Hailes, who began his furnishings career working for a Melbourne-based pelmets, tracks and bed-heads manufacturer, says the Roman Empire enterprise started with a single idea ... and a little bit of ignorance.

“In the beginning, when the business was called Total Track Services, it was just me,” Hailes says.

“After the name change to The Roman Empire, the company grew and we now have a staff of 30. “It all started when I left my job manufacturing pelmets, tracks and bedheads and went to work for my dad in retail.

“While working for Dad, I decided to make, sell and fit curtain tracks, and that is how Total Track Services came about.” Working with his meticulous father taught Hailes that there was a right way and a wrong way of doing business.

“Through my father’s patience, I was taught the right way the first time and so I loved working with him and the challenges the job presented. “Then in 1989 things started to go very quiet in the industry and my father and I came to an arrangement whereby I would work for him on call and at the same time source my own contract installation work.”

At the time, Hailes was under pressure financially, with his new house and mortgage set against the looming recession. “So what did I decide to do?” he says.

“Start my own business – ignorance really can be bliss.” Total Track Services, which changed names to The Roman Empire several years later, came into being in May 1989, primarily as a contract installation service and with nothing more than a $5 bank deposit.

“During my various roles within the industry, I had come to know many retailers,” Hailes says.

“This gave me insight as to who to offer installation work and before long I had a list of regular clients.

“Really, it began with five main clients and that’s grown to a client base in excess of 500.”

With the client base steadily building via word of mouth, Hailes was becoming impossibly busy. “Someone once said to me, ‘I think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew’, no matter, I thought, and continued chewing like a madman.

“I was working around the clock, seven days a week; manufacturing at night and installing during the day. “My wife Susi would help me and we worked like that for six years.”

The business’s growth was extremely quick. No longer able to split his time between manufacturing and installing, Hailes had some decisions to make.