Origins

Lee Bros. Engineering has a long and proud history of serving the needs of Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, and the world at large. Established in 1910, we have seen two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Moon Landing, the rise of the Information Age, and even global pandemics. Throughout it all, we have been committed to providing the best customer service and the best products to our customers, irrespective of the size, scope, or quantity they might need.

Beginning at our Church Street location when that road was just an unsealed dirt track, many of our customers still remember the original staff of Lee Bros. and the legendary skill and knowledge of Peggy Lee, one of the early proprietors. Even four generations later, we still have customers asking about Peggy and relaying stories of their time visiting the old Lee Bros. store. Today, it is common to have our customers bring their children with them when they visit, and they tell us frequently that they remember when their parents or grandparents used to take them - in turn - to the Church Street location several decades prior.

In this manner, Lee Bros. really has become a community, with community-driven ideals and a legacy which spans more than simple business economics. We have a responsibility to uphold the values of the past, while simultaneously changing with the times and moving successfully into the future. With a little luck and a good deal of hard work, we will be able to reach more people than ever before, to leave a positive mark on our local community, and perhaps even help (in some small way) to improve the lives of those who use our products.

The Next Generation

First and foremost, Lee Bros. is, and has always been a family business. Not only in scope or scale, but in principles and values more than anything else. With this in mind, as of December 2020, Jimmy and his wife Ellye took over the reigns from Bob and Jill Cotter, the former owners and operators of Lee Bros. Engineering. Jimmy is a long-time family friend of the Cotters and had worked under Bob for the previous twelve years, while Ellye is new to the industry and wholly devoted to maintaining and improving the success of the business during her tenure.

As children of the Technological Revolution, Jimmy and Ellye plan to computerise Lee Bros., which is an improvement long-overdue. Little else will change, however, as we value the lessons of the past, and remain aware of both our successes and failures throughout history. Anybody who has spent any time at Lee Bros. would attest to what a great thing it has become, and this is a perception we all value, and are conscious of nurturing rather than desiring to change. Although improvements can certainly be made, they cannot happen at the expense of what has served to make Lee Bros. what it is today, and nor should they be made without due consideration of how the business - along with ourselves personally - will be viewed and judged by future generations.

It is not enough that we make money selling nuts and bolts. Someone once told me that we make a living from what we get, but we make a life from what we give. With this in mind, we intend to give back to the community as much as we receive in turn, and in as many ways as are open for us to explore. We are simple yet dedicated people, and we acknowledge how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to succeed, to excel, and to be able to determine the course of this incredible legacy known and appreciated by so many people for so many generations. We pride ourselves on our dedication to excellence, we deeply value our ongoing relationships with our customers and suppliers (some in excess of fifty years), and we firmly believe that even when we don't get it right, we know for certain that we did the right thing. We intend to let our values guide our actions, and to let our actions reflect our integrity, honesty, and our dedication to our community first and foremost. This is what we - as the next generation of proprietors - bring to Lee Bros. Engineering.