Accessory Fitter

A Silverado 2500HD comes off the transporter first thing. By smoko it’s on a hoist with the job card open and the pre-fit kit picked - every bracket, fastener and length of cable laid out on the bench before a spanner touches the truck.

You measure ride height before you touch the suspension, because you’ll be measuring it again after. Coilovers, upper and lower control arms, a panhard rod, a leaf pack. Everything torqued to spec at ride height - not in the air, not from memory, and written down. You cycle it through full bump and droop watching the brake lines, the ABS wiring and the harness slack, check your driveline angles, and centre the axle before it goes anywhere near an alignment.

Then the 12V. You size the circuit before you cut a single length of cable. The loom gets built on the bench. Continuity, polarity and voltage drop are tested, under load, so it works before it ever goes into a truck.  Grommets where it passes through steel, conduit where it can rub, protection close to the source, labels on  everything. In three years someone will open that panel up, and they’ll be able to read exactly what you did.  Trims go back on with no rattles. You photograph it, sign it off through QC, and road-test it yourself. Then it goes home to somebody who has waited months for that truck and is about to point it at the middle of the country.  That’s one build. There are sixty-odd on the go.

Every truck that leaves here leaves a paper trail behind it. That’s deliberate, and it’s the part most workshops don’t bother with.

• A job card and a written procedure. 120-plus documented SOPs, checklists and workbooks across the business.  You are never guessing what “finished” is supposed to mean.

• Your own role workbook. Every role here has one, and it’s yours from day one. The standard is in writing, so nobody moves the goalposts on you halfway through.

• Bench before vehicle. Looms are built and tested off the truck - continuity, polarity, voltage drop, simulated load - so faults get found on a bench, not on a hoist with the dash out.

• Torque at ride height, recorded. Along with baseline and post-install ride heights, before-and-after alignment reports, and a scheduled re-torque inspection.

• As-built documentation. Photos, labels, fuse and relay schedules, torque logs. Your work is legible to the next person who touches it.

• QC sign-off before it moves. Someone independent checks it, and you road-test your own work before it goes to the customer.

• The right tooling, bought. When a job needs a specialist tool we buy the specialist tool - you don’t improvise on a $200,000 truck. Two brand-new hoists land this month and come online in September.

• It’s written into the role, word for word: safe, reliable, and completed properly - not rushed.

Big Dog Builds is Australia’s leading custom American truck builder. RAM 2500 and 3500, Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD, Ford F250 through F450, GMC. Suspension, 12V, canopies, drawer systems, lighting - engineered and certified, not bolted on and hoped for.

We’re a 39-plus strong crew, 13 of them fitters on the floor, with 60-plus builds on the go at any one time. The order book is full, the second shop is coming, and we promote off the floor - fitters here have moved up to Senior Fitter and Workshop 2IC on higher-duties pay.

$40–$48 per hour  |  Mon–Fri + optional Saturdays  |  60+ trucks on the go  |  13 fitters on the floor.

Essential

• Hands-on 12V experience - you can plan a circuit, size the protection, build the loom and fault-find it when it misbehaves.

• Suspension knowledge in the 4WD industry - lifts, geometry, torque at ride height, and what good actually looks like underneath.

• Mechanical, automotive electrical, 4x4 accessory or auto-fitting background.

• Pride in a tidy job - clean routing, correct fasteners, no rattles, no rework.

• A current driver’s licence, steel-cap boots, and the right to work in Australia.

Nice to have

• Trade qualification (light vehicle mechanical, auto electrical or similar) - helpful, but we’ll back the right person without it.

• Experience on American trucks - RAM, Silverado, F-Series.

• Wheel alignment, canopy or fabrication experience.

• Something you’ve built in your own shed that you’re proud of. Bring photos.

• The trucks. Full custom American truck builds - the kind of work people stop and photograph in a car park. Not log books, services and tyre rotations.

• $40–$48 an hour plus superannuation and applicable overtime, based on skills, experience and capability.

• Day shift, home every night. Monday to Friday, no on-call, no FIFO. Saturday work comes up when the floor is busy - optional Saturday work may be available and is paid at applicable overtime rates under the Award.

• Nobody makes you cut corners. The standard is written down and QC checks it. You get to build the truck the way you’d want it built if it were yours.

• There’s a lane upward. Senior Fitter, Workshop 2IC, higher-duties pay, and an expansion shop opening. We fill those seats from the floor first.

• You’re not thrown in. Structured onboarding, uniforms supplied, a role workbook on day one, and 30, 60 and 90-day reviews so you always know where you stand.

• Good crew. A genuine workshop culture with no corporate nonsense, just good people who build great gear and back each other up.

Send your CV. Better still, send photos of your own work - a loom you built, a lift you fitted, a canopy you wired.  Thirty seconds of looking at your work tells us more than a page of résumé ever will.

Not sure you tick every box? Apply anyway and tell us what you can do. We hire on attitude and ability.

Email: ******@bigdogbuilds.com.  Subject line: Accessory Fitter - [Your Name].

Phone: 1300 325 *** - ask for the workshop. Happy to talk it through before you apply, and happy for you to come and walk the floor.

Big Dog Builds is an equal opportunity employer. We hire on attitude, ability and suitability for the role. If you're a great candidate but don't tick every box, tell us why anyway.