32 | Manawatu: ABC Contractors REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Versatility key to success ABC Contractors has a strong rural client base, building cow sheds, deer sheds and composting barns. “Our next project is building three chicken sheds to house 45,000 free-range chooks each,” says Malcolm Keegan. T T Hugh de Lacy Providing the following services: Concrete work Subdivisions Earthworks Drainage Rural work Contact Malcolm on 027 448 2026 SPECIALISTS IN STRUCTURAL STEEL FABRICATION AND ERECTION THROUGH OUT THE LOWER NORTH ISLAND All enquiries P: 021 702 944 | 022 647 8161 | E: archlowengineering@xtra.co.nz LEADING THE WAY IN LOW CARBON CONCRETE WWW.FIRTH.CO.NZ Versatility has been the key to the ongoing success of Palmerston North concreting and construction company ABC Contractors, whose activities range from bridge-building in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle to residential sub-division developments nearer home. At any one time this past winter, ABC Contractors’ staff of around ten has been involved in projects ranging from assembling large rural buildings imported from China to erecting chicken sheds, as well as its standard jobs of laying foundations, concrete slabs and curbing and channelling. The company was launched in 2010 by four concrete specialists, among them Toni and Malcolm Keegan, who had been working together for other employers before deciding to start out on their own. Toni handles the accounts from their home, while Malcolm and the other shareholders are out on-site. It’s very much a hands-on company. ABC shares a yard on Armstrong Street with nation-wide aggregates supplier Firth Industries with which it has a close relationship, Firth supplying around 90% of the ABC’s base materials. “They had surplus space that fitted our needs perfectly, and we work from there using Firth’s materials throughout the Manawatu-Whanganui area, but use other suppliers when we’re working further away,” Toni Keegan says. Husband Malcolm adds, “We’ve always had a strong rural client base, and we’ve built numerous cow-sheds, deer-sheds and composting barns, while our next project is building three chicken sheds to house 45,000 free-range chooks each. “We also do a lot of work in the commercial sector, including laying large concrete slabs, complete from excavation and preparation to supplying and pouring the concrete.” Sub-divisions make up a big chunk of the company’s workload, with two large ones recently completed, and work progressing for an existing client on an 18-section development in Feilding. In a further display of its versatility, the company recently imported two large pre-fabricated rural buildings from a Chinese manufacturer, and the farmer clients have been impressed by both the quality and the cost of them, Malcolm says. They were put to the test during the current hard, wet winter and the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, and they came through with flying colours. In fact the damage that Cyclone Gabrielle delivered to the Hawke’s Bay and upper North Island earlier this year opened up new market opportunities for ABC, beginning with the replacement of numerous washed-out culverts, and carrying on to clean up the damage to farms and the road access to them. This latter work has included the construction of one 12m long, 4m wide bridge, and another that is 14m long and 6m wide, able to support the fully-laden trucks and trailers that service the respective farms. Rounding out this impressive array of capabilities is the laying of driveways and hard-stands for the private residential and commercial markets. “With the work generated by the cyclone, we’ve got plenty on at the moment though the market has slowed a bit lately,” Malcolm says. “The slow-down hasn’t affected us at all yet because we do such a variety of work.” Though ABC has a hard core of loyal workers, finding new staff can be a problem in the current strained market. “Finding additional staff can be a bit of a hitand-miss exercise,” Malcolm says. Engaging new staff aside, the outlook for ABC Contractors remains as bright as its reputation for versatility.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=