110 | Kiwi Carpentry T T Hugh de Lacy Joinery business expanding its reach Kiwi Carpentry and Northlam serve not only the Far North residential building markets but, through distributorships, the entire country. JOINERY He raised the New Zealand flag in the late 1980s in Malmsbury, England, calling the joinery company he founded there Kiwi Carpentry, only to find the lure of home too strong, so Rob Bennie re-located it to Kaitaia where it has since become a local business landmark. Based in a 750sqm building in Quarry Road, Kiwi Carpentry produces two related product lines: joinery – including interior and exterior stairs, pre-hung doors, cavity pockets, linen cupboard shelving and bespoke furniture, and glue-laminated timber posts and joinery. Called Northlam, the laminating facility was launched just 18 months ago as a subsidiary of Kiwi Carpentry, by Rob, his son Andrew Bennie, and Andrew’s partner Catherine Erskine. Andrew was the driver of this expansion, which sources various lengths of rough-sawn timber, and machines them prior to laminating. He gained full certification through Graderight for its processes and products. With a staff of 16, mostly qualified tradespeople, Kiwi Carpentry and Northlam serve not only the Far North residential building markets but, through distributorships, the entire country. The companies’ roots go back to the 10 years Rob operated Kiwi Carpentry in England and France, restoring historic buildings, from a 12th-century brewery in Wiltshire to a 17th-century manor in Normandy, while also doing shop fit-outs in London. Returning to New Zealand in 1996, Rob re-established Kiwi Carpentry, and over the next 20 years built it up to be a joinery supplier to nationwide companies that include Independent Timber Merchants (ITM), Carters, PlaceMakers, Advance Build, Durapanel, Mitre 10 and, most recently, Bunnings Warehouse. “As the preferred door pre-hangers in the North, we were able to announce our new partnership with Bunnings just before Christmas, which put us in the seasonal mood because it makes our products available further into the national marketplace,” Catherine says. “Seeing our products being ever-more widely distributed is particularly satisfying to us as a joinery company, because there aren’t that many of us around – I think we’re about the only significant one left in the Far North.” In late 2021, Kiwi Carpentry opened its purpose-built joinery workshop, with the building team erecting it themselves using a clear-span structural steel rafter system supplied by Alpine Buildings. The facility features a ducting system throughout the building that makes for easy clean-ups of the work areas. Between the joinery and laminating capacities, Kiwi Carpentry has developed an enviable degree of versatility, expressed recently when Northlam took on the challenging task of preparing a huge beam of swamp kauri for carving – it measured a whopping 1300mmx1000mmx7000mm and weighed seven tonnes. The timber had been supplied by local firm Kaihu Kauri and was destined to be used in Maori wood-sculpture. “That was a massive project, and cool to be part of, and though it’s outside our usual line of work we might be persuaded to do it again if the chance arose,” Catherine says. Reflecting on 2024, she said it was a fairly tough year in a building industry that was still getting over the slump that followed the brief post-Covid boom, and she was aware of a lot of building businesses struggling, and a few prominent ones going to the wall. “But we got through it okay and we may just be seeing the beginning of some sort of recovery now, thanks at least in part to the Reserve Bank’s giving the industry a nudge through its two interest rate cuts last year, with another promised early in the New Year.” Northland Owned & Operated • Structural Posts & Beams Pre-cutting & Machining • Exposed Trusses • Specialty Timbers 09 408 7449 info@northlam.co.nz www.northlam.co.nz Your Local Kaitaia Plumbing and Drainage Specialists If you want it fixed, fitted, installed, flushed, built, replaced, or cleared – we’re here to help. Call us now 09 408 0210 www.kaitaiaplumbing.co.nz PLUMBING | DRAINAGE | NEW BUILDS Proudly Supporting Kiwi Carpentry Kaitaia (09) 408 1450 | kaitaia@laserelectrical.co.nz • Residential • Commercial • Maintenance • Orchard Fertigation • Heat Pumps • New Builds Proudly supporting Kiwi Carpentry
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