The Stair and Balustrade Association of Australia Inc (SABAA) is a professional body, operating nationally, representing the stair and balustrade industry in Australia. It is managed by an independent, outsourced association management firm, but policy direction is determined by a Board of Directors, who are all volunteers, democratically elected from within SABAA’s membership.

SABAA was born back in 2003 after discussions between several staircase manufacturers from around Australia. Slattery & Acquroff, MCH Geometrics, and Eric Jones (Melbourne), Top Stairs (Adelaide), Classic Stairs and WB Jones (Sydney), Stairmaster (Brisbane), and Majestic Stairs (WA) formed an informal group, as they were interested in enhancing the reputation of the stair and balustrade industry in Australia, as well as lifting the bar in areas such as corporate compliancy and quality standards.

The staircase and balustrade industry in Australia, up to that point, had always been a loose collection of small companies acting independently, with no association to keep members up to date on regulatory or compliancy issues.

SABAA was formed with a view to address this problem, because the industry was gaining a bad reputation as a result of some very unprofessional and inappropriate business practices (quality issues and ‘fly by night’ attitudes) attributed to a small minority of companies in most states.

Those companies tended to ‘taint’ the reputable ones, so it was time to act and attempt to legitimise the industry by introducing ethical business practices and encouraging consistently high standards of workmanship.

The initial level of interest from many manufacturers was poor. Many had negative feelings towards some of the larger companies involved in the formation of SABAA from the outset. These were and still continue to be trivial rivalries that exist in all areas of business, regardless of the nature of the business or industry.

SABAA is now officially an established industry association, yet still has its detractors within the sector despite the best intentions of those involved.

The Board of SABAA is determined to lift the image of the stair and balustrade industries, and to give reputable companies a central body or association to which they can align themselves.

SABAA is no different to any other trade association insofar as it has the interests of the industry at heart, and encourages fair competition and best practice among its members for the greater good.

Chairperson	Ian Firms	Top Stairs & Staff (SA)	ianfirms@sabaa.com.au
Vice-Chair	Rod Griffiths	Classic Timber Staircases (New South Wales)	rodgriffiths@sabaa.com.au
Treasurer	Bruce Auld	Eric Jones Stairbuilding Pty	bruceauld@sabaa.com.au
Marketing Chair	Robert Acquroff	Slattery & Acquroff	robacquroff@sabaa.com.au
Technical Chair	Robert Beard	Slattery & Acquroff Holdings	robbeard@sabaa.com.au
Board Member	Stephen Haslam	Steeple Stairs Pty Ltd (Victoria)	stevehaslam@sabaa.com.au
Board Member	Matt Hollard	MCH Geometrics	matthollard@sabaa.com.au
Board Member	David Laird	Rigging Dimensions	davidlaird@sabaa.com.au
Board Member	Bryan Mackenzie	Enzie Stairs	bryanmackenzie@sabaa.com.au