90 | BUILDING Oliver Tuck Construction T T Sue Russell Commercial arm new direction for OTC The company specialises in bespoke architectural builds like this stunning award-winning home at Waipu Cove. Northland builders Ollie and Miriam Tuck established Oliver Tuck Construction in 2013. The company specialises in bespoke architectural builds and in the last twelve months have taken on projects from Russell down to Te Arai, which is 30 minutes south of Mangawhai. “Some of our team is based north of Whangarei and in my opinion the busy hotspot for new developments will be in the Ruakaka Marsden and south ,” says Ollie. Asked how the journey has been since establishing he says its been ‘interesting’. “A bit like having a first child. No matter what people tell you, you don’t believe them until you are doing it yourself. I thought I would only have one other team member but we now have a team of 40+ .” The only reason, Ollie says, that its been possible to run the business so successfully given this number is the team the business has been able to attract. Both Ollie and Miriam have a great deal of pride in their team’s capability. Asked what occupies his time on any given day Ollie says he juggles a number of roles to help the business and the teams on sites tick over. “I do concentrate on customer relations, reporting, quality control, pricing new work, monitoring the budget and marking off the critical milestones of a project.” His specialty is in the detail of the project, and this, he says, makes all the difference in the world. He also says he has a great team of project managers, quite capable of ensuring results are delivered on their sites. Most of their work comes from architects which Ollie says is very positive for the business, as it involves itself building many highly detailed and complex homes, full of character and style. “We’ve recently started OTC Projects, a commercial company with the lofty aspiration to be known for what we do residentially, known for doing the cooler and more interesting builds.” When the opportunity to undertake work on a commercial scale presented Ollie says it took the business in a new direction. Now it works as Development Manager for a really substantial development in Marsden Point. Asked for his assessment of the building market now Ollie says the last three years or so have felt a bit like a boxing match; one builders are not typically winning. “We’ve had to work hard because of supply issues, hyper inflations around Covid, finishing projects off in a timely fashion has been challenging given factors beyond our control. Trying to source materials was fairly brutal for a while. It’s been a hard place to be for quite a while.” Over the duration of the time they’ve been in business Ollie says both he and Miriam have been very focussed on not spending outside the business. Each feel the building sector generally is a risky business to navigate at these times and this calls for a lot of thought before spending decisions are made to ensure a good cash flow. When Business North spoke with Ollie he said the company had six projects on the go between the two companies, Oliver Tuck Construction and OTC Projects. “We’ve just been hiring for more staff and it would be great to have more females, they just ‘rule’ in the construction sector from my experience.” Asked about further plans to grow Ollie says he’s making decisions cautiously. He doesn’t ever want to get to the situation where the team don’t know both him and Miriam. Seven apprentices are currently engaged in the company at various stages of their learning through BCITO. The business is based out of the beautiful Marsden Cove Marina. Ollie says Northland is a great place to build in. “We’re small enough still for people to know each other at a business level well and its a wonderful environment at our doorstep.” New Roofs • Re-roofs • Wall Cladding • Spouting Supplied by Metalcraft | Installer of Colorsteel 021 085 977 87
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=