Thanks mardak, I'm sensing that costs to build here would be prohibitive (which i reckon is stupid! I'd happily buy an australian made extractor/equipment if the costing was competitive) - so what are the main brands of extractor available in australia and what would people recommend? I know of Maxant and Lega - i'm ideally looking for one that i can purchase as a manual but retro-fit with an electric motor later... preferably a kit supplied by the manufacturer. Obviously once i get to my initial goal of 200 hives i'll need something a little bigger than a four frame motorised extractor and an electric knife though