The work steadily increased and so did the staff peaking at over eighty members during 1986. 1987 arrived and many will remember the horror of the economic crash in that significant year in business. Jeff Dermott Limited survived however but in order to do, consoliodated and scaled down the staff level.

Jeff Dermott Limited relocated to no. 10 Clarence Street, Addington in 1995, where it still operates today. The building at Clarence Street houses both our paint shop and painting and decorating contracting operation. The staff now comprises of a Manager, Quantity Surveyor, Contracts Manager, Estimator, Paint Shop/Store Manager, Thirty two tradespeople and six apprentices.

The painting and decorating contracting part of the business maintains a strong reputation within the Canterbury and Westland regions for competitive quotations while providing an efficient service backed by a high standard of workmanship.

Dermotts Color Shop being the other half of the business is known for its excellent range of Resene Paint, a full selection of gear to carry out the job and colour/product advice from the trade based staff.

Jeff Dermott Limited remains as a dominant name in the world of Painting and Decorating.