| 105 T T Kelly Deeks Ensuring a legacy of craftsmanship and integrity One of the company’s latest projects is a spectacular 600sqm Mason & Wales-designed townhouse at Māori Hill. JJ Oskam Builders BUILDING Now celebrating 45 years in the building trade, John Oskam of Dunedin’s JJ Oskam Builders is working alongside his long-time foreman Grant Rees to ensure the Oskam legacy of craftsmanship, integrity, and training the next generation of builders, continues to thrive. John started out in business at age 19 by taking over his father Bert’s LJ Oskam Builders immediately after completing his apprenticeship, and with a young family to support. JJ Oskam Builders soon carved out a niche in high-end architectural homes. That direction started back in 1986 when John completed his first architecturally designed home. The quality of the build opened doors to more work with the same architect, and by 1993, he had entered, and won, a national House of the Year title. Over the following years, JJ Oskam Builders accumulated five national awards and has been recognised with the coveted Platinum Award for consistent excellence. After receiving the Platinum Award, John made the conscious decision to step back from entering awards and start to focus more on training the next generation of builders. “The Platinum Award was the pinnacle for me,” he says. “We’d achieved what we set out to do. From then on I wanted to focus more on training, and these days my biggest sense of pride comes from seeing our ex-employees winning House of the Year titles themselves, both here in New Zealand as well as the Western Australia Home of the Year. That’s a legacy, when the people you trained are out there doing even better.” John’s passion for building has been matched over the years by that dedication to training. “There’s no greater thrill than seeing our boys go out on their own and do well,” he says. “Some of our past apprentices now run their own successful businesses and are now my competition, and a few have become inspectors with the Dunedin City Council, so now they’re the ones scrutinising my work!” One of the company’s latest achievements is a spectacular 600sqm Mason & Wales-designed townhouse at Māori Hill. “It was a challenging build, being three storeys, with tight access to the site, and a lot of structural steel and concrete work,” John says. “We had massive steel beams, cantilevered concrete, aligned with a seamless finish to the full-height cavity sliders and ceilings and negative detailing.” The project is a testament, not only to the firm’s capability, but also to the skill of the man stepping up to lead operations. Foreman Grant, who moved from Auckland to Dunedin seven years ago to build a house for a client, originally came looking for shortterm work. “His wife told me you’ll never get a harder-working guy, and I said I thought I was the hardest-working guy! But Grant has put me to shame.” John is set to draw the pension later this year and is now managing the JJ Oskam Builders office and liaising with clients and subcontractors. “People keep asking me when I’m going to retire, then quickly saying I can’t!” Grant now leads on-site operations. When he first joined JJ Oskam Builders, he brought with him his two stepsons, just out of polytech and school. “We took them on as apprentices and trained them up,” John says. “One’s now in engineering, the other has been to Auckland to train in project management and is soon returning to bring new project-management skills to our business. That’s how I see it continuing.” Proudly Supporting JJ Oskam Builders +64 3 455 6520 info@tmkitchens.co.nz tmkitchens.co.nz PLACEMAKERS DUNEDIN & MOSGIEL PLACEMAKERSDUNEDIN & MOSGIEL 50 BURNS ST & 34 CARNCROSS ST (03) 466 4617 orders.dunedin@placemakers.co.nz PROUDLY SUPPORTING • Commercial • Domestic • Industrial • Data & Communications • PV Solar • Thermography Southern Electrical Ltd Ph: (03) 476-3171 | www.southernelectrical.co.nz E-mail: admin@southernelectrical.co.nz
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