Business Central July 2021

98 | BUILDING AMAK Construction All going nicely in Palmerston North T Kelly Deeks AMAK Construction is in demand in the Manwatu district. W ith varied and extensive building experience, there’s not much Palm- erston North builder Mark Kitchin hasn’t dealt with in his 25 years in the con- struction industry, and now his family owned business AMAK Construction provides an end-to-end service for new homes throughout the Manawatu region. Mark completed his apprenticeship in Palmerston North, and was fortunate to work in a business which always had work in the residential and commercial sectors. Then heading to Australia to surf, Mark did some building in between, before return- ing to New Zealand and going to build in Christchurch. In Christchurch he was head- hunted by a project management company which put him on a couple of high end resi- dential projects, a $6 million house and a $2 million house. Mark had his own crew in Christchurch and took them to Wellington when he was engaged initially to restore some old homes owned by Sir Peter Jackson, and then to build Jackson’s holiday home in the Wairarapa. Still with Sir Peter, Mark and his crew came back to Wellington to work on his Park Road Post Production building in Miramar, then an extension to his miniatures unit in Kilbirnie. “Then we got an SOS call from Jackson/Dis- ney, and went to work on the King Kong set in Seaview, then on to the Lord of the Rings set.” By 2007, Mark could see the Global Financial Crisis looming, and since he also couldn’t get his three year old daughter into swimming lessons in Wellington, Palmerston North beckoned. Returning, he couldn’t believe the amount of buildings that had been knocked down or remodelled, or how big the Kelvin Grove suburb had become. “This area that used to be farmland we grew up around had changed into houses, and there were just houses as far as the eye could see. It was gobsmacking.” Mark worked for a house moving company for a year before becoming a lecturer in con- struction at the Universal College of Learning (UCOL) for the next five years. Wanting to get back to building, he estab- lished AMAK Construction in 2013, starting out where the need was in decks and fences, then moving on to new houses when Mark’s apprentice Rob needed to build one to achieve his qualification. One new house led to anoth- er and another, and soon Amak Construction needed to expand. “I knew the only way I could expand was to hire a part-time person to do the books. It was something that would take me all day but would probably take someone else a couple of hours. I got Kim, a friend of my wife, and she and Rob have been with me for five or six years.” Every year since, AMAK Construction has doubled its business, going from six new homes a year to 12, then 30-odd last year, and this financial year the company will complete 42 new homes. Both Mark’s daughters went on to represent their schools in swimming. The Manawatu district is growing signifi- cantly, Mark says because it has never relied on tourism. “We are a central hub, we’ve got the new railway coming, we’ve got the works in the gorge, and Transmission Gully. We’ve got the defence force from throughout New Zealand coming to Ohakea and they’re bringing their families and they all want to be in homes. We’ve got the university and all the students. We’re seeing subdivisions with 1600 sections and all of the sections are sold.” AMAK Construction is now seeing an all time high in new build enquiry, as the $18 bil- lion to $20 billion per year Kiwi tourists would normally be spending overseas is now coming into the New Zealand economy. “People don’t want to put their money into the bank at 1% interest, they want to put it into houses. The issue is we don’t have the land released quick enough.” www.solidscaff.co.nz 021 494 159 enquiries@solidscaff.co.nz Platform Scaffolding, Edge Protection & Safety Nets SAFE • HONEST • RELIABLE New Roofs | Re-Roofs | Roofing Repairs | Spouting Quality workmanship done right the first time 0800 PN ROOF www.pnroofing.co.nz Locally owned and operated Brett Holmes: 022 1404 351 Ainsley Simpson: 027 817 0793 admin@pnroofing.co.nz