On Wednesday, the federal government announced $1.6million was to be invested in the Eden-Monaro as part of its Regional Jobs and Investment Package, creating an estimated 70-plus jobs.

Colin and Kim Hammond said the grant, which they have to match dollar-for-dollar, would be a supportive boost to their business of building custom hearses.

“We were very excited with the good news. It is the first time we have applied for something like this, the whole application process was a bit daunting,” Ms Hammond said.

The Hammonds had approached a government grant specialist from Sydney and was told their application had little chance of approval.

“We didn’t take the specialist’s comments as a final answer, it was going to cost us an arm and a leg too, so we called up Tanya from Tanner Salt and Associates,” Ms Hammond said.

“She was a great help, the glue that brought it all together – it really goes to show the local talent.”

The Hammonds began working on limousines before bringing hearses into focus. Mr Hammond said a Ford ZL limousine in 1989 was the first one he built with his brother.

“It was a long time ago, we really wanted to build something different,” he said.

“We then built a hearse for Mark Lawrence Sapphire Coast Funerals and later a Commodore VE SS dual cab hearse for John Whyman in Bega. Since then we have built hearses for funeral homes right across Australia,” Mr Hammond said.

Twenty-nine years down the track, the Hammonds have created a factory that has supplied 258 hearses to more than 60 funeral homes in Australia.

The Hammonds said the $200,000 will contribute to the production of custom made hearses for the funeral industry throughout Australia, with a hope to export hearses overseas by 2019.

“We are constantly booked out 12 to 18 months ahead so that is part of the reason for the expansion,” Ms Hammond said.

“We also want to develop the business and work on a new variation of hearse.”

“Since Ford and Holden stopped production in Australia we will be looking at a more economical, different hearse for funeral directors, especially those in smaller towns that can’t justify a brand new hearse.”

It takes three months to build a hearse and the company produces on average 12 per year –  “Hopefully that increases with the new line,” Ms Hammond said.

The Hammonds plan to employ local trades for the factory extensions and will create ongoing job opportunities throughout their production phase.

Along with their business innovation, the team at Hammond Conversions are looking forward to welcoming  four to six new staff on board.

“We will be taking on a couple of apprentices as well, we normally liaise with the career advisors through the district high schools,” Ms Hammond said.

“We have had some great apprentices come through. One in particular, Jack Burch who won the Sir Henry Royce Foundation award for excellence in Melbourne. We were really proud of him and I was happy to have been able to provide him with the skills he needed to reach that level,” Mr Hammond said.