The Board blog

WOW – where has this year gone!?

Since the Conference, the Board has had its September meeting at Steel and Tube in East Tamaki, Auckland; our October meeting at Gallagher’s in Hamilton and our November meeting will be at Farmlands in Christchurch. These physical meetings accomplish much more than online meetings, though dependent on location and other factors some of the Board attend online.

New Board members

As you will have seen elsewhere, we have welcomed Janine Swansson from Bang It Fencing, Pahiatua and Nick Terry from Custom Fencing, Waikouaiti onto the Board. Our Board members are all either active on the fence line or are active in the running of their fencing businesses alongside their (lucky, eternally grateful) husbands. As a Board we all work hard at communicating and working together to add value with our skill sets towards the bigger picture.

Partnership prospectus

The Association’s partnership prospectus is being further streamlined and targeted towards Industry, Retail and Corporate sectors, with an aim to increase partners and member benefits. We have been receiving enquiries from outside sectors and it’s a case of working towards what is a best fit for the Association.

Strategic Plan

Further work has been done on finalising the Strategic Plan and getting signoff. The plan includes three main sets of objectives: Industry development including training and careers; Best practice including the accreditation program, managed apprenticeships, diversifying best practice standards into other sectors, and business development and courses; and thirdly, Stakeholder engagement when we look at increasing public/client awareness and acknowledgement of fencing as a skilled trade and developing connections and profiling.

Updated job description

A decision has been made to change the CEO term to Executive Director due to the intent of the role. The job description is being finalised and several recruitment agencies have been contacted to establish rates and an appropriate recruitment process.

Career pathway terminology

We have had a strong emphasis on definitions and use of terminology – the importance of clarity has numerous repercussions which is helping shape communications and direction.

The Conference forum time revealed dissatisfaction with the proposed Registered Fencing Contractor term. The Board recognises that four name changes have been made over the years and the last change to Certified “Fencer” posed problems with professionalism. A survey has been sent out for final consensus, and again the terminology has been carefully looked at with regards to the options. In the meantime applications are open with application forms available from our administration team. The auditing process is being finalised.

WIRED magazine costs

The Board has also looked at further revision on the WIRED costs – reducing the stock weight to reduce postage costs and changing the exterior wrap to Biofilm, a more environmentally friendly option.

FCANZ member advertising

Advertising has stepped up with an advertising campaign program including “Find a Fencing Contractor” Google ads, Facebook advertising and printed media advertising, including online. Advertising is a necessary expense and we are continuing to find ways to maximise the return on spend.

Have your say

Welcome to Nick Terry

Nick Terry is a Certified Fencing Contractor based in Waikouaiti. Nick is owner/operator at Custom Fencing Ltd and has recently expanded his business into construction, with Custom Construction 2020 Ltd. We are delighted to have Nick on the Executive Board and look forward to his input.

New Partner

Fencing Contractors Association of NZ welcomes Exclusive Tyres Distributors to the FCANZ family. We look forward to working with them and having their representatives at our various events across the country and giving our members a chance to be exposed to their products in person.

Bronze Partner

Exclusive Tyre Distributors are one of the largest wholesalers in New Zealand and have been operating for over 10 years.

As NZ’s fastest growing tyre and wheel wholesaler, they pride themselves on building leading brands such as Cooper Tires, Mickey Thompson, Federal, Sailun and more. Exclusive Tyre Distributors will deliver performance alongside safety, reliability and world class service.

As a Board, we have worked hard at encouraging member engagement and feedback, consulting on proposed changes and also conducting surveys. We encourage you to have your say and get engaged in a collective process.