110 | Gore firm has proud legacy Jones and Cooper Builders delivers residential, commercial and rural buildings in and around Gore and further afield, and into the mountains where it has built a succession of huts for the Department of Conservation, above Plateau Hut Mt Cook. T T Hugh de Lacy Jones & Cooper Builders BUILDING With landmark buildings to its credit scattered throughout Southland over its 76 years of existence, Gore company Jones and Cooper Builders finds much of its work comes from repeat customers. Jones and Cooper Builders delivers residential, commercial and rural buildings in and around Gore and further afield, and into the mountains where it has built a succession of trampers’ huts for the Department of Conservation. The company’s history is spangled with Registered Master Builders commercial and residential awards, and its repeat clients include the likes of the Mataura Licensing Trust and the Daiken MDF plant in Gore. “The repeat work makes up about 90% of the business these days, and it says a lot about the quality of our performance across all the construction sectors that past clients routinely bring new work to us all the time,” says Peter Cooper, who owns the company with wife Lee Anne. Jones and Cooper Builders was started by Alec Jones and Fred Cooper in 1948 after they returned from World War Two, and their legacy remains in such prominent Gore structures as the district council buildings and the police station. Peter is Fred Cooper’s son, and he started his apprenticeship with the family company, then worked for other builders before returning to it as manager in 1989. He and Lee Anne bought the company off the family in 1995 and have continued to build on the founders’ reputation ever since. In 2020, long-time employee and project manager Neil Bone became a shareholder and director. “Jones and Cooper Builders’ services extend across the gamut of residential and commercial building, including renovations and additions, and into the rural community where it builds everything from wool and dairy sheds and yards to culverts and farm bridges, stock, machinery and implement sheds, hay barns, and calf-rearing, horticultural and processing sheds.” It also has sidelines as agent for Kiwispan Steel Frame Buildings, Skyline garages and cottages, and Nulook aluminium windows. The company’s current project list includes major renovations and the installation of a lift at South Otago High School in Balclutha, and a 60-bale milking shed for a farm at Wendonside in Northern Southland. It has won numerous Registered Master Builders House of the Year Awards at both the regional and national level, including a Gold Award for the Fiordland Cinema in Te Anau, and a Gold Reserve final place for the Plateau Hut it built on Mt Cook at an elevation of 7500ft. With offices and a workshop on Lyne Street in Gore, the company has a staff of 15 tradesmen plus three – these days usually including Peter – in the office. Peter says the size of the company is well-tuned to its Gore and Southland markets, and it has come through the nationwide downturn in the construction industry largely unaffected. “The big change in the industry over the 30 years I’ve been running the company has been the huge amount of extra time needed to handle changes in legislation and compliance,” he says. “Jones and Cooper Builders’ services extend across the gamut of residential and commercial building, including renovations and additions, and into the rural community.” Proudly Supporting Jones & Cooper Your Local Aluminium Supplier (03) 214 4941 ext 3 | 021 620 855 asitha@thwaitesaluminium.co.nz e: basemetal@xtra.co.nz p: 03 208 9929 m: 027 951 7616 13 Waiau Street, Gore Damian Soper
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