Driving around South Australia's Limestone Coast region, Kelvin Foote will point out the window saying, "I've done that one."
He often passes windmills he has made, enough to annoy his partner.
Just 20 years ago he was working alongside three others in the workshop at Dean & McCabe, pumping out 250 windmills a year.
Last year they managed to sell 25.
After 112 years of operation, the Varcoe windmill manufacturer in Mount Gambier will close its doors for the last time today.
"When I first came here … you were just flat out all the time. Whereas over the last five years, it's just been a real downturn," Mr Foote said.
"To a point where I'm working on my own.
"I've got a bloke in the office for four hours a day and that's it. It's just changed."
The business was put on the market after Mr Foote gave notice last year that he was retiring.
The building sold, but no one wanted the business.
"A lot of the customers are getting a bit funny about it, saying, 'Where are we going to get our windmill parts?'" Mr Foote said.
"I can't do anything about it. It is what it is. And when the doors are closed, it's bad luck.
"It's sad but you've got to move with the times."
Windmills have largely been replaced by solar pumps, which allow farmers greater access to water.
"A lot of people seem to be running more and more cattle and they want more and more water," Mr Foote said.
"With the windmill, you can only get a certain amount of water.
"Whereas with the solar pump, you can come and say, 'I want so much water' and you can achieve it.
"And people aren't doing the windmill work anymore, so that's another reason."
Fine craft slowly fading
Mr Foot said there was only a handful of traditional windmill manufacturers left, despite the peak in demand being only 20 years ago.
The now-supervisor remembers starting in the workshop as a factory hand.
"Before I came here, you'd sort of see a windmill in the paddock and think, 'Oh well, it's just a windmill'," Mr Foote said.
"But when you actually start manufacturing, there's a lot of work, a lot of machining, drilling, bending.
"Just a hell of a lot of work goes into it, more than you think."
Mr Foote only made wheels for the first two years.
It was a good fit for him because he has always enjoyed being hands-on.
Solar 'not the same'
Chairman Leon Cutting has been involved with Varcoe windmills since 1979, the year Thomas Varcoe sold to Chapman & Saunders.
The business was then sold to employees Richard Dean and Jack McCabe, who took over the Varcoe windmill manufacturing.
"We've sold mills virtually throughout Australia and there has been some exports," Mr Cutting said.
"Probably the big areas with south-east, western Victoria and the Gippsland areas.
"I've seen a lot of history and that history is gone.
"I think, especially with the old timers, there's a lot of disappointment."
While Dean & McCabe Windmills has been selling up to 50 solar pumps a year in recent times, there is not enough manufacturing involved to sustain the business.
The pumps also lack the same character, according to the manufacturers.
"It's the simplicity of it. With the windmills, you keep the oil up, they'll go for 100 years," Mr Cutting said.
"And very little maintenance, maybe once a year.
"With solar, the panels are probably only good for 20 years.
"Maybe in the future people will say, 'Well, we need to revert'. Future will tell."
Mr Foote isn't so sure.
"People say it will turn around and people will come back to windmills. But I can't see it," he said.
That's when it comes to function at least.
"A lot of people now seem to want them for garden ornaments," Mr Foote said.
"I've got a bloke who comes over from Victoria and he buys all the second-hand ones he can get and sells them to people in Melbourne."
