| 45 Rotorua ITM TIMBER INDUSTRY T T Rosa Watson ITMmakes a welcome return to Rotorua The store is a smaller, purpose-built site, but with a team of 14 is capable of servicing all the building industry sectors they cover. Rotorua ITM emerged on the local building supplies landscape three years ago and has since been growing its presence servicing a number of local sectors. With the previous ITM in Rotorua being bought by Placemakers six years ago, current owner Sam Milner, along with his three business partners Tai Thompson, Tapekaa Umata and Rod Thompson, with over 125 years of building industry experience between them, saw great potential in bringing the ITM brand back to the region. “It’s pretty well-respected. We’ve had many, many people say we are so happy to have you guys back,” Sam says. “The brand is very strong.” The store is a smaller, purpose-built site, but with a team of 14 is capable of servicing all the building industry sectors they cover. “Everyone else within our business has also been in the building industry for a long time. We have a lot of knowledge, which helps point people in the right direction, and provide the right advice and the right products as well.” Most customers coming through the store are independent builders, along with bricklayers, drainlayers and joiners making up a good chunk of the customer ledger. “And a lot of DIY-ers – a lot of general public.” Many wanted to support an independent, locally owned business, Sam says. “Locals supporting locals is one of our favourite taglines.” Part of their support for local builders comes through their involvement with the local Certified Builders chapter, where they sponsor the ‘chippies’ breakfasts’, as well as the annual NZCB Rotorua Golf Day and annual NZCB Apprentice Challenge. There are continuous developments at the store to provide the best service. Soon, the team will have access to BuildXact building and job management software, which will allow them to give up-to-date estimates for customers. “We will be able to do our own, in-house takeoffs accurately,” Sam says. Recently, the store has been working closely with Kāinga Ora in providing building materials such as Gib and plywood for a number of projects happening in Rotorua. “That’s been going great guns for us,” says Sam. He says Rotorua has some of the biggest need for Kāinga Ora housing in the country, and has a huge need for housing in general. “It’s great to see it happening. We have a big need in Rotorua for building outside of Kāinga Ora as well.” And there were signs of growth in that space, he says. “I believe that in eight to 10 months we’ll start to see some new subdivisions opening up. Rotorua has been growing steadily over the last few years.” In the rural sector, the team is out and about meeting people and getting its name out there as a genuine supplier of many dayto-day rural products. They proudly sponsor the Galatea Boar and Roar hunting competition and the annual Rerewhakaaitu rodeo. “It’s getting into that rural market for us and reminding them that we are back.” Co-owner Rod Thompson is heavily involved in the local hunting scene, and is president of the Bay of Plenty pig hunting club. “We get a lot of offshoots from that, including our annual, customer-only Big 3 Hunting Competition,” Sam says. ITM also has a big presence at the national Field Days at Mystery Creek near Hamilton, where the Rotorua ITM team helps showcase the ‘Build the shed that’s in your head’ ITM pole sheds offer. The Rotorua store is keen to give back to the community, sponsoring a number of local groups, including the Bay of Plenty Lakers Rugby League team, the Rotorua Racing Club, where they are one of the major sponsors, multiple school events, as well as supporting the Ngongotaha Volunteer Fire Brigade where co-owner Tai Thompson is currently Chief Fire Officer. ITM is a co-operative consisting of 98 independently owned stores throughout New Zealand. 0800 224 759 | sales@bbi.net.nz | www.bbi.net.nz Plywood Timber Proud partner of Rotorua ITM Ltd • EZYMIX produce a wide range of pre blended Concrete and Mortar products that are designed to be used by both skilled Tradesmen & DIY'ers • Quality Control testing to meet New Zealand standards Phone: 07 888 4324 or 0800 399 649 Email: info@ezymix.co.nz • Website: www.ezymix.co.nz Wholesale Suppliers to the Timber Industry Fencing | Decking | Retaining | SG8 verified framing F7 framing for export and special profiles maxbirtsawmills.co.nz MBS produce over 6000 different timber products in support of timber merchants throughout the country and are proud to supply Rotorua ITM with quality timber products.
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