When the team behind a new Shell site in Dandenong went looking for dispensers, the safe advice was to go with the name their builder always used. They did their own homework instead, chose Wayne® dispensers from Dover Fueling Solutions® (DFS), and since the site opened in late 2024, both the developer and the operator say it was the right call.
From warehouses to a working forecourt
This was Lana Gadzhis’s first service station development. A forecourt turned out to be a different animal. “Building a petrol station is very different to building a warehouse,” she says. “There is a huge amount that goes into it before it is even off the ground: the tanks, the fuel, all the hydro testing.” Underground tanks, environmental rules and dangerous goods leave no room for a second attempt. “If you get one thing wrong, it is very hard to go back and fix it. You have to get it right from the start.”
That pushed her to lean on people who knew the ground. A friend who had spent years as a construction manager for a large petroleum group guided her from the sidelines, and she leaned on her suppliers to fill the gaps. “It is daunting when you have never worked in petrol stations before,” she says. “There is so much to take in, and if you do not know what you are doing, things can go wrong. It helped to have good people around us.”
Choosing the dispensers
The way the deal was structured, the dispensers were the developer’s cost and responsibility rather than the operator’s, so the choice sat with Lana. The builder put up three quotes and pointed her toward the name they had fitted on other sites they had built. As a first-timer facing a large outlay, she was not going to sign on a recommendation alone.
“It was a big cost and we were not certain at first,” she says. “But I spoke to Paula, who was lovely, and to a few operators who had used the pumps, and they all told me they were fine. So we decided to give them a go.” The operators who had run the gear settled it. They went with DFS.
“I am really glad we did,” she says. “Everything has been fine, and we have not had a single hiccup.”
The service that made the build manageable
What Lana keeps returning to is the support from Paula Correa, ANZ Director at DFS. Paula walked her through the unfamiliar parts, kept the delivery on schedule, and handled a late change when the order grew to five pumps. “When she says she will do something, she does it,” Lana says. It is why a build that could have rattled a first-time developer ran smoothly, and why she is now a quiet advocate for both Paula and the equipment. Since installation, there have been no teething issues at all.
What the operator sees
The person who runs the site day to day is Vipul Takiar, an experienced multi-site operator with sites across BP, Shell and United. He has run every major dispenser brand across his network, so his read on the Wayne pumps carries weight. “They do the same job as the big names,” he says. “We have run them at this site for well over a year now without a single issue, so the cost of repair is low. That is why I recommend these pumps to all my landlords.”
Part of his confidence is the support behind them. “My pump technician services the Wayne and Dover pumps,” he says, “so they are easy for us to keep running.” On a network spread across brands and sites, knowing the gear can be serviced quickly is worth as much as the gear itself.
Speed and presentation on the forecourt
Vipul is direct about what actually moves a customer. Flow rate comes first. “Customers do not want to wait,” he says. “At an old servo the tank fills slowly, so people give up halfway and drive off without filling right up. A new pump needs a good flow rate so it fills the tank quickly.” Get people in and out, and they leave happier.
Presentation matters too. “They look good, and that appeals to customers,” he says. “It lifts the whole look of the forecourt.” A clean, modern bank of pumps signals a site that is looked after, where tired old units leave a driver wondering about the fuel and everything else.
Looking ahead
With two more sites in planning, one already leased to the operator, the developer will be making the dispenser call again. A first-time developer and a seasoned operator, looking at the same forecourt from very different seats, have landed in the same place: dependable equipment, real support behind it, and a supplier worth going back to.
“Paula was fantastic, and the whole thing went smoothly,” Lana says. “We are really glad we went with them, and we would do it the same way again.”