| 87 BUILDING D.M. Wilson Construction Outstanding quality and honesty Hugh de Lacy D.M. Wilson Construction has thrived in a market where new homes are in short supply and recognised builders are in high demand. Seven years ago Australian-born Dave Wilson crossed the ditch to settle in Hanmer Springs, bringing with him his family and a set of building skills forged in workplaces around the world, because the North Canterbury tourist resort reminded him of his old hometown of Mansfield in Victoria. The move was also motivated by his keenness to start his own company in Aotearoa, building “masterful architectural homes” in a region of the country increasingly noted for them. The company he founded in 2016, D.M. Wilson Construction, has since thrived in a market where new homes, architectural and otherwise, are in short supply and recognised builders of them in high demand. Now with a full-time staff of seven, the company presently builds four top-end homes a year and intends expanding its capacity to six over the next half-decade. Dave is the son of an architectural and high-end builder, David Wilson, who initially worked in Melbourne but shifted his family and business 180km to the resort town of Mansfield when Dave was a child. Mansfield shares with Hanmer Springs a dependence on the ski and tourist trades - nearby Mount Buller is Australia’s biggest ski-field – attracting high-income residents to settle there. David junior had had enough of school by the time he was 15, but his father wouldn’t let him leave unless it was to take up some sort of apprenticeship. After trying his hand at being a mechanic, then a chef, he delighted his father by taking up the family trade, and continuing with that particular emphasis on upmarket projects. On the completion of his apprenticeship Dave set out to see how other builders in Australia and around the world operated. He rose to foreman in a Melbourne company specialising in high-end builds before moving to Dubai as a construction manager at the first truss-manufacturing plant in the United Arab Emirates, dealing with multi-lingual and multi-cultural crews building everything from stadium roofs to upmarket villas with curved laminated beams. He then joined the Australian Army and spent seven years as a Combat Engineer in the Royal Australian Engineer Corps, rounding out his experience and developing the core military values of honesty, integrity and teamwork. After meeting his partner Tracey and having children Lillie and Hunter, Dave took his young family to New Zealand and Hanmer Springs to launch what he refers to as his “third child,” D.M. Wilson Construction. He has built the firm around principles of “outstanding quality, honesty and culture” in a workplace that is “fun and enjoyable with a commitment to our work/life balance while maintaining the highest professional standards.” Today Dave says his company is operating in a time unprecedented in his experience. “We are having to adapt to new situations fast and smartly to keep up with material and logistical shortages, price increases across the spectrum and to keep abreast of any issues long before they can be foreseen,” he says. A major challenge in the Covid pandemic environment is staffing, with “short supply and high demand” for skilled labour. “We’re having to manoeuvre aggressively in our approach to recruitment, and we offer a better culture, work/life balance and incentives than our competitors to entice higher skilled staff that are crucial to our mission of being the best architectural builders in Hanmer Springs,” Dave says. www.classicstone.co.nz Proud tobe associatedwithDMWilsonConstruction M: 021 494 574 P: 0800 278 663 E: info@classicstone.co.nz NZ’s Premium Stone Veneer KAIAPOI KAIAPOI'S LOCAL BUILDING SUPPLY STORE Right products, right advice. For all your building supplies, tools and more, call into Kaiapoi ITM—we’ll see you right! Proudly supporting DMWilson Construction Ltd 197 Ohoka Road, Kaiapoi 03 327 8829 sales@kaiapoiitm.co.nz Covering all of Christchurch and North Canterbury · VINYL · TIMBER · TILES · LAMINATE WOOD · COMMERCIAL FLOORING NEW 343C Flaxton Road, Rangiora P: 03 313 5045 E: sales@floorpriderangiora.co.nz www.floorpriderangiora.co.nz | | | PROUD TO WORK WITH DM WILSON CONSTRUCTION
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