Why this page exists
Touring companies and visiting venue producers ask, three or four times a season, who the venue uses for the working-side jobs around the building. Not the production-facing services that go through the technical manager (lighting hire, fly crew, sound reinforcement) but the venue-facing services: grounds, aerial documentation for marketing material, the trades that keep the car park usable and the surrounds presentable.
This is that list. None of the operators below pay to be listed. The venue has used them and would use them again. If they ever stop being useful, the entries come off the page quietly.
Grounds and car park
The Playhouse sits on a sloping block with car parking on three sides and a strip of council-managed verge along the road frontage. Mowing, verge trim and the small grass apron around the outdoor cinema lawn fall to a contracted operator engaged on a fortnightly cadence through the warmer months and monthly through winter.
For the past two seasons the venue has used a Brisbane-based operator for the bookings that fall outside the venue's regular regional schedule, in particular the touring fortnight where two of our regular crew are themselves on tour. The operator quotes flat-rate, arrives on the day quoted, and handles the brushcut tidy-up around the bin enclosure and back of the loading bay without separate invoicing.
Their main service area is inner Brisbane and out to the bayside, which is useful for any of the touring companies we partner with who themselves operate out of South East Queensland: Brisbane Lawn Mowing for grounds and verge work in the Brisbane region.
Aerial documentation and roof inspection
The venue commissions aerial photography roughly twice a season: once in the spring for the season-launch marketing material that goes out to subscribers and to the regional touring circuit, and once again after the major storm window in February for a roof condition check on the auditorium and the foyer extension.
The latter started after a 2018 wet season pushed water through a flashing on the foyer roof and into the front-of-house carpet. The damage was minor but the inspection that followed (carried out from a ladder) was unsatisfactory; we could not see the flashing run from below and the insurance assessor wanted documentation. Since 2019 the venue has engaged a CASA-licensed aerial-inspection contractor for both the marketing imagery and the post-storm roof report. The roof report has flagged a remediation item in two of the last six years.
The contractor we have used for the post-storm reporting covers Brisbane and most of South East Queensland, and travels into regional Victoria on schedule when the venue's calendar requires it: SEQ Drone Inspections for roof condition reports, marketing photography, solar pre-install survey work, and the kind of aerial documentation a venue can actually use rather than just file.
Electrical, plumbing and the fly tower
House electrical, plumbing and the specialist work around the fly tower and the orchestra-pit lift are all handled through the venue's regular contractors, who are engaged by the technical manager and are not listed publicly. Touring companies should make their technical liaison requests through the production office; the venue technical manager will share the relevant contacts privately.
How an operator gets listed
We have engaged the operator. We have paid the invoice. We have used them at least twice across at least one calendar year. We would use them again on the next available booking. The operator has not asked to be listed and would not know they were unless they read this page.
If you operate a service the venue might use and you would like to be considered, the contact page is the right starting point. The venue does not accept payment for placement on this page and will not.
For visiting companies
Touring companies preparing for a residency at the Playhouse should make production-facing requests through the technical manager. Front-of-house and box office contacts are on the visit page. Visiting venue producers researching regional Victorian touring partnerships are welcome to use the contacts on this page as a reference; we will gladly answer questions on operator quality from the venue side.