Business Rural Spring 2021

76 | RURAL SERVICES » Humm Engineering Ltd Mobile engineering business booming Chris Doig, Nic Ewart, Andrew Keeley, Mark Spicer and Guyon Humm. Virginia Wright I t’s only been five years since Guyon and Rebekah Humm decided a change of lifestyle was in order and established Humm Engineering, a mobile en- gineering business run from a service truck Guyon could park in their residential Methven driveway. Demand soon outgrew the truck and a workshop was needed so within the first year a large work- shop space was leased from R and R Precision Spreading. Their contacts and reputation continued to grow as did their capacity. Andrew Keeley, who’s still with them now as Guyon’s 2 I C, joined the team, quickly followed by another, as well as more equip- ment as the jobs kept coming in. It was now 2019 and the team had grown to six, plus contractors when they were needed. “It was getting very congested, the work was getting bigger and we could see there could be Health and Safety issues with space,” says Re- bekah. “We needed more room for machinery and stock so we started looking around Methven for what was available.” The search for something that would tick all their boxes began but Methven at that time didn’t have any large-scale commercial workshops avail- able to meet their needs. When they heard about a sub-division of land just down the road it seemed like a logical, if daunting, next step to take. “It was a spacious one hectare block so we could build the workshop we needed, plus the office, a smoko room, and toilets and still have room in the yard,” says Rebekah. “We’d already been approached by the bank about our plans for the future. So we went to them and they said “you guys are young, you work hard and you’ve got a good business so let’s do this”. They really helped us feel like we could do it.” They looked at a few commercial-build options but again none of them ticked all the boxes for what was to be their purpose built shed, and they were surprised at how much they could have spent getting something built to their exact specifica- tions. Then a builder contact, Dan Gill of DG Construc- tion, asked why, given that it was a steel-framed shed, they weren’t building it themselves? “My jaw hit the floor,” says Rebekah. “I was thinking how can we possibly do this? • to page 79 Proud to have designed the new HummEngineeringWorkshop LYSAGHT & ASSOCIATES ARE: Designers of Agricultural & Industrial Buildings – New Builds & Alterations • Designers of Residential & Commercial Buildings • Design of Seismic Strengthening to Existing Structures • Experts in Building Consent, Exemptions & Compliance Issues 49 Grigg St, Ashburton P 03 307 2381 M 021 0843 8173 E info@lysaghtassociates.co.nz W lysaghtassociates.co.nz • ON SITE SERVICE TRUCK • HYDRAULIC REPAIRS • CUSTOM FABRICATION • SEASONAL SERVICING NewModernWorkshop at 77 Line Road, Methven Guyon 027 622 8933 | Andrew 027 722 8933 O ce 03 302 9969 w w w . h u m m e n g i n e e r i n g . c o . n z www.hiflo.co.nz/rockgas/mid-canterbury Rockgas Mid Canterbury 03 308 4665 Cnr Walnut Avenue & McLean Street, Ashburton 7700