44 | McIntyre Contracting Ltd T T Hugh de Lacy Flat out after the floods Today the company boasts a full complement of construction equipment including diggers, trucks, graders, rollers and loaders. Having just landed a road maintenance sub-contract with Fulton Hogan for the Manawatu District Council, Kimbolton-based McIntyre Construction, its nine staff and its aggregate-crusher are flat out in the wake of last year’s devastating floods. The arrangement with Fulton Hogan, which began on July 1, is to maintain all the gravel roads in the Manawatu District and, on top of the varied other projects it’s involved with, that’s an exciting challenge for Tony and Loren McIntyre’s company. Fulton Hogan had won the district contract for road maintenance, and brought in McIntyre Construction to handle the unsealed road work. The aggregates for that work and other jobs for both the Manawatu and Rangitikei District Councils come from McIntyre Construction’s own three quarry sites, serviced by their mobile crusher and turning out about 30,00040,000 tonnes a year. “We’re crazy busy with council work at the moment, a lot of it being the continued cleanup after last year’s weather events that did a lot of damage in the Manawatu,” Tony says. “That’s topped up by area-wide pavement treatments, as well as the ongoing business of driveways and farm-work, especially races and tracks for the district’s big dairy industry. “We also build a lot of dams and form a lot of fence-lines for dry-stock farmers.” Tony grew up in the construction environment of R and R McIntyre Contracting, the business his parents, Ruth and Roger McIntyre, launched about 40 years ago. Tony completed his carpentry apprenticeship, then after a further seven years he and Loren formed McIntyre Construction, initially with Tony working by himself with a 1.8t digger and a roller, supplemented by hired equipment. The couple bought the start-up equipment from Tony’s parents’ company and launched out on his own in 2004. Today the company boasts a full complement of construction equipment including diggers, trucks, graders, rollers and loaders. McIntyre Construction has been bigger in the past than it is at present, but Tony finds its current size is about right for his style of management. He’s also very happy with his team of plant operators, especially in a labour market environment that, until recently, was exceptionally tight. “It was always a struggle finding the right people – those who would actually turn up for work on a daily basis - but lately we’ve had a good response to our advertisements for staff and we’ve got an excellent team,” Tony says. “We used to have a forestry division with a dedicated forestry team, but that industry has gone through tough times lately and now we do hardly any forestry work, concentrating instead on district council projects.” Both Loren and Tony’s, and Tony’s parents’ companies used to do a lot of prefabricated building work in remote places, but these days Tony’s more involved in the roading side of the operation. He’s also a busy man in what might otherwise be his spare time: Tony’s the Chief Fire Officer for the Kimbolton brigade and has 28 years behind him in fire and emergency work. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT TYRE SALES • TYRE SERVICING 14 Awa St, Feilding 4702 | 06 323 9585 | elmostyreservice.co.nz CARS TRUCKS TRACTORS EARTHMOVERS ELMO’S TYRE SERVICE
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