104 | BUILDING Dave Cockburn Construction T T Virginia Wright A versatile and adaptable business Dave and Wayne on site at Emerson’s. Based in Central Otago, Dave Cockburn Construction Ltd. was established in 2003 by Dave and Claire Cockburn on their return from Australia. Dave started his working life with a local Omakau builder 30 years ago, did his apprenticeship with Breen Construction in Alexander, then after four years working in Australia came back to New Zealand with a plan. Within the year he and Claire were married, bought their first home, started a family and had the business up and running. “What I wanted to achieve is providing a service that’s versatile. We’re adaptable and we do lots of different things. “I didn’t want to concentrate on just one thing in the trade. We do a lot of new houses but we also do driveways, the landscaping, and just about everything ourselves. I wanted to have that versatility to be a one-stop shop from the site-scrape to the completed build,” explains Dave. Dave Cockburn Construction has the equipment, machinery and skill base to be self-sufficient. “We don’t have to involve a heap of other contractors on the basic things. For example we’ve got our own four-wheel drive forklift so we don’t have to bring one out of Alex which just adds to the cost.” They do everything from residential builds right through to building a pole shed or cleaning out someone’s cattleyard (they just finished one in early March). The team now numbers 15 but expands up to 20 including trusted contractors who come in when they’re needed which they were on the newly completed Finery Restaurant in Alexandra. The job began with the demolition and was 18 months from start to finish. “We had to rebuild the new building into part of the remaining old building so there was a lot of detailed design. “Being involved from the start meant that we could focus on buildability and find ways to satisfy the engineers, the architects and the owners to come up with the right finished product. “ It was the first major commercial project Dave Cockburn Construction had taken on, and after a successful handover of The Finery to owners Rory and Karen McLellan they’re definitely open to taking on more such large projects alongside the lighter commercial work they already do. ‘It’s a balancing game, because we want to keep our usual new builds, light commercial, concreting, and all the other construction work that we do. We could build someone’s playhouse if they needed it,” says Dave. For Dave and Claire it’s more than just the building that keeps them going. They’ve worked closely with a number of builders over the years together with a steady stream of apprentices. “Staff members are a huge part of our business. I enjoy the friendship and the mutual respect we have with the staff and I love the positive comments we get when a client is so, so happy when we handover the house with a gift as we always do. “With one family I’ve built the mother and father a house, both their daughters a house, the mother and father a second house and I’ve got one of their sons coming to work for me shortly. “So it’s those relationships I enjoy, and the trust. Central Otago people are huge on trust.” It’s also the relationships with sub-contractors and suppliers built up over many years that Dave relies on to achieve what is always his goal: to keep the stress away from the clients and make their dream a reality. “You have to have a great team of sub-contractors working with you and that’s how we manage any little hiccups. “That makes it sound easy but without that team you would be forever chasing your tail,” says Dave. With another recently completed project being a 450sqm house complete with a tower and a bridge built for a local family, and all the usual ongoing smaller projects, that trusted team of tradies can expect their phones to keep ringing. www.aoteagroup.nz Proudly supporting Dave Cockburn Construction Call us nowon 03 445 1374 Electric Air Conditioning • Electrical • Communications • Industrial • Commercial • Domestic
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