When Colin Davis Panelbeaters has its official mayoral re-opening on Friday, owners Graham and Gillian Logan aren't expecting as big a crowd as turned up to watch the business burn.

A spectacular blaze on May 10 destroyed the Birch Avenue premises, all their plant and equipment, and one vehicle that could not be removed in time.

Eleven people working in the building at the time escaped unscathed.

Colin Davis Panelbeaters owner Graham Logan watching automotive refinish technician Chris MacDonald spray a car with the water based paint.

This Friday seven months later the facility will reopen – an occasion Graham says is an opportunity to thank all of those who helped the owners through a difficult time.

Gillian and Graham lost everything in the fire, all the plant, the equipment the tools they needed to carry on.

They have been operating out of rented premises while the building was rebuilt and have just 'sort of stumbled through”, says Graham.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby will officially re-open the building, and regional council Mayor John Cronin will also be attending, says Graham.

John's interest is in the water based paints the business will be using in the new spray booth.

The fire started in a spray booth at the rear of the building while a spray painter was painting a door.

The fire is thought to be caused by the volatile solvents used in spirit based car paints, igniting. They still haven't pin pointed the ignition source, says Graham.

'Just theories, ideas and scratched their heads. They had all the investigators in the country come round to have a look and they couldn't nut it out either,” says Graham.

'It is from what I hear now, a reasonably common occurrence from spontaneous combustion, one of those things.”

The new booth that replaces the previous 17-year-old structure is a different layout and will be using more environmentally friendly water based paints.

'All the new cars are done in water based paints now. It's a step into the future.

'A totally different process - and it's better for the staff.”

The Logans owned the business for about three years at the time of the fire, but Graham's been managing it for 15 years before that.

'It was started by Colin Davis, the name goes back to 1979 and it's well established,” says Graham.

'We decided to carry on with that.

'Everybody used to think I was Colin anyway, I was here managing it for the last 15 years. New customers would come along expecting to see Colin Davis and they'd see me and think I was Colin Davis.

'It was quite hard case when I bought the business. We sent out all the letters to people saying that it was sold and we'd bought it. People would come up to me saying - why are you selling? Why are you selling? I get that all the time.”

The panelbeaters will reopen their facility on Friday.