In the heart of the Hawke’s Bay, NDP Fencing and Earthworks stands as a testament to hard work and family dedication.
Nigel Parkinson had been working in orchards since the young age of 16 and progressed throughout the years to working for corporates in managerial positions. “As I worked for corporate entities, I understood that when it comes to contracting, scale is key if you want to make a serious go of it,” he said.
He began his contracting business in 2002 and refocussed the business towards fencing in 2013.
Over time, he has expanded the enterprise, adding machinery and staff to keep pace with rising demand. The business now offers both earthmoving and fencing services, with a full-time staff of 14 and two fixed-term employees. They also subcontract staff for the wire crew season. It is a genuine family business with Nigel at the helm, his wife Deidre in the office, their 22-year-old son Angus a crew foreman and Deidre’s father Jim driving the transporter. The couple’s younger son James (19) is completing an engineering apprenticeship in Napier and may join the business at a later stage.
With the team’s age ranging from 16 to 77, the business tackles everything from conventional and commercial fencing to earthworks, including cutting out driveways and creating drainage systems. “It keeps things pretty interesting,” Nigel said. They service the Hawkes Bay area and travel as far as Gisborne for orchard development projects.
Deidre’s background as a legal executive and trust accountant brought a valuable skillset to the administrative side of the business when she joined her husband in 2021. “When I came into the business, Nigel had been doing that side of things for nearly 10 years, so I didn’t want to come in, take over and change everything,” she said. “As I learnt his processes, I just made small tweaks here and there and created new templates to streamline things a bit more.”
Deidre looks after vehicle servicing and registrations, marketing, invoicing, payroll and health and safety from their home office. “I also do material and fuel deliveries to the teams when required, and I hold our Transport Service Licence,” she said. “Nigel is out on the road a lot, and we come together two or three times a week to finalise invoicing and complete pricing and the like.”
A professional brand was also important to Deidre, and she facilitated a rebrand of the business to better reflect everything the company offered. “I like a clean, modern design. We pride ourselves on being a professional company to deal with, and I felt our brand needed to reflect that better,” she said.
The couple’s eldest son Angus has been fencing since he was 16, initially working during the school holidays, he has worked his way up and is now a crew foreman. When time and workload allow, Nigel will ask Angus to join him and learn some other facets of the business. “He’s been learning how to estimate jobs and organise teams, but I am very aware he is still bloody young, so I’m mindful not to overwhelm him,” Nigel said.
During a significant knee surgery, when both Nigel and Deidre were away, Angus took control, ensuring operations carried on without a hitch. “He organised the teams and transporter and the business continued running, which we were extremely grateful for, it took a lot of the pressure off Nigel,” Deidre said.
As the director, Nigel’s role is demanding. “I’m the guy that makes it all happen,” he laughed, Managing it all from client phone calls, quoting jobs, ordering gear and materials, dealing with staff, handling the odd breakdown and planning forward work for all five fencing crews, Nigel agrees it’s relentless but he admits he thrives on the challenge, “my phone is going all day, and I am all talked out come six o’clock, I am happy to sit down, watch the news and just say nothing for a good while”, he said.
The family enterprise is complemented by Deidre’s father, Jim Henderson, whose 77 years of wisdom makes him a valuable team member. “Some weeks Jim will do 10 hours, other weeks 30, it just depends on what’s going on. Being flexible to the workload is a huge asset to us,” Nigel said. Jim particularly enjoys working alongside his grandson Angus. “Dad is a bit of a gruff farmer type, he doesn’t show too much emotion, but you can tell when he works alongside him that he is super proud and enjoys every minute,” Deidre said.
Family dynamics do come with their own unique set of challenges, and with Angus and his partner living under the same roof as his parents, the family were mindful of keeping a balance between personal and work life. “When the day is over, we tend not to talk about work,” Deidre said. “It becomes all-consuming otherwise and very hard to switch off,” Nigel adds.
The key to working and living together is to have your own hobbies. Deidre’s is horse riding, and Nigel’s is his beloved modified XF Falcon. Deidre explains just how far back the couple go: “We grew up together and started going out at the age of 15. I know exactly what Nigel is thinking just by the look on his face,” she said, laughing.
With his father-in-law on the payroll, Nigel concedes there was a short settling-in period for Jim. “He was his own boss for a very long time and came from that old-school mindset where everyone should be tools in hand and on the job by 7am, so he found our morning toolbox meetings and health and safety briefings frustrating to begin with,” Nigel said. “He is coming around to it all now though, and these days when he’s being a bit of a grumpy old bugger, the crew will humour him and have a bit of banter,” Nigel laughed.
The couple’s advice for those entering a family business: “Make each member’s role clear, Deidre said. “Try not to overstep each other’s mark. Be open and talk about where the business is going and where you see it heading in the future, it’s important to listen to everyone’s ideas,” she said.
“In this day and age, it is extremely important for any business to be diverse in what they do – we have found diversification across a lot of industries has enabled our business to keep afloat in hard times, hence the range of services we offer, which means we are always busy in a number of sectors,” Nigel said.
Article written by Alice Scott
Published in WIRED issue 75/December 2024 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ
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