WIRED June 2024

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President's Report

Welcome to the latest edition of WIRED magazine.

We have kicked the beginning of the year off with two Best Practice Days in the South Island.

Although the numbers attending weren’t huge, the outcome and take away feedback has been positive. Thanks to the team in the South Island for your hard work in pulling these together, and our supporting partners. People take time out of their businesses voluntarily to run these days for others and it is much appreciated.

The global economy is clearly struggling, the flow on effect of this can be seen in more ways than one. Some businesses are ticking along fine, but others are needing to quickly diversify or restructure their current status quo. I hope going through the second part of 2024 we see some downward movement in interest rates, and the pressure eases for everyone.

The Level 3 Certificate in Fencing course has seen a revamp to its timetable, therefore enabling a course to be run in the South Island, which started in May. The group of twelve students have online sessions to complete the theory and paperwork elements of the course,

and then come together in two groups, one in Christchurch at Scott Heasley’s yard, and the second in Waikouaiti in Nick Terry’s yard. These sites have been signed off via NorthTec and we appreciate the input from fencers helping to make these courses work. This course is ever evolving, to try and capture as many keen students as possible.

The third Level 4 Certificate in Fencing training began in early May with eleven students participating. The feedback from this course overall has been very positive and rewarding for those who put the effort in.

Following on from several public complaints against fencers across the country, the FCANZ Executive Board and Operations team have been reviewing and updating the Association’s Code of Conduct. More information on this can be found on page 10.

I’d like to make special mention to our long standing and new Partners for their

The FCANZ Mission

ongoing support of the industry. We look forward to working with you through the year and especially in the lead up to the National Fencing Field Day and AGM / Conference in Christchurch. We really appreciate the effort and input you all have to the Association and our members and we look forward to catching up with as many of you as possible at the National Fieldays® at Mystery Creek.

Cheers, Phil

Phil Cornelius President

THE FCANZ MISSION: To raise the profile of fencing as a recognised trade that embraces best practice, adherence to quality standards and ongoing professional development.

The Board blog

Mid-year – yikes! Our May Board meeting was held in Christchurch, to meet with Gold Partner Beattie Insulators and look over the National Fencing Field Day site, ahead of the Conference being held in Christchurch in August.

BoardPro trial

A new means of communication between the Board, Executive Director and Admin Manager is being trialed to clearly record decisions to vote/action and improve communication between the Board and Executive Director. BoardPro is designed to streamline correspondence and set a deadline for decision making.

Policy Review

The Board has been reviewing FCANZ policies, thanks to our Executive Director, and progress is being made to iron out any discrepancies, or fill gaps.

One aspect that has been given significant attention is the Code of Ethics and Conduct. Designed as a guideline for ensuring our members are aligning with professional business acumen and industry best practice, the Code of Ethics & Conduct also helps guide our members along the right processes to undertake and follow.

As-built drawings under development

When you’re out pricing a job, you are often up against a number of hurdles which may get in the way of your success in securing the job. One aspect is the competitors who undercut, who don’t know how to price, and who cut corners in their workmanship. It can be gut-wrenching at times knowing that you have ticked all the boxes, can offer the best value to the client, but still, you might miss out.

The Board has been working on ‘asbuilt’ drawings, initially concentrating on the rural sector. The drawings take into consideration regional variances, and the intent is that the rural drawings package, which will include post, wire and batten, netting, post and rail, electrics etc., can be used by our members to help substantiate pricing and to evidence that their installation will follow industry best practices. You will have the opportunity to talk through these drawings with clients to reassure them that your installation is backed by industry specifications. Security and residential fencing drawings are also being developed, with horticulture structures and viticulture in the pipeline.

FCANZ is delighted to welcome PGG Wrightson as a Retail Gold Partner. Whether you are new to PGG Wrightson or have been dealing with them for generations, you have access to more than 30,000 products through their store network and via their Technical Representatives.

The drawings will be going to the sector groups for approval prior to distribution and once approved will be sent to members and stakeholders such as Regional Councils, Government bodies, and Federated Farmers.

Lifetime Legacy Award

FCANZ congratulates Wayne Newdick for winning a Lifetime Legacy Award at the 2024 New Zealand Rural Sports Awards.

Wayne was pivotal in establishing FCANZ in 2006, and in forming New Zealand Fencing Competitions (NZFC) in 2013. Wayne’s contributions to fencing transcend competition; he is a mentor, coach and advocate for best practices in fencing. Wayne’s dedication to excellence is evident in his relentless pursuit of innovation, from developing post-driver machines to pioneering tools for judging discrepancies in fencing. With accolades, including ten victories in the Silver SpadesTM Doubles Championship and a record-setting battening feat, Wayne’s legacy is firmly entrenched in the annals of fencing history.

Written by Debbie White

With 90 stores throughout New Zealand servicing all farming, horticultural and lifestyle requirements, you’ll find one near you or you can browse PGG Wrightson’s fencing range online at store.pggwrightson.co.nz.

We are delighted to announce a new Gold Partnership with Onefarm, a direct-to-customer business specialising in cattle handling equipment. Onefarm provide full commercial cattle yard systems, life-styler yards (their Maxxus range), stockyard gates, crushes and more. Keep an eye out for further info, including a wholesale ordering system where FCANZ members are entitled to 10-15% off the Onefarm product range and some other member-only offers which are coming soon.

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MEDIUM

POLYETHELENE

Executive Director update

In

this, the first of the Executive

Director

updates,

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to those of you I haven’t yet been lucky enough to meet.

I’ve been with the Association since October 2021, initially as the Marketing Manager, and then as the Executive Director since June last year. I hold a Bachelor of Business Studies specialising in Marketing, and have predominantly spent my career as part of the senior leadership team of small-medium businesses. I also spent two years as an advisor with the Economic Development team of my local Council, supporting local businesses during COVID-19 response and recovery.

I’m responsible for the implementation and delivery of the FCANZ Strategic Plan, which includes continuing to manage the Association’s marketing activities to raise awareness of fencing as a career and a professional trade. It’s an interesting time to be at the helm of a not-forprofit organisation, but working with an excellent Board and supporting the great people who are our members and partners makes it a delight.

To market, to market?

I was lucky enough to achieve my marketing degree at the turn of the century (!?!). The early 2000s was when digital marketing really started to make an impact and change the way marketers (or marketeers as some prefer to be called) and businesses thought about their marketing spend.

What has been fascinating for me is seeing that despite the decline in spend across ‘traditional’ media (print, radio, and TV), local freebie newspapers continue to perform incredibly well. These local ‘rags’ generally provide cost-effective advertising and an opportunity for great coverage of businesses that are savvy enough to provide articles of interest. It often doesn’t take much to pique the interest of a local reporter or editor and gain your business some extra profiling, usually at no cost.

When times are tight, or when there’s loads of work already on the books, marketing is often considered

unimportant or not necessary. Ironically, these are the times when marketing should be done, as it usually takes some time for people to decide where to spend their hard-earned money. My suggestion is that you look at some of the marketing options available and just keep it ticking over – so that the hard work has already been done if things start to slow.

In the meantime, if you find that your marketing (or word of mouth) is so effective that you have more work on than you can handle - don’t panic! Generally, people understand that the best tradies are busy, so if you need to tell someone that you can’t get to them for a few weeks or months, they’re not surprised.

What keeps you awake at night?

Our Business Staples webinar series is an on-tap resource for all your business questions. The recordings are all available from the FCANZ member hub on the website, allowing you to watch or rewatch at a time that suits you.

The idea is that these webinars address some of the business issues that keep you awake at night. Is it how to market your business for no cost? Is it seeing the workload drop off – or figuring out how to manage too much work? Is it feeling like there must be a better way to do something, but you’re not sure how? Is it the “oh $#*&” moments when you remember you forgot to call, email or visit someone?

Chances are you aren’t the only person having these issues, so let me know, and we can work on creating a webinar to help. Maybe you’ll even sleep through the night again!

Annual Survey

The annual member survey is now open, and we are really keen to hear from you. Your responses provide us with valuable information about the industry as a whole and allow us to make decisions about the

Association’s direction. More importantly, the survey responses provide industry insights that are incredibly useful for our current and potential Partners. We’ve trimmed the survey right back and changed the questions from last year to make it much easier to complete. It should only take 10 minutes to complete, and everyone who completes the survey will go into the draw for a superb prize. Head to www.fcanz.org.nz/survey to complete your submission now.

A summary of the survey results will be available in the September WIRED magazine.

Conference

I look forward to catching up with those of you I have already met, and meeting many more of you at Conference this year!

Book your tickets now: www.fcanz.org.nz/conference

Jaime Bigwood

Executive Director

021 284 8223 exec@fcanz.org.nz

FCANZ adopts New Member Code of Ethics & Conduct

Over the past few months, the FCANZ leadership team has reviewed the Association’s Member Code of Conduct. The existing Code was created some time ago and no longer best served the Association, its members, or the industry.

Work was undertaken to explore best practice examples in other trade industries, including some that are highly regulated. From this, the new, industry-specific Member Code of Ethics & Conduct (MCEC) was created. This new Code clearly outlines the expectations that the Association has of its members regarding how they operate and behave as representatives of FCANZ.

It is important to note that the Member Code of Ethics & Conduct doesn’t allow the Association to comment on or become involved in any contractual disputes. There are existing legal channels for these disputes, such as the disputes tribunal. The new MCEC does, however, allow the Board to receive and act on complaints relating to member workmanship or behavioural concerns from both the public and other FCANZ members.

How does it work?

The processes for both workmanship and behavioural complaints can be found in the member hub of the FCANZ website. Both are similar, however the workmanship complaint usually involves an on-site audit of the workmanship in question.

Once a complaint has been received on the official FCANZ form, members are given the opportunity to provide their side of the ‘story’, and the evidence from both parties is reviewed and discussed by the Disciplinary Committee (DC). The DC is a subcommittee of the Board and is made up of Board members who do not have a conflict of interest in reviewing the complaint.

Depending on the findings of the DC, further investigation may be undertaken. If the complaint is found to be upheld, the DC may propose to the Board a range of disciplinary acts, including:

• Excluding the business from the “Find a Fencing Contractor” website directory for a set period of time.

• Not featuring the business in any images or articles in WIRED for a set period of time.

• Excluding any reference to the business through other FCANZ digital channels for a set period of time.

If the initial complaint is severe enough, or the Board receives another complaint

within the specified period, the DC may recommend to the Board that FCANZ membership be revoked.

Additionally, if the initial complaint was contractual and therefore out of the scope of the Board, but subsequent legal actions (such as a Disputes Tribunal hearing) find in favour of the complainant, then the DC may choose to follow the process for alleged breach of Code of Ethics & Conduct. Again, both parties will be given the opportunity to state their point of view relative to the MCEC.

Should the DC decide that the complaint is not to be upheld, both parties will be notified of the decision and the complaint considered closed.

What does this look like in ‘real’ life?

There are a number of formats complaints about members can take. Here are two examples:

Scenario 1

The Board receives a complaint about a member allegedly breaching an agreement or contract. The Association is unable to comment on the details of the alleged breach due to it being contractual in nature, and the complainant will need to go through the legal processes to resolve this. The complainant does however raise concerns under the behavioural expectations of the Code of Ethics and Conduct.

When the original complainant advises that the legal process rules the contractual dispute in their favour, the DC decides that the member concerned should be advised that their behaviour is in breach of the MCEC. For 12 months the Board will:

• Exclude the business from the “Find a Fencing Contractor” website directory

• Not feature the business in any images or articles in WIRED

• Exclude any reference to the business through other FCANZ digital channels.

If, during that 12-month period the Board receives another complaint they will consider harsher penalties including potentially revoking FCANZ membership.

Scenario 2

In a second example, a member of the public complains to the Board that the work

undertaken by their fencing contractor (an FCANZ member) is not up to an acceptable standard. An on-site audit is undertaken, and a report is provided to the Disciplinary Committee. The DC looks at all of the evidence, including the response from the member, and determines an outcome.

The DC decides that the work isn’t up to the standard expected of an FCANZ member, and recommends to the Board that for 12 months they will:

• Exclude the business from the “Find a Fencing Contractor” website directory

• Not feature the business in any images or articles in WIRED

• Exclude any reference to the business through other FCANZ digital channels. If, during that 12-month period the Board receives another complaint they will consider harsher penalties including potentially revoking FCANZ membership.

What happens next?

Members will all be receiving an email containing the new Member Code of Ethics & Conduct and complaints process for their reference. All documentation will be made available on the website, and all new members will be expected to read, understand and accept the Member Code of Ethics & Conduct.

The final word

Assessing the complaints isn’t done by just one person – a sub-committee of three look at the evidence and then submit a recommendation to the full Board. The Board then look over the paperwork and the recommendation, have robust discussions and then finalise a decision.

Asking for written submissions provides a much fairer process for both parties, as nothing is ‘lost in translation’ from a phone call to a written submission. We also find that phone calls tend to focus on the contractual dispute, which is not what we are looking at, and why they are not part of the investigation process.

While disciplinary proceedings are never pleasant for anyone involved, it is essential that FCANZ has a robust Code of Ethics & Conduct and complaints process to protect the integrity of the Association, its members and its partners.

FENCING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION NZ

INC MEMBER CODE OF ETHICS & CONDUCT

This Code of Ethics & Conduct has been developed to provide a resource for FCANZ members to measure themselves against, to make sure that they are working to an acceptable standard and behaving ethically. The MCEC is made up of sixteen standards, sitting under four key principles:

1. WORK SAFELY

You must take reasonable steps to make sure that the work you undertake does not endanger the health or safety of yourself, your colleagues or anyone else, including people who work for you, your clients or anyone who will visit the site where work is being carried out.

1.1 Take responsibility for health and safety

You have a responsibility that while carrying out or supervising work, that you take reasonable care of your own health and safety, and take reasonable care to avoid doing things that might adversely affect the health and safety of others.

This means taking all reasonable steps to identify risks to health and safety, and eliminate or manage them in an appropriate way.

1.2 Report unsafe behaviour by others on site

If you see other people engaging in unsafe behaviour or work practices on a site during the course of your work, you have an obligation to raise this with the appropriate person. This may be the person engaging in unsafe behaviour, a supervisor, site manager, or the person responsible for the site.

If you do not believe that the behaviour has been resolved, then take other appropriate action. Appropriate action will depend on the circumstances. You might consider, for example, raising it with the individual again, or alerting WorkSafe of the issue.

1.3 Avoid harming the environment

When carrying out or supervising work, you must take all reasonable steps to avoid harming the environment. Being aware of the impact your work has on the environment is important, including with regard to how you dispose of materials and manage waste on site. This is likely to involve ensuring that chemicals do not spill or are not disposed of by pouring into drains, lightweight materials such as plastics are secured and do not blow away, and the site is left in a tidy manner once work is complete.

2. ACT WITHIN THE LAW

As a fencing contractor, you must act within the law.

2.1 Comply with the law

The Fencing Act 1978, and regulations under that Act, lay out the rules for fencing in relation work on new and existing boundary fences in New Zealand. This works alongside Council by-laws and other key pieces of legislation covering health, safety, use of land and consumer protection.

2.2 Report breaches of the law

If, during the course of your work, you become aware that someone is breaching these laws, then you must report your belief to an appropriate person. This may be the person believed to be contravening the law, or the supervisor, site manager, or person responsible for the site. If the behaviour continues, then you must take other appropriate action (e.g. report the matter to WorkSafe).

3. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS

When undertaking work, you are representing yourself, your business or employer and the fencing profession. It is important to maintain a high level of trust with your clients. Not only should you be willing to get the job done to an acceptable standard for your client, you should also be prepared to engage appropriately with your client should things not go well.

3.1 Know what work you are competent to do

You must ensure that you only undertake work activities that are within the competence of you and your team. These activities should be carried out in a careful and competent manner.

3.2 Inform and educate your client

You must provide your client with sufficient information and advice to enable them to make an informed decision, to enable you to carry on with the work. If you are unable to provide your client with the information or expertise required, then you may consider directing them to a suitable person (i.e. a designer, architect, engineer).

3.3 Be accountable for work carried out by you, or someone under your supervision

In the event of defects caused by yourself or someone you supervise, you must take all reasonable steps to communicate with your client in an honest and responsive way, and act with integrity when resolving the problem.

3.4 Advise clients of any delays as soon as they become apparent

You must keep your client up to date with progress on the work you are carrying out or supervising, and give realistic timeframes and promptly notify them if these timeframes change (particularly in the case of delays). You must advise the client about the reasons for delays, and take effort to ensure delays can be prevented wherever possible.

3.5 Act in your client’s interests

Your client is expecting a professional service and a finished product of an acceptable standard, so make sure any work you conduct or supervise is up to an acceptable standard.

3.6 You must normally follow your client’s instructions

Generally, you should follow your client’s instructions, unless the instructions are dangerous, are contrary to contracts or consents, or would mean you would not be acting within the law (or by-law).

4. BEHAVE PROFESSIONALLY

As a professional fencing contractor, you should behave in an appropriate and respectful way towards others. This doesn’t solely apply to your face-to-face dealings with colleagues and clients, but also in your written and phone communications. At times, poor behaviour may come from someone else. In these instances you should maintain professionalism and respond appropriately without lowering your conduct to an inappropriate level.

4.1 Behave professionally

A client has employed you to carry out or supervise a job and has put their trust in you. Make sure that you act professionally and treat your clients and colleagues with respect.

4.2 Act in good faith during dispute resolution

In the event of a dispute, you should attempt to resolve this with the other parties. Ensure that you make yourself available to discuss the issue, and that all parties have an opportunity to express their views and be heard. You must be respectful and act in a professional manner at all times during the process, even in

situations where the other parties’ demands may seem unreasonable. Where both parties cannot come to an agreement for moving forward, you could seek mediation or a formal resolution process.

4.3 Price work fairly and reasonably

You must not use inappropriate methods to win a contract. This includes accepting or paying bribes, unfairly estimating costs, or quoting unrealistically low prices to gain a job and then adding on extra costs once work has commenced in order to make up costs. If you become aware that there will be additional costs, then advise your client and obtain their agreement before incurring those costs.

4.4 Maintain confidentiality of client details

If you become aware of a client’s confidential information (for example, details of your client’s private life or finances), then you must take all reasonable steps to keep that information confidential, unless you are required or authorised by law to disclose it.

4.5 Conduct your business in a methodical and responsible manner

Ensure that the way you operate is honest, fair and professional.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE CODE

All members of FCANZ acknowledge that it is a condition of their membership to abide by this Code, and that they will act in such manner as is necessary to promote compliance with this Code by any persons involved in the member’s business, including those who are employed or otherwise engaged on the member’s behalf.

Members who are the subject of a complaint shall abide by and comply with a determination of the Fencing Contractors Association NZ Board or Disciplinary Committee (DC) and any subsequent reviews of the DC.

COMPLAINT PROCESS

All complaints need to be lodged in writing using the appropriate complaint form. The complaint form and complaint handling process can be found online at fcanz.org.nz/complaints

If a complaint is found to be justified, the Fencing Contractors Association NZ Board or Disciplinary Committee (DC) may, at its discretion, impose sanctions upon Members, including termination of membership. If either party is unhappy with the manner in which the complaint was handled or the outcome, then the Code provides a right of appeal.

CONTRACTUAL DISPUTES

It is important to note that this Code applies to the conduct and behaviour of Members, and does not extend to contractual disputes, even those between Members. Disputes over contractual rights/obligations or technical matters should be dealt with under the contract between parties. It is not the function of the Code to adjust the contractual rights or obligations of the parties, which is the role of the courts, arbitrator or other dispute resolution agents.

However, if the dispute has the potential or effect of bringing FCANZ or the industry into disrepute, FCANZ may take any disciplinary steps it deems appropriate in the circumstances, which may include suspension or expulsion.

Note: This Code and the related process are subject to change.

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Board nominations sought

The FCANZ Board plays a critical role in the governance of the Association with a focus on the ‘bigger picture’ areas of organisational purpose and strategic direction.

Three of our seven Board members reach the end of their two-year term at the AGM in August this year, and we have a fourth

position to fill from a resignation earlier this year. Two of these Board members have confirmed that they will stand for re-election, therefore we are seeking nominations to fill the remaining two positions.

Being on the Board offers an opportunity to grow personally and professionally. You’ll develop skills and gain irreplaceable experience while having the chance to drive and influence the decisions and direction of the Association.

As part of the team, you’ll be happy to commit for two years to make improvements for the industry and our members. You’ll not only be aware of the ins and outs of the industry, you’ll be passionate about making it better for professional fencers. Being reasonably tech-savvy is a plus, as much of the Board’s work is carried out online.

Board members contribute to regular meetings, attend events as FCANZ representatives, and always demonstrate organisational and industry best practice.

The application process

Nominations for the FCANZ Board need to be completed online (www.fcanz.org.nz/ board-nomination) and submitted by Wednesday 31st July 2024. The Nominee will be sent information about being on the Board and be asked to complete a short form providing some information about themselves.

Both the Nominee and the Nominator must be paid up members of FCANZ.

The election process

The FCANZ Board has a maximum of seven elected officers and, in the event that the Association receives more nominations than there are positions available, a Board Officer Election will be held at the AGM (Thursday 8th August 2024) at which time the members in attendance will vote for the nominees they wish to represent them on the Board.

Head to www.fcanz.org.nz/boardnomination to read about what is involved in being on the Board and to submit a nomination. If you have any questions regarding the nomination process, or the role of a Board member, please get in touch with Jeanette Miller (027 432 2033) or FCANZ President Phil Cornelius (027 274 4188).

Notice of 2024 Annual General Meeting

Members are advised that the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand, will be held at the Sudima Christchurch Airport on Thursday 8th August 2024 at 8.30am as part of the Annual Conference programme.

The purpose of the AGM is for members to:

1. approve the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting;

2. receive the Annual Report;

3. receive and approve the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024;

4. receive a report from the President on the previous years’ activities and plans for the coming year;

5. approve the new Constitution for re-registration under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022;

6. appoint the Board members for the ensuing term;

7. consider any other business on the agenda.

Members and interested parties who wish to attend the AGM only (not the full Conference programme) are asked to register by emailing admin@fcanz.org.nz

The Agenda for the AGM and supporting documentation will be made available via the FCANZ website – www.fcanz.org.nz – in due course.

INDUSTRY AWARDS 2024

The FCANZ Industry Awards were created to recognise and acknowledge those who exemplify the Association’s mission of raising the profile of fencing as a professional trade, delivering high quality work, and adhering to best practice standards.

Following on from the huge success of the inaugural Industry Awards held at the FCANZ Conference in August 2023, the Board has added two more award categories this year, with another two expected to be announced in 2025. The FCANZ Legacy Award is not being presented this year but may feature again in 2025. The 2024 awards available are:

FCANZ Contribution Award

Another new award for the 2024 year, the FCANZ Contribution Award, recognises an individual who supports and advances the New Zealand fencing industry.

Recipients of this award are chosen by the Board to acknowledge the great work put in by those within the wider fencing industry to support and advance industry best practice.

Trainee of the Year – Level 3

This award recognises an individual who undertakes fencing work as their primary form of employment and who completed the NZQA National Certificate in Fencing Level 3 course in 2023. They will have demonstrated to the tutor that through the course they have obtained the skills and knowledge for excellent fence line installation.

Criteria

• Completed NZQA Level 3 course during 2023

• Employer is a FCANZ member (including during the period the trainee was enrolled in the course)

• Shows excellent knowledge of fence line practices, and it is evident that they have been trained well by their employer

Selection process

• One nominee per course, put forward by the course tutor

• FCANZ to facilitate the appointment of three independent judges

• Nominees are invited to attend the FCANZ Gala Dinner, where the winner is announced

Level 4 Excellence

This award recognises the graduate of the NZQA National Certificate in Fencing Level 4 who consistently displayed excellence across their coursework.

Awarded to only one of the 2023 graduates, this award acknowledges the student who consistently produced excellent work, identifying them as a true asset to the fencing industry.

Criteria

To be considered for this award, students must have excellent attendance and consistently:

• Participate openly in all group discussions, assisting other members of the group by sharing their knowledge and experience while maintaining an open mind to the opinions and experience of other members

• Complete all study and assessments within appropriate time frames while demonstrating a willingness to achieve and maintain consistent gains within their learning

• Demonstrate a willingness to accept new and alternate methods and systems, and the ability to adapt their thinking to consider and apply gained knowledge where applicable into their approach to the operational processes within their given business and working environment

Selection process

• Nominees for this award will be identified by the NorthTec Course tutor.

• The recipient will also be determined by the tutor according to the criteria above

Emerging Talent – Youth

This award is for those in the industry who have demonstrated a commitment to fencing as a career opportunity and demonstrated growth and excellence in their workplace.

Criteria

• Under 25 years of age

• Employed in the industry by a FCANZ member

• Been employed by the employer for a minimum of two years

Signed Employer Declaration confirming worker:

• has demonstrated good work habits

• is punctual and reliable

• demonstrates interest in the job and a willingness to learn

• has demonstrated good uptake and understanding of fence line systems

• has good uptake of Health and Safety and demonstrates a willingness to engage

Selection process

• Nominees will be expected to provide video evidence of their work and to attend an online meeting with the independent judging panel

Nomination forms for the Emerging Talent – Youth award can be found on the FCANZ website: www.fcanz.org.nz/awards

The deadline for nominations is Sunday 7 July 2024.

2024 Conference and Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 7 – Friday 9 August | Sudima Christchurch Airport

Join the FCANZ Board, Partners, and members at Conference 2024 ‘Outside the Box’

Held over three days Conference 2024 is made up of:

Wednesday 7 August

• National Fencing Field Day

Thursday 8 August

• AGM and Conference

• Awards Gala Dinner

Friday 9 August

• Organised tour

• Night at the races

Conference Programme

WEDNESDAY 7 AUGUST

Wednesday will see the return of the National Fencing Field Day, held at the Rangiora A&P Showgrounds from 10am3pm. This event will be open to the public and will showcase the best products, services and equipment available to the fencing and farming communities, including tools, machinery, vehicles, clothing and personal protection equipment. The day’s programme will include competitions and product demonstrations.

Entry and transport to the National Fencing Field Day is included in the Conference package.

Returning to the Sudima Christchurch Airport, members will have a chance to grab their Conference packs and have a bit of downtime before joining the Board and Operations team at 5 pm for a Mix and Mingle evening at Lone Star Spitfire – a mere 5 minutes walk from the hotel. NB: this dinner is not included in your Conference package.

National Fencing Field Day

Wednesday 7 August 2024 | 10.00am - 3.00pm

Rangiora A&P Showgrounds

Conference Programme

THURSDAY 8 AUGUST

A bright and early start to Conference 2024, kicking off at 8.30 am, with the Board update and Annual General Meeting before we delve into the Conference programme for the day.

The day will include the Member Feedback Forum where you get to share your thoughts about the industry, the Association and our Partners. It’s a great opportunity to ask those burning questions and make some great suggestions.

Attendees will also hear from some fantastic speakers and be able to become involved in a couple of interactive panel sessions – all in the name of ‘Outside the Box’ thinking.

Gala Dinner & Industry Awards

Join us as we celebrate and acknowledge those who make significant contribution to our industry. This will be held in the Conference Rooms in the Sudima Christchurch Airport, once it’s been dressed up a little.

FRIDAY 9 AUGUST

CONFERENCE 2024

INDUSTRY AWARDS

Friday sees the ‘famous’ organised tour during which attendees visit local sites of interest including fencing operations and locations specific to the region. The afternoon activity will be a surprise for all until after lunch, when teams will be competing with each other to successfully complete a number of tasks.

Once the activity is wrapped up we’ll all be heading to Addington Racecourse for a night at the races. Here you’ll enjoy happy hour followed by a mid-winter-Christmas themed dinner – all while enjoying the excitement of the races. When racing has wrapped up for the evening the band will begin so you can celebrate the end of Conference 2024 in style!

SATURDAY 5 AUGUST

The Board will be in the hotel restaurant for breakfast between 8am and 10am so feel free to join us for a ‘last hurrah’ before everyone heads on their way.

Conference Accommodation & Rates

SUDIMA CHRISTCHURCH AIRPORT

Combining architectural charm with art, New Zealand’s South Island city is known as much for its innovation as its beauty. Framed by the Pacific to the east and the snowy Southern Alps to the west, Ōtautahi Christchurch is the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island and is nicknamed the Garden City for its green spaces. While it’s known internationally for the series of earthquakes that rocked its foundations over a decade ago, gone are the days of a city rising from the rubble. Now, it’s known as much for innovation as it is for its beauty.

Sudima Christchurch Airport is an award winning 4.5-star hotel just five minutes from the airport terminals and next door to the International Antarctic Centre. With loads of parking, an in-house restaurant and bar and a gym the Sudima is well equipped for a great stay.

GOLD PARTNERS

To book your accommodation:

• Visit www.sudimahotels.com/en/our-hotels/christchurch-airport/rooms-suites/ to make an online booking

• Using the menu bar at the top of the page, enter the dates, number of people and the code FCANZ24

• Ensure you’ve chosen the right hotel, then click on Find Availability

• Select a room and complete the booking.

Rooms are subject to availability. Discounted rates are available until 1 July 2024. Discount code only applies to stays between 5 August and 10 August 2024.

CONFERENCE 2024 PRICING

Conference 2024 is open to all current FCANZ members. Full price (from 1 June 2024) $450.00 plus GST per person. Includes:

• National Fencing Field Day entrance and transport

• All Thursday activities, lunch and Gala Awards Dinner

• All Friday activities, lunch and night at the races (with dinner)

Register NOW online at www.fcanz.org.nz/conference

Please fill out a form for each person attending Conference.

If you have any questions please get in touch: admin@fcanz.org.nz

Thanks to Conference 2024 Sponsors

ELITE SPONSOR: KEY SPONSORS:

Wednesday 7 August 2024

10.00am - 3.00pm

Rangiora A&P Showgrounds

Best Practice Fencing Techniques

Practical Demonstrations

Tools, Machinery & Vehicles

Competitions & Activities for all

FCANZ Conference delegates – free

FCANZ Members & their employees $10

Full Time Students $5

Public $20

Under 5s – free

www.fcanz.org.nz/national-fencing-field-day

Wiggy’s World

As we approach winter and check in to see where summer went, it’s a good time to reflect on the work we’ve achieved and ticked off - not the ‘yet to be finished’. Put a label on what needs to be done and what can still be achieved, and put the rest on hold.

One of the biggest forms of stress and anxiety is promising more than you can deliver. Many of our life partners will tell you regularly that you’re under delivering on the home front, if you’re trying too hard to work every hour possible, and missing out on the people that really matter. I know in this economic climate just how hard it is to balance work/life commitments, but believe me, without balance you will find yourself falling, failing and losing out on the things you need to give you strength and resilience.

At the Fall Fence Forum in Indiana this year, I listened to a fencer who told me about the struggles he was having balancing his work life and family life. He worked alone, the workload had increased and so had the needs of his family as they grew in age. He had taken his daughter on a road trip to the Fall Fence Forum to spend some time with her. This played on my mind, as with the commitments I have, I spend many a day away from home. We can all end up in this space as we work to provide, it’s a trait that’s part of our genetic makeup.

On the last day, as we wrapped up the conference, I had one pink “Lean on a Gate” cap left. I asked the fencer and his daughter to come forward, got down to her level, and asked her if she wanted/ needed more time with Dad and did she think he worked too hard? The answers of course were yes and yes! I gave her the cap and said when she needed Dad to stop and rest, or she wanted some time with him, to put the hat on, especially on a Sunday afternoon. I’m not sure if the tear that landed on my elbow was from her Dad, or one of my own, as I saw the reflection of my own girls’ faces in this American child.

We all need a sign or saying that your people can pull out when they need you to stop and recharge everyone’s batteries. Whether that be your loved ones, or your staff, communication and support is there. It’s just a matter of stopping and accepting that you’re human, and humans need balance to be able to fulfil the role of provider!

The team at Whatever with Wiggy has had a busy few months this quarter. The crew has ticked a fair few jobs off, and the line-up for jobs to do is definitely growing. The team has grown from just me, and it needed to.

Slade McFarland: A man-mountain, ex Maori All Black Slade has helped host and spoken at two charity farmer golf days run in conjunction with the Waikato-BOP Rural Support Trust, has helped me run Agriconnect days, and attended meetings with farm businesses, sports clubs and Young Farmers groups. His knowledge around workplace wellness is hard to duplicate, as he speaks from the heart with knowledge gained through many life experiences. Photo: Agri Connect

Jason Herrick tells his story well, supports many an individual farmer and worker, shakes the tree as a rural advocate and straight shooter. He has attended many events wearing his Whatever With Wiggy hat and Federated Farmers shirt. He is also working hard on his own wellness mentoring program, which many people are benefiting from. Photo: Rural Exchange

Murray and Olivia Hale of Hale Marketing, manage our marketing and have been pivotal in growing our network, helping with websites and funding growth. Photo: Hale Advertising

Sarah Welch from Hale Marketing, is our Social Media manager who amazes me every time I see her passion for our charity’s work showcased on social media.

Cheyenne Wilson is still working hard to support the farmers and people on the East Coast. We watch her roll up her sleeves and just achieve. Photo: Muka Tangata

Amanda van Kuppevelt from Commonsensical, is the most amazing web designer and manager who has really found her space and passion for community wellness and gives us a lot more than we could ever afford.

Marcus Murdoch from Croys in Ashburton, looks after our accounts and keeps those costs to a minimum.

What I do is very public and featured in many a media outlet (some is very personal and has to stay private), but none of it is possible without the support of the people above. I still have trouble balancing my work/life balance, but the team I have now make it a little easier to recharge my batteries at home. I still have work to do in that space, but I’m now able to try and achieve that goal!

South Island delivers for fencing Best Practice Days

The South Island turned on two spectacular days for the Best Practice Days held in late April, early May. Here’s what went down and why you should come to the next one!

Ikamatua (West Coast) 30 April 2024

Our Ikamatua Best Practice Day focused on the best practice techniques involved in rural fencing by installing sheep netting fencing around two boundaries of a section. Using Waratah Stockgrip® Longlife Blue 8/90/15 netting and PermaPine posts, commentator John Noakes, aka Noksee, talked through what demonstrator (and FCANZ Board Member) Nick Terry was doing – and why.

Nick demonstrated and talked about installing stays on corner strainers and using Jio Star posts (‘waratahs’) to tie down line posts, and there were some great discussions about the different ways of doing this.

Attendees took a break for a fantastic lunch thanks to the local Farmlands team and got to hear from FCANZ Partners Gallagher, Beattie Insulators, Waratah, Strainrite, Summit, RD Petroleum and Milwaukee about how their products are used for the best quality rural fencing.

After lunch the team moved on to the technical (but incredibly important) details of how to secure tension netting around a corner and how to tie off the netting at the end post. By the end of the afternoon, the road frontage and side boundary had a shiny new fence ready to keep in stock (or kids).

Thanks to Cameron Lawton for helping with the pre-event post-ramming and helping with the hard yakka on the day, and Ethan Kidd for giving us his paddock to work in.

Hawea Flats (Wanaka) 2 May 2024

It was a stunning but chilly start in Hawea Flats for our Best Practice Day, which focused on Lifestyle fencing. This event was a little different from many other Best Practice Days in that it looked at a number of different types of fence, many of which are often used in a lifestyle block situation. MC for the day, Nick Terry kept attendees across what work was being done and helped direct the many questions that came up.

There certainly was a lot of fencing being installed. Brendon from Waratah demonstrated how their Flex Rail Electric equine fencing is installed and how it works in conjunction with other, more traditional types of stock fencing. Rodney and the team from Pankhurst Sawmilling, with help from demonstrator Craig Sinclair, installed a beautiful entrance way using macrocarpa interlocking three-rail fencing, before a break for lunch.

Lunch was supplied by the team from PGG and it was fantastic timing, as the stock truck delivering lambs to the farm arrived and would have put a halt to any fencing work. Instead, they provided entertainment while everyone enjoyed their lunch.

Following the meal and show, the fencing continued. A short span of Waratah Stockgrip® Longlife Blue netting was installed, with Waratah Black Star posts as the intermediate posts. An angle stay was installed to support a corner post, which made for interesting times as Waratah rabbit netting was then attached to the Stockgrip® Longlife Blue fence.

Thanks to Andy Tindall for setting up the location and the hard work beforehand; Lucia for saving our bacon with coffee, and Bubs for jumping in wherever needed –including the back of the sheep truck!

Benefits of Best Practice Days

If you haven’t yet been to a Best Practice Day, we highly recommend you do. It’s a great opportunity to discuss different fencing techniques and try Partner products before committing to buy. It also gives you the chance to network with other fencing contractors and build some great connections. One recent attendee, who has been fencing for more than 50 years, learnt a new way to strip stay wires from netting that will save him a lot of time. It just goes to show that you’re never too old to learn!

Our next Best Practice Days will be in the North Island on 24 September (Taumaranui) and 26 September (King Country). Lock it in your calendars and we’ll see you there.

Article written by Jaime Bigwood

Out & About With FCANZ

Come say hi to the team! You’ll find us at Mystery Creek Fieldays® on 12 – 15 June 2024 either at the FCANZ trailer next to the NZ Fencing Competition finals, or visiting our Partners at their sites. You’ll also find us at the NZ Young Farmers National Final in Hamilton on 11 July, and at our National Fencing Field Day and Conference in Christchurch on 7-9 August.

Business Staples Webinars continue to be a valuable resource

Now in its third year, the FCANZ Business Staples webinar series continues to provide an on-tap resource for business owners.

The first webinar of 2024, ‘From 2-Man Operation to $3.5million Turnover’ took a slightly different approach from previous sessions. In this live, in-depth interview, Dan Fitzpatrick of Next Level Tradie spoke with Mike Renner, manager and partowner of Renner Fencing Contractors, a second-generation family business.

During the interview, Dan and Mike discussed a number of important business topics, including:

• The game changers that made the biggest difference to their growth

• How Mike successfully made the transition from being on the tools to running the company

• Which KPIs are most important for their business and why

• What worked for them as a family business - and what didn’t

• How they grew their team successfully while still keeping their family values and great culture

The webinar provided candid insights into the growing pains that come with moving your business from a two-man operation to something much larger. Questions asked by attendees at the end of the session were excellent, and Mike happily responded. These questions and their responses added an extra layer of understanding for those who attended live, and are sure to provide valuable insights for those watching at a later date. Whether you’re just getting started or running a big team, and you want to know more about running a business, this is a must-see interview.

Webinar recordings are all available to watch at any time and include:

• Quotes & Estimates

• Terms & Conditions

• Getting Paid

• Operating Costs

• Understanding ACC

• Health & Safety Basics

• ACC CoverPlus Extra

• Recruitment & Selection

• Employee Management

• Exits & Grievances

Click on the Member Hub drop-down menu and select Business Staples –Webinar Recordings.

Not sure of your login details?

Email admin@fcanz.org.nz and the lovely Jeanette will send them through to you for Business Staples Webinars.

See event calendar for future webinar dates

Event Calendar 2024

Article written by Jaime Bigwood

Marketing your business

North Island Best Practice Day Taumaranui

North Island Best Practice Day King Country

South Island Best Practice Day Te Anau – Rural

South Island Best Practice Day Invercargill – Security 22nd Business Staples Webinar SiteWise Fencing Industry H&S

13th Agri Futures & Clash of the Colleges Christchurch Show 19th Business Staples Webinar Managing Cashflow

Disclaimer: This schedule is subject to change. See the website for the latest information.

New faces for Stockade

Stockade now has a network of ten account representatives, with seven in the North Island and three in the South Island, servicing both Stockade and Paslode brands. Stockade hopes this wide network will give fencing contractors from all around the country stronger support.

Some team members, like Scott McInnes from Otago and Wayne Hurunui from the Bay of Plenty, are not-so-new faces to Stockade and the fencing industry.

Scott lives just outside of Dunedin and looks after the lower half of the South Island from Ashburton-South. He has been in retail and customer service, most of which has been in the building industry for his entire career.

“I’ve worked for PlaceMakers, Mitre 10, Carters and ITM. I have been with Paslode for seven and a half years.”

Scott says there’s two things he loves about his work.

“Firstly, the people I see and meet in store, on building sites and on the fence line. I enjoy building relationships with customers and finding out what past and present projects they have been working on, and how we can help.

“Secondly, the beautiful country I get to see, lakes, mountains, rivers, wide open plains, stunning colour changes in autumn and then the new growth in spring.”

Wayne Hurunui, based in Putaruru, has been the account manager for Stockade and Paslode in the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Taupo for the last two years.

Wayne first encountered Stockade during his years as a territory rep for Tru-Test.

“We used to love taking the Stockade stapler out. We would all have a turn at showing off the stapler, and every time a fence fell over, I would take the opportunity to slap up another batten fence. It would take me back to being a teenager working with fencing contractor Ernie Timms on the Coast – and I’d think, ‘Oh, if I had this then, it would have been so good’.”

Wayne also did a stint camping out and doing some old-school heavy-duty fencing replacing an original totara post fence line on Mount Hikurangi on a station in Ruatoria.

He says the people he meets are the best thing about his account manager role. “We get to work in an industry with practical humans.”

When not at work, Wayne says he’s just your normal Kiwi lad, “hunting, fishing and hanging out with family”.

Northland’s Amber Rogers and Dave Highsted in Canterbury are two new faces in the Stockade and Paslode network.

For Amber, Paslode and Stockade account manager for Silverdale/ Whangapaoaroa – North, getting outdoors was an impetus for switching careers.

“I come from a very heavy rural background – farming, hunting and fishing, so my colleagues and clients weren’t surprised when I took up my new job.”

Prior to working with Paslode and Stockade, Dave held a similar account manager role at James Hardie in Canterbury. When Dave’s not at work, you might find him playing full back for Burnside, spearfishing, hunting or cooking up his favourite dish of venison back steaks with blueberry jus.

Paslode and Stockade account managers will be in and out of retail outlets and at industry events around the country. There are some new faces, so make sure you introduce yourself at the next regional trade days!

Paslode and Stockade account managers

Here’s your local contact: Northland

Amber Rogers | 027 240 2655

Auckland East / South Rob Reekie | 021 636 186

Auckland Northshore / West Jason Boag – 027 223 1514

Waikato / Coromandel

Taalia Joosten | 027 292 8891

RETAIL GOLD PARTNERS

Growing up in Kaitaia means she has never been too far from farming. Now, she and her partner Cody, a local fencing contractor, own a lifestyle block in Kaeo.

Dave Highsted is account manager from Canterbury –North.

“I did schooling in Gore and a lot of rural work – milking cows, crutching lambs, conveyor belt and general farm hand work.

I went to the University of Otago and completed a double degree in Phys Ed and Business. I got my first job at NZ Young Farmers as competitions coordinator in Christchurch running agri kids and teen ag, now known as Junior Young Farmers.

Bay of Plenty / Gisborne / Taupō Wayne Hurunui | 027 477 0928

Manawatū / Whanganui / Hawke’s Bay Joseph Lord | 027 498 7057

Wellington Aleesha Rogers | 027 477 0938

Tasman / Nelson-Marlborough / West Coast

David Highsted | 027 266 5701

Ashburton-Canterbury / West Coast

Michael Hartshorne | 027 477 0942

Ashburton-South / Otago / Southland

Scott McInnes | 027 477 0951

Article supplied by:

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Same superior staples, made in New Zealand

Plain and barbed, post and batten… our whole staple range will be New Zealand-made

There’s no comparison: divergent point profile and ultra heavy 90% zinc:10% aluminium coating for durability.

Revolution’s new sales and service appointment

Revolution Postdrivers has appointed Mike Billinghurst to take over the sales, parts, and service role within the company. Mike has a long history of fencing industry involvement and is well placed to bring value to Revolution’s customers.

Mike was a fencing contractor in the Manawatū region for over fifteen years, under his business name Glentui Fencing. Having owned and operated a Revolution Telescopic 180 for over a decade meant Revolution brand loyalty comes easily to Mike.

“From the day Tony delivered my rammer and plumbed it up, I was blown away just where I could put posts, as much of my work was hill country”, comments Mike. “Every job was more manageable. In almost every fence line, there were situations that I just couldn’t have gotten to with my previous rammer. Over the years, there have been countless times while I’ve been posting on a fence line, and mentally thanked Tony for developing such a revolutionary post rammer. I am very much looking forward to being involved in selling Revolution’s product range”.

Mike’s role will be front of house, handling all sales enquiries, trade-ins, processing parts orders, and coordinating between the client and the manufacturer on the Revolution in-house refurbishment service.

Mike will be on the road part-time, and attending Field Days around the

“ Mike is a great addition to Revolution. His passion and in-depth fencing knowledge will provide the genuine interactive experience that we stand behind

country, starting with the Fieldays® at Mystery Creek in June. With Revolution sponsoring a number of New Zealand Fencing Competitions (NZFC) events, Mike will be in attendance, having been a competitor himself.

“Mike is a great addition to Revolution. His passion and in-depth fencing knowledge will provide the genuine interactive experience that we stand behind. As a fencer myself, I know what sort of service a contractor wants as a customer. Debbie and I run White Fencing, which, as contractors know, is by itself a full-time

job. Therefore, having Mike onboard enables full focus to be placed on Revolution’s delivery,” comments Tony White, Revolution’s designer.

Mike sums up with “Nationally and internationally, our industry is filled with practical hands-on good buggers, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Article written by Debbie White

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Leaving a mark on New Zealand

Ralph, the family dog – a massive Leonberger, was the inspiration behind Andrew and Ingrid McCracken’s Upper Hutt-based Big Dog Fencing.

You’ve got to watch your keys when this guy’s around

“Ralph was awesome but had no respect for gardens. He was one of these big dogs that liked to make his mark on fences everywhere – so we called ourselves Big Dog Fencing. Our byline is ‘Leaving our mark on New Zealand’.”

Andrew started off erecting deer fencing in the 1980s with Frank Map in the Bay of Plenty.

“An amazing fencer, about 5 foot 2 and like a little bulldog. He was 65, and I couldn’t keep up with him as a 20-year-old.”

When Frank retired, the demand for deer fencing was still going and Andrew’s work grew. Set up with a Kinghitter bulldozer and a rammer on the back – he was in his element for a time until he drifted into a music and broadcasting career. Five years ago, he returned.

“Just before Covid, I went back to fencing. I just needed to get back to the land, and I am happy as hell.”

Andrew has a tight crew: Sean, Graeme, and Ingrid. They chug through an everchanging list of projects: farms, lifestyle properties, forestry, and the odd job for companies across the greater Wellington region. They are currently completing the Level 4 Certificate in Fencing course, working toward becoming an Accredited Fencing Contractor with FCANZ.

HUHA, an animal rescue and shelter on Haywards Hill in rural Wellington, is a regular feature on the whiteboard.

Ralph – Big Dog by name

What kind of deer fencing do you want?

Andrew says a year into Big Dog, he got a phone call from Jim, HUHA Operations Manager. “Jim asked if I did deer fencing. I said, ‘What kind of deer fencing do you want?”

“It wasn’t deer fencing that they needed, but it was deer fencing in height. They wanted dog-proof paddocks, down to a dog the size of a terrier. We ended up fencing with X Fence, top-to-bottom solid security fencing made by Summit Steel.”

X Fence is usually designed to go on flat land but parts of the HUHA block up off Transmission Gully are incredibly steep. The slope varies up and down 30-degrees.

“We cut the netting out, strain it back up and crimp it up tight. We might go 10m, then we have to do it again. Then another 30m and have to do it again. It is a bit like being a seamstress.”

Something that has made work at Big Dog Fencing a bit easier is a SoloNet dispenser. It’s a digger-mounted wire dispenser that lets the crew pick up and run big coils of wire and run it through a grab.

“You wire it off your first strainer and you can lift it over a strainer off the edge of a track and then pull it and clamp it tight

with a digger, put tension meters on it and then staple it off. Then you can run it down the next bit of fence line. Imagine pulling a piece of cellotape. We wired up six-days of fencing, 600m, in a day and a half. I came home and said to Ingrid –‘That thing’s not leaving!’”

The whole menagerie: deer, pigs, birds, dogs, lizards, turtles, guinea pigs

Since then, Big Dog Fencing has done three kilometres of X Fence and have turned their hands at all sorts: Post and rail fence for a small horse area for a mare with a blind foal, a fenced turtle and lizard enclosure and a current project building three barracks for 300 rescued guinea pigs.

“They asked the other day if we could turn the gully into an aviary. You just don’t know what will be next. As long as it’s a little bit like fencing, we will give it a go.”

Quite a lot of research and design work goes into delivering some of the unusual requests, looking at different products and pricing up jobs. And some jobs come up in winter that really should be tackled in summer. Because HUHA rescues animals or they have animals dumped on them, like after the Port Hill fires or when the cyclone hit in the Hawke’s Bay, jobs happen when they are needed.

Land, water, people and animals meet at the fence line

Andrew says the hardest thing is putting up something that animals will not destroy.

“HUHA are not interested in running electric outriggers on fences. So, that is a challenge.”

Instead, the crew avoids fencing across hillsides, where the animals can undermine the integrity of a fence very quickly. The work-around is to carve out a wide track, put the fence down the middle with a good flat space either side.

“If animals do track the fence line, they tend to wear holes where water runs down. You need to create drainage under the fence line and fence those off or put grills to cross the pipes. If you put a decent sized pipe in, it is just an escape route. If animals are undermining the fence, we come back with the digger, heap the soil, pack it and hope that it doesn’t happen again. It’s a lot like trying to beat the ocean.”

Another challenge is when animals get up close and personal. Most rescue animals have been raised by humans at some point and can be quite interested in people.

“They have a donkey, Franklin, he’s an orphan. He’ll steal the drills off your belt and run across the paddock. Then, their ostrich, who is not quite so friendly, he’ll stick his head in the ute door and steal the keys out of the four-wheel drive and stalk up behind you.”

The animals always have the right of way. That’s who HUHA are. They are all about the animals. So, it is a fine line between getting frustrated with the animals and trying to fence them in.”

They are also thinking about access ways into enclosures — that health and safety separation element.

The fifteen or so great big old sows and Kunekune are a good example. They’re quite fond of the sloppy hops donated

Sean, Andrew and Ingfid

Sean saying g’day to Franklin the donkey

“ Just before Covid, I went back to fencing. I just needed to get back to the land, and I am happy as hell

from the local Panhead Brewery. While hay and other dry feed could be delivered over the fence, the slop needs to be carted and tipped from wheelbarrows – but if the volunteers open the paddock gate, there’s a good chance that some pigs “half the size of a small cow” could make an escape. So Big Dog Fencing are building walkways through the pig paddocks.

“Sometimes Sean will say, ‘I like seven wire and batten fence’— and I say, ‘This is good experience, you might never get asked to do this again’.”

HUHA Helping you help animals

Carolyn Press McKenzie, CEO of HUHA says, when it comes to fencing on the 157 acre sanctuary on the Haywards Hill property, they have a clean slate.

“We have an opportunity to do it once and do it right. We are lucky to have Andrew. We know he’ll build something that will last the distance.”

HUHA’s mission is all about protecting animals, many different species, but it is also about protecting the people who are working around them, or even just visiting them.

“We have to bring all those components together to build something that is going to work for the visitors, the workers and the animals as well – and then there’s the environment too.”

Carolyn says rescued animals are not always well socialised, some feel vulnerable and prone to panic and the X Fence predator fencing “tiny wee squares” provides a level of confidence.

“Having something that contains the animals well is very important, but you also don’t want people poking their fingers in or climbing in. We rescue deer and other animals that can be unpredictable, so we need to keep people out as much as we keep animals in.”

Andrew and his crew have just built an internal fence inside paddock fencing at HUHA so that the workers have something to leap over and stand behind if something becomes a little edgy.

Carolyn says HUHA had a big pig problem recently.

“We had 30 free-range pigs come our way, we didn’t want to euthanise them, but we didn’t have the facilities. Andrew fenced off two acres of scrappy bush. It was quite a mission.

Today, Andrew is fencing around a great big turtle pond.

“Turtles can compromise the environment, and they are great climbers. Andrew is building a stacked three-tier retaining wall and then a fence on top with a cap going inward. It is really important when you take in animals, that you make sure that they don’t get back out.”

Next week, Andrew will be coming back to build dog enrichment areas. He will be doing four large fenced off sections with a retaining wall so that the dogs in HUHA’s care can go out and play in small social groups.

Carolyn says enclosure design is all about experience, Kiwi ingenuity, good common sense and amazing problem solving strategies – but another layer for HUHA is speed.

“We do disaster response. We go all over the country when there is an emergency, so we have to build containment facililities that are temporary to get animals safely contained quickly. That’s our job. Coming home, it is the same mindset. We have to achieve safety for people and animals, we just have to unpack it and work it out.”

There’s extra touches that Big Dog Fencing adds, from helping design structural builds that are a little tangent to traditional fencing, to making sure the camber of the road is right. Carolyn says it is holistic approach. “Everything is considered.”

Article written by Megan Fowlie

Miniature pony pens something a bit different for Manawatū contractor

Building a set of miniature horse pens offered a few interesting challenges that required quick thinking for Burne Maxted of Manawatūbased Maxted Fencing.

The client was looking at installing a shed and wanted horse pens installed inside, similar to a horse stud stable development Burne had done for a friend of hers.

“At first, I thought, we’ll get away with postramming the posts in before they poured the floor in the shed, but unfortunately, as the client had picked a steel-framed shed, it would have voided the warranty as the floor acts as a structural support.

“So, I came up with the idea of bolting a free-standing structure internally.”

The next step was the gate design.

“We threw ideas back and forth, and we came up with ordering custom made 1500mm Gallagher Bullmaster gates, and they were perfect. Solid yet light enough.”

With the client and builder’s approval, Burne put together a plan and came up with a six-pen 1100mm high rail fence with a plywood freestanding wall against the shed on all three sides.

The client owns four miniature ponies, but Burne set up the yards so they could be used for calf rearing if required, which helped resale value.

It was a couple of months later, he got the call saying the sheds were completed and ready for the yards to be installed.

He and another worker started with the back wall, with posts bolted down with galvanised U brackets and 125mm concrete screws. They then framed it out with 100mm by 50mm of railing and lined it with 12mm treated ply.

It was the first time Burne had used the brackets in nine years of fencing.

Using U brackets meant using square posts, which he said was not ideal for swinging a gate off.

“So, we came up with the idea of a no. 2 strainer post bolted down using big L brackets and screws. And surprisingly enough, once the rail was bolted on, it was very strong and handled the gate perfectly.”

Another odd challenge was getting to the shed, which was knee deep in mud, as the job was carried out in August while the Manawatū was experiencing unusually wet conditions.

Wooden pallets were sacrificed in order to make a path.

“So, there was plenty of material to carry one by one to the shed,” Burne said.

The shed was a straightforward job. The only real challenge was getting the brackets in the correct spot before drilling holes.

They then marked out the front and started drilling, getting the brackets in and rails up.

Happy with the process, he rang the client to get approval and check if there were any changes.

“She trusted us and gave us plenty of freedom for which materials we needed to use, and we could build it any way we wanted to achieve a strong, well-built yard, just as long as we met the criteria of six stables recessed just slightly into the shed so they are out of the weather, and a kickboard to hold in the sawdust, until the matting was installed at a later date.”

The budget was set between $10,000 and $15,000 plus GST, which they managed to stick within.

Burne said the biggest costs were the custom-made gates and 50 galvanised brackets and concrete screws.

“All in all, it was actually a simple job.”

He was very happy with the result and showcased the project by posting some pictures on the business’s Facebook page, which caught some attention.

“(I’ve) got another shed to do, something very similar on the books now.”

Article written by Rosa Watson

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A park for the pooches of Te Puke

In Autumn 2023, Davies Fencing was approached by Western Bay of Plenty Council to help design and build a dog park in Te Puke. This was the first dog park to be built in the Bay.

The design phase was a lengthy yet important aspect, where we gave design advice in response to their unique and varied ideas.

We advised and priced numerous options; concrete or metal footpaths, timber or metal fencing, different obstacles for the animals, rocks, trees and shrubbery.

There were two key aspects: good drainage was important because the designated area was prone to bog. The other key aspect was safety; the entire enclosure (fencing, gates, and accessways) needed to keep in every

type of dog, from a Miniature Poodle to a Great Dane.

The final design was a 300m perimeter area, with 1.5m high chain link (supplied by Bayonet) with 3.6 No1 strainers and 2.7 No1 round posts (supplied by PermaPine). The posts were longer than required, but they gave more stability in the anticipated boggy ground.

We designed a double access area at each end of the large enclosure: imagine a 3m x 3m square area, where you open a gate to walk in, and then another gate to walk out into the main dog park. The

“ The area became a mud bath, which quickly became our dog Buddy’s paradise. The dog park was a success before it was even finished!

gates were custom-made and self-closing. This entrance square had five box stays, which was a design we had used with goat fencing to prevent climbing. There were approximately thirty box stays in the whole enclosure.

The chain link fence also had to be anticlimb, so along the top we used a plumbing material called congulate and ran a wire through it so it would just spin if a dog managed to jump up and put its claws on it. There were also two other gates for a mower and maintenance vehicle to enter.

The Council then asked if we could price a similar but smaller dog enclosure attached to the big one, as a breakaway area for dogs who got overwhelmed in groups. This area also had a gated double-access entrance square.

Once we had the go-ahead and had committed to the deadline… it began to rain. And it rained and rained and rained.

The land became a soggy, swampy bog, but we started the project anyway and hoped for the best. The area became a mud bath, which quickly became our dog Buddy’s paradise. The dog park was a success before it was even finished!

We started by erecting the perimeter fencing to give us a shape and then began

“ One year on, we personally use the dog park with Buddy and often ask other dog owners for their feedback

cutting the grass inside it for the footpaths. We brought in fill to mound up the footpath and make it higher, and then placed Geotextile cloth on the fill and metal fines to create an all-weather walking track. Then, we brought in sub-contractors to install hundreds of meters of drainage while we were working on the entranceways.

Once there was a break in the weather we installed the dog obstacles, rock formations, seating, water fountains, planting and then laid grass seed.

The job took approximately three months, and we met the deadline for the official public opening.

Vet provides innovative canine sanctuary

In a recent collaboration with renowned construction firm Calder Stewart, Vet South of Invercargill has unveiled an exciting addition to its state-ofthe-art facilities in Invercargill, and D Roberts Fencing was the one to bring this great idea together.

Following extensive renovations to its Invercargill clinic, Vet South has introduced an enclosure designed specifically for dogs. This unique space offers our furry friends the perfect balance of freedom and security, allowing them to enjoy the outdoors while remaining safely contained.

Calder Stewart had the idea, and Daniel from D Roberts Fencing made a few suggestions and ideas, and a plan for the enclosure to work efficiently. Featuring a concrete base for effortless maintenance, this canine sanctuary is a testament to both practicality and innovation. The enclosure came together without any problems, and all parties were pleased with the end result.

Gone are the days of worrying about muddy paws or difficult cleaning routines

– with Vet South’s new enclosure, pet care has never been easier.

Client satisfaction, attention to detail and a damn good team

That’s basically the motto for the D Roberts Fencing team. Daniel and Kirstin Roberts and their team are passionate about their work. Understanding client needs is the first box to be ticked when an appointment is booked.

Daniel, a perfectionist at heart, started fencing in 2020 after leaving his full-time job.

He leapt at the opportunity to buy the business that he used to help with on the odd occasion through the years.

D Roberts Fencing started as a one-man band, with Daniel installing industrial fencing, working out of his garage at home, but quickly increased to seven full-time staff and purchasing a yard in the CBD.

In the beginning, Daniel was calling on friends, Kirstin and their two sons Deacon and Mason to help out when needed.

‘‘Without the help of friends, we couldn’t have done it in the beginning”.

The team is skilled at erecting multiple fence options – particularly specialising

One year on, we personally use the dog park with Buddy and often ask other dog owners for their feedback. We have only had positive responses. People travel from over 40 minutes away, sometimes weekly, just to give their dogs this experience. Dog owners have formed new friendships, and so have their dogs; some meet up regularly now. From a contractor’s perspective, this is immensely satisfying. We have now been asked to replicate this for five more dog parks around the district. We’re happy, dog owners are happy, and the dogs are happy – a win for everyone.

Article written by Angelena Davies

in commercial and residential. D Roberts Fencing source a majority of their materials from Boundaryline, Steel and Tube and Edgesmith.

It’s all about coming together and working with everyone to come up with an idea of what will work best for the client and their budget.

“Our team is the backbone of our company, without them we would not be where we are today.”

Article written by:

Fencing opportunities in war on farm invaders

Most farm fencing is about keeping valuable livestock in. But increasingly, fencing is being installed to keep pest animals out.

Last year, a 2-metre high deer fence was installed along 1.2km of undulating land on Brent and Antonia Mountfort’s sheep and beef farm at Manawahe, just up the coast from Matatā.

It’s not that Brent, the Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty president, was diversifying into venison production. Instead, in a combined project with Bay of Plenty Regional Council and QEII National Trust, the Mountforts were out to protect 6ha of bush full of rimu and four or five different varieties of rata, including some quite rare specimens.

This 6ha is in addition to another 30ha already under covenant on their property, as well as gullies, slopes and relatively unproductive areas the Mountforts have augmented or entirely planted out themselves.

Brent says some of the other bush areas are conventionally fenced, and it’s not too difficult for feral deer, pigs, goats and wallabies to get in and out. The BOP

council and QEII Trust came to the party over the latest $66,000 fencing job, not just because of the bush biodiversity values, but also to monitor just how much the higher and more robust fence offers by way of keeping out the pests.

The difference is already noticeable, Brent says.

“The deer fencing was only finished eight months ago, but I’m already seeing plants growing to an extent I don’t see in the other bush blocks.

“It’s quite incredible how quickly the seedlings and ferns have come away because they’re not being chomped by feral deer.”

Brent credits fencing contractor Scott Graham of Specialist Rural Services with doing a “gold standard” job.

“It’s important to find the right fencer; we’re talking about a considerable capital expenditure. “I had a few come and look at the project, but Scott really impressed me. He wore me out walking the site and put a lot of effort into researching what was needed.”

The Mountfort’s wanted a traditional 13-wire fence rather than the increasingly common netting fence, out of concern that ewes and lambs could get their head

“ It’s important to find the right fencer; we’re talking about a considerable capital expenditure. “I had a few come and look at the project, but Scott really impressed me

stuck in the latter, and on quite a remote part of the farm, their predicament might not be noticed in time.

He’s loath to point the finger because he understands the funding constraints, but Brent says too many browsing ungulates are coming out of DOC and council public estate to graze bush and paddocks on farms.

“We’d be in even deeper trouble pestanimal wise if it wasn’t for the efforts of farmers, hunters, volunteers and organisations like QEII.

“It’s not just the cost of fencing, there’s all the money and time that goes into planting areas out.

“It’s hugely frustrating to dig in young trees and shrubs and do your bit on pest control, all the time knowing the pests are breeding on adjacent public land and are likely to re-invade,” Brent says.

Two farms away from the Mountforts, another landowner is also in the process of installing a deer fence to keep out ungulate invaders.

Just before last year’s general election, Federated Farmers joined with Forest & Bird NZ to urge political parties to boost control programmes targeting feral deer, pigs, goats and wallabies, to stop growing mobs of the pests undermining farmers’ livelihoods.

QEII Trust Team Leader Operational Services, Ben Johnston, says they’re also seeing the negative environmental impacts of rising feral ungulate numbers in the landscape.

In recent years, QEII covenantors on bigger stations on the East Coast of the North Island have reported herds of over 140 eating grass intended for sheep and cattle. Covenants that were in great condition in Canterbury have had years of

regeneration chewed out in a few years. In Southland, one landowner removed 650 deer from their property over 18 months.

“We have heard reports from covenantors of feral ungulate pressure coming from adjacent council reserves and public conservation land, but the reality is that it is a landscape-wide issue that needs cooperation, leadership, investment and meaningful action to solve,” Ben says.

Fencing contractors and specialists have an obvious role.

QEII shares the cost of conventionally fencing new covenants equally with landowners. Due to pressure from feral ungulates, it’s becoming increasingly necessary to fence covenants with ungulate-proof fencing as opposed to ‘standard’ stock-proof fencing, which is considerably more expensive and often prohibitive for landowners.

Where landowners are willing to install ungulate-proof fencing and agree to permanent exclusion of domestic and feral ungulates from the protected area, QEII will share fencing costs 60:40.

“We’re also supporting existing covenantors to “top-up” their existing stock-proof fencing to deer-fencing through our contestable fund, the Stephenson Fund, and through our Jobs for Nature-funded deer exclusion project,” Ben says.

QEII was fortunate to receive $2 million of Jobs for Nature funding via DOC, to deer-fence and eradicate deer from selected, already established covenants where feral deer exclusion is considered the highest priority management intervention. It involves engaging fencing and ungulate-culling contractors to exclude pest deer and upgrade conventional fencing to deer-proof status in participating covenants.

Article written by:

Brent Mountfort on farm planting

Mountfort farm deer fence

Completed deer fence

Five-way yards a Magnus Opus for Eastern Otago fencer

Asked to build a set of five-way lamb weighing and drafting yards with no prototype to work with, fencer Michael Conijn of Custom Fencing had to use basic ingenuity to bring it to life.

And the end result ended up being his ‘Magnus Opus’.

The yards, built near Dunback in Eastern Otago in 2022, are 45m long, 28m wide, with a height of 1100mm, and include 43 gates in the yard and 27 gates on the lane and pens. The drenching race measures 15m by 900mm.

Built on a lamb finishing farm, the yards needed to be able to process tens of thousands of lambs a year.

Michael said the yard’s main purpose was designed around a Prattley five-way portable weighing and drafting trailer, with the main focus being a flawless flow that required only one person to weigh and draft many thousands of lambs.

“We also needed to have the ability to drench and vaccinate all these lambs.”

This was no easy task, as five-way drafters involve challenging angles for smooth stock flow.

“I asked the client if he had any rough sketches or pictures of such a yard. He had found a couple that had a curve for three-way drafting but none of a five-way, so we did our best to come up with a pen layout that would have as many options to shift stock around within the yards, to be able to have large numbers put across the scales and taken away with ease.

“It’s got as much functionality as I could conjure up.”

Michael used a quality finish wherever he could, round edge routing the top rail on both sides and tops of posts in the main stock sorting zones – the weighing, drenching, and drafting zones – and routed one top edge of the top rail everywhere else.

“We also incorporated a full-length tray in the centre of the twin drenching race, to be able to have vaccines and to have animal husbandry tools close at hand whilst sorting stock.”

The main stock use areas were also boxed and had concrete pads poured in the main stock feed curve, which covers right under the Prattley five-way drafter and twin drenching races, to aid

“ We also incorporated a full-length tray in the centre of the twin drenching race, to be able to have vaccines and to have animal husbandry tools close at hand whilst sorting stock

sure footing for stock and staff while processing thousands of stock units, plus a level surface for the scales.

In the main curved forcing pens, they also incorporated the ability to divert stock flow to a race that can have a conveyor backed up to it or an electro dip to dip stock or capsule ewes.

The race also allows stock to be run through the twin drenching race, which has an expanding race that can expand from 400mm wide to around 800mm, by way of two inlaid square steel pipes with a smaller diameter pole that slides inside at finished post height.

This can be removed and slide back in at the two different widths, which allows the drenching races to be fed from either end of the yards depending on which mob is needed to be processed first.

“The twin drenching races have five gates at each end for stock to easily fill and be let back out with ease, with the ability to either be released out of the yards or into the yards at each end.

“The project wasn’t expected to be quite as big as it ended up!

“I was told there was a bit of an outside yard to do, and then the yard became that. It just evolved from there.”

Michael had a good team behind him to get the job done.

“This project was not solely done by me. I can claim driving every strainer and post, but I have to give a lot of thanks to my offsider at the time, Charlie Mullooly, who did a lot of board fixing by himself and helped me with the entire project, and suggested good ideas along the way.”

Michael was also grateful to Garry Jones from earthmoving firm Skevingtons.

“He cleared and laid all the river gravel and spread all the lime chip dust, to aid in drainage and dust suppression in the yards.

“He also finished all the earthworks around gateways to give water runoff and smooth any humps and bumps out to make a safe free draining site for stock and staff.”

Considering it was his first crack at it, Michael was chuffed with the completed yards.

“Thanks to the Tomlinson family for letting me cut loose on them! I personally am very proud of the end result, and thought, it’s not bad for the first one I built from scratch.

“And to quote Charlie Mullooly, “that might be your Magnus Opus to date!’”

Article written by Rosa Watson

Showcasing teenage fencing talent

2023 saw Geraldine High School’s Primary Industry Academy (PIA) compete in the Fieldays® Silver SpadesTM Doubles Championship for the first time. Suitably inspired after watching Fencing Royalty compete in the Golden Pliers® Singles Championship, “Why can’t we do something like this for school students back home?” we thought.

A whole lot of making useful friends, ringing in a few (many) favours, lots of advice from NZ Fencing Competitions and BOOM, we did it. The inaugural Point Lumber Secondary School’s Fencing Competition was launched at the Mackenzie Highland A&P show on Easter Monday.

Our aim was to showcase what teenagers are capable of and provide the opportunity for students to get a taste of competition fencing. With entry criteria being currently enrolled secondary school students, we set about entering six pairs from Geraldine High School (GHS) and Mackenzie College (MC).

Specifications and Rules

• Pre driven strainers;

• 3 wire electric – 1 and 3 hot connected in parallel at each end;

• Overall height of fence: 1175mm. Wires located at 75mm, 450mm and 800mm from the top of the post, or, match Y post holes. Rammed to a height of 1175mm

• Triplex (in-line strainer) 3 ways in the third panel

• Tension wires 1 and 3 at 100kg; dead wire at 150kg

• Crimp second panel

• Figure 8 fourth panel

Time allocation and penalties: Two hours or until the first team finishes, then one point is taken off for each minute after the first team finishes. Tools down at 2 hours.

A demonstration fence was prebuilt and used to calibrate tension gauges. We had thought to dig in an intermediate post, but needing to add a wheelbarrow of water to each hole just to drive the

strainers when setting up; we thought digging would ensure we would have no future entries, hence all intermediates were Y posts.

So how did we go?

What a day! We’re super proud of what we achieved. Huge mahi by our competitors, being brave enough to perform in front of the farming community. I thought it would go ok, but never expected the crowd watching or the numerous positive comments from spectators around how awesome it was to see such capable teenagers out there doing it.

A huge thank you to Andy from Point Lumber, who were such generous sponsors; and our fabulous judgesStruan Moore from Strainrite, who always makes such an effort to support us, and ex PIA students Bryn Chisholm & Quinn Foley-Smith. Also thank you to Lydia Rae and Quinn who both gave us considerable time, helping to organise the competition plan and set up.

“ What a day! We’re super proud of what we achieved. Huge mahi by our competitors, being brave enough to perform in front of the farming community

Congratulations to our inaugural Point Lumber Secondary School’s Fencing Competition champions:

First: Lachie O’Connell & Tom Batty (GHS)

Second: Emily Geary & Lachlan Hurst (MC) (Honorary PIA)

Third: Josh Isherwood & Conor Foley-Smith (GHS)

Our Strainrite Termination knot challenge was also popular with students & spectators, with PIA once again doing us proud.

First: Lachie O’Connell (GHS)

Second: Josh Isherwood (GHS)

Third: Jackson Marriott (GHS)

Special mention to our Year 11 students, Hayley Pidgeon and Koby McNamee, and Cullen Bolt and Cayden Howell, for performing far outside their comfort zone in entering a competition after fencing for just eight weeks. Clearly some superstars in the making!

Article by Sarah Foley-Smith Geraldine High School

“ I’ve definitely still

NorthTec | Te Pūkenga Student Profile

“I’m doing the course to get a benchmark of where I’m at and improve from there. I’m the owner/operator of my company. I work for myself, and saw it as a way to upskill.”

Caleb Eady is a fencer who owns and runs his own business, Eady Rural Contracting. He’s currently undertaking the NZ Certificate in Fencing Level 3 with NorthTec, with plans to continue and complete the Certificate in Fencing Level 4 as well.

“I’m very supportive of what FCANZ (Fencing Contractors Association NZ) is trying to do with accreditation. When you’re in business for yourself, you start to realise that there are people out there who maybe don’t know as much as they should, or don’t take as much pride in their work, so it’s important to have a standard to work to. Making people do the work and learn the skills to get accredited is important.”

“I’ve been fencing for four years, pretty much always for myself. However, before that, I was working on farms and had done a lot of fencing. I already had a lot of knowledge on how fences need to be set

up, where they need to go, and how the process works.”

With a wide range of experience at his fingertips, you might think there wasn’t much for Caleb to learn on the course, which is primarily aimed at people just starting out or a few years into fencing.

“I’ve definitely still learnt a lot. It’s still worth it. There are a lot of people on the course with different experiences, so there’s always something for people to learn. It’s been good, and I recommend it to people. I haven’t regretted doing the course at all.

“The tutors are really supportive. The only difficulty was trying to take days off to come in and do the course. I’ve got a lot of work on, and I work for myself, so no one else can do it. I had to prioritise it.”

https://www.northtec.ac.nz/programmes/ new-zealand-certificate-in-fencing-level-3

Dedicated to competition fencing

What kind of person is motivated to take unpaid leave from work for up to a week, travel many miles, volunteer themselves during this time, receive some cost remuneration, and stand around in the elements to judge an industry showcase? An NZ Fencing Competitions (NZFC) Competition judge.

NZFC organises and/or supports local and regional level competitions, and there are a number of NZFC judges who travel to these events. They are a dedicated bunch, with many being ex-competitors or those who run fencing companies, ex-builders, and industry sales reps (yes, that’s you, Warren Herlihy and previously Hugh Morrison).

Fieldays® National Fencing Competitions

The set-up for Fieldays® National Fencing Competitions starts for Chief Judge Owen Petersen on the Friday of the week prior,

with layout for both the heats and the finals. Helping year after year are Fieldays® volunteers like Pete Anderson and Campbell Clarke. Norwood loans a tractor and front-end loader, delivering this on site, which is greatly appreciated in the busy, congested environment of Fieldays®.

On Sunday, there is a judges’ meeting to go over judging standards and to allocate judging aspects to the individuals on the judges’ team. The judges’ team normally consists of eight judges, plus four technical judges who carry out the strainer push test.

On the Monday of Fieldays® week, the qualifying heats take place, with the singles finals in the morning and the doubles heats in the early afternoon. While judges stand on hand observing safety, tidiness, or if a competitor calls out if they strike something in the ground, there is also some leniency in giving new competitors some direction, if required.

Once the first competitor finishes, some of the judging aspects can commence. Tension gets tested when the competitors have finished, appearance judging starts, moving along the lines. Then the technical judges come along; testing strainer push, and testing footings via an apparatus that lifts the posts and assesses the holding of the foot in the ground. There is also a sideload test on the ramming of the post, with a weight on a frame off the side of the post to measure defection.

Once a judge has finished marking their particular aspect, they collate the scores, double-check and submit their judging booklets to the scorer, who enters the results into a scoring computer system that was developed with the help of Wendy Morgan.

Over the past decade, NZFC has designed judges’ booklets for information resources and recording the scores into column grids. There has been much work on

developing the judges’ booklets, instigated by Paul Van Beers, who is on the NZFC Judges Committee, and the process to streamline the judging standards is ongoing.

Owen Petersen, NZFC Chief Judge, comments “What’s required to be a NZFC judge is a willingness to give back to the industry, be consistent in their pattern, and not biased – the focus is on judging the line number, they are not judging the person. The ability to pick up and spot the details and see something easily. Much of the judging is done by measuring, gauging and a lot of detail by eye.”

Owen goes on to say, “Fencing competitions are highly recommended to help with workmanship, self-satisfaction and improving your approach to your everyday work and systems. It’s rewarding to see these fencers develop and turn up to competitions around the regions, they seem to get a lot out of the effort.”

Written by Debbie White

Richard Brougton inspecting the battens

Kim and Owen Peterson with Jeff Joines

Craig Shorthall

Development of a World Championship Doubles Competition at Fieldays®

NZFC has been working over the past three to four years on the development of an international Doubles Fencing Championship Competition, which is proposed to be held within the Fieldays® Fencing Competitions.

The concept behind the incentive is to keep a focus on the New Zealand fencing industry and help promote the strong emphasis on industry best practice that the New Zealand fencing competition scene has embraced over the past 50 years.

With the advent of social media, we have seen an increase in the sharing online of fencing workmanship, and fencers connecting with each other from the other side of the world. We are noticing standards are lifting overseas, and there is strong interest in information sharing and improving systems.

As part of our planning, NZFC has built up relationships with several overseas competitions, who are working towards their competition winners competing in our World Championship, alongside the development of a winner’s exchange program whereby our Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Championship winners receive a prize of competing, on

a rotational basis each year, in one of the overseas competitions.

While work is being undertaken to accommodate this World Championship, relationships have been, or are being, developed with several overseas fencing competitions, including those in England, the USA, Scotland, and Ireland. We aim to discover other competitions in Australia and European countries. In the meantime, we are using the Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Championship to host these overseas winning teams in our competitions.

England competitors

The winners of the 2022 UK Tornado Fencing competition at Malvern, Mark Evans and Nic Quan, competed in the Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Championship in 2023. They were very well received by the New Zealand fencing competitor’s community.

This is a biennial arrangement and this year’s Tornado Fencing competition winners, as part of their first-place prize package, will receive a trip to New Zealand to compete in the Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Championship in 2025.

The UK’s Mark Evans and Nic Quan at the 2023 Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Competition

The winners of the 2023 U.S Platinum Strainer Doubles Championship at the East Coast Fencing Rivalry, Alex Masser and Jason Day will be coming to New Zealand and competing in the Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Championship this year, as part of their sponsored prize package. Reciprocal

In July 2024, the winners of the 2023 Fieldays® Silver Spades doubles championship – Jeff Joines and Mark Lambert, will travel to the UK and compete in the Tornado Fencing competition on 30th July in Malvern. The following day, they will attend an AFI (Association of Fencing Industries)

Fencing Field Day and carry out demonstrations on New Zealand techniques and workmanship. Along the way, they will be meeting UK fencing contractors.

It’s proposed that the 2025 winners of the Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles Championship, or the top New Zealand team, will compete at the East Coast Fencing Rivalry in Virginia in August of that year.

NZFC, as organisers of the Fieldays® Fencing Competitions, welcomes the positivity we’ve received from the

global fencing community around the introduction and development of the World Championship Doubles Competition. We are very grateful to our competition sponsors for supporting this opportunity.

Written by Debbie White

Alex Masser and Jason Day

Mark Evans and Nic Quan, 2022 winners of the UK Tornado Fencing Competition

Webinar Series BUSINESS STAPLES

Tools to support your Health & Safety performance

FCANZ welcomed Krystal Sidon, SiteWise Coordinator, to present a Business Staples Webinar on the foundations of prequalification, in April.

Visit the FCANZ Member’s hub at www.fcanz.org.nz to watch the webinar about SiteWise prequalification and learn how it could benefit your business.

SiteWise is a prequalification platform that assesses and grades health and safety systems. It is the largest provider of prequalification nationwide.

SiteWise is designed to help you when you are tendering for contract work. It means that instead of collating your health and safety information for each tender you complete, you do it once a year in SiteWise. this will save you both time and money.

As a subcontractor (Level 3 user) in SiteWise you will be able to:

• Obtain a snapshot of your health and safety system performance

• Save time by creating just the one health and safety document for tendering

• Receive feedback from professional health and safety advisors

• Use SiteWise as a framework for improvement in health and safety performance

• Access free tools and resources to support you through the prequalification process

How does SiteWise work?

Most businesses join SiteWise because a main contractor or other principal organisation has asked them to prequalify their health and safety practices through the SiteWise system, but it can be a good idea to join up before being asked.

Businesses (contractors or subcontractors) wishing to be considered for tenders complete an annual assessment on their health and safety systems, including:

• Valid Business Insurance/s

• Accident/incident reporting and investigation

• Hazard Management

• Training

• Employee and subcontractor engagement

• Health monitoring and performance

The assessments are assessed by Site Safe’s qualified health and safety professionals. Your assessment results are graded (gold, green, amber, red) and a detailed report is provided privately to you and the principal/main contractor, along with suggestions for improvement if required.

The results are published in the database, viewed by principals and main contractors including farming, residential and commercial building companies, councils and other organisations nationwide who use the SiteWise prequalification as a tool to assist with their procurement process.

For more information, please visit our website www.sitewise.co.nz or call us on 021 717 586.

Article supplied by:

Stressed up to my eyeballs

It’s 3am, Tom owns a building business, and he’s lying in bed wide awake. Tired and stressed up to his eyeballs as persistent worries kept tumbling through his mind.

‘What’s Jack (his employee) going to say when I give him that out-of-town job tomorrow? Everything’s a problem with that guy.’

‘What if the Jones payment doesn’t arrive tomorrow? How are we going to make payroll this week?’

‘I don’t even know where to start with the cancer diagnosis the parents got last week.’

We all know that too much stress long-term is bad for your health. But it affects other areas of life too, like selfconfidence. High levels of stress for long periods of time can also cause decision fatigue. Procrastination starts to creep in, and even the smallest problems can start to feel overwhelming.

There will always be some stress in business, but when it’s too much, how you manage it is vital when it’s overwhelming.

Here are some of the strategies that have helped my clients get stress back under control.

Looking the monster in the eye

Every action movie has a version of the hero’s journey. There’s a scary monster or villain you can’t quite see, seeking its next victim. Seemingly too powerful to defeat.

A hero emerges and challenges the monster. At the first encounter, the monster gets the upper hand, and our hero withdraws, overwhelmed, wounded, and defeated.

The mentor appears and shows our hero there is another way. After training with his mentor and much soul searching, he or she becomes a stronger, better version of themselves.

Equipped with their newfound knowledge and strength, our hero realises that the monster also has weaknesses. Our hero steps forward, looks the monster in the eye, and realises in that moment that with the right strategy and courage, he/she could win the day. An epic battle ensues, the monster is defeated, and the prize goes to the hero.

It’s also like that in business. I tell clients to look their monster in the eye, to see it

for what it is - no more and no less - by writing down the worst-case scenarios.

Then ask, “Can I live with that?” If the answer is “Yes, I can, but don’t want to”, then work on ensuring the worst-case scenario doesn’t happen.

If the answer is “No, I can’t”, then it’s also time to get to work doing everything possible to shift the odds back in your favour so that scenario won’t happen. Or go another way. There is more than one way to kill the stress monster.

Don’t look up at the mountain just yet

Before you look ahead at the mountain, look back to see how far you have come. If you have been in business for any length of time, there are many obstacles you have already overcome. Money challenges, getting enough work, health

“ If you’re feeling stuck and don’t know

what to do next: map out the options, then pick the best one and start moving forward

“ Just focusing on the losses will drag your confidence down and raise stress levels. So, count the wins, both big and small. Write them down and look at them every time you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed

challenges – you have fought these foes before and won. You have a business and are still trading. Many don’t get that far.

In business and life, there will always be a mixture of wins and losses. Some days you will have more wins, some days more losses. As business owners, we tend to focus a lot on the problems. That’s important because you can’t fix problems you don’t see, but it is essential to also celebrate the wins.

Just focusing on the losses will drag your confidence down and raise stress levels. So, count the wins, both big and small. Write them down and look at them every time you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

Make a plan and start moving forward!

If you’re feeling stuck and don’t know what to do next: map out the options, then pick the best one and start moving forward. Even if it’s a shift in direction, it’s easier to adjust if you are already moving. Staying where you are and hoping things might get better isn’t a plan.

A client I am working with has major cash flow problems. Before we started, he was so stressed that he didn’t know where to turn next. It felt easier to go to the job site rather than face the bigger issues like cash flow, which just meant the problems kept getting bigger. Suppliers were putting him on stop credit, tax bills were starting to pile up, and things were falling apart.

He had come through a bad couple of years, and he was running out of money fast. We calculated his cash position, and it was clear he couldn’t keep juggling cash flow, the gap was too big. He could trade out of it in 12-18 months, but that was going to take too long.

He needed cash to keep trading. So, we put a plan together, and he got to work. He’s selling surplus assets, refinancing through a broker, getting his team more

efficient on jobs and competing cashflow projections, so when he’s talking with suppliers, it’s clear who he can pay and when.

The plan will likely need some adjusting as the landscape changes, but he’s moving forward, and it’s working.

Control the controllable

Stress is a sign that your brain is freaking out about all the things that either might or are going wrong. Thoughts in your head might be something like, “Remember when the work dried up, didn’t know how I was going to make payroll. Better get everything under control NOW, or that’s gonna happen again”.

The problem is that you can’t control everything, so it’s an easy trap to fall into, putting time and energy into the wrong things.

For example, you can control how much time you spend getting new work, but not inflation or government policy. So, spending too much time on Facebook or listening to the media saying that the economy might be tanking again won’t get you any closer to a solution.

So, control the controllable, the levers that will improve your situation. Put your time, energy and focus into those, as they will succeed. The bonus with this strategy is that you will discover that you can control more than you realise.

Don’t try to carry everything yourself

You don’t have all the answers, no one does, and that’s normal.

So, talk with others who have mastered the areas you are weak in. Struggling with cash flow, then talk with someone who understands cash flow. Need more profit, talk with someone who understands margins.

Share your goals with the team and your partner. Get them on board with the plan.

Make sure you have a trusted mentor or coach you can call regularly, especially

If you are stressed out and need a better plan, then check out these options. Join our new Next Level Skool Group and get our free Cashflow Confidence Toolkit at https://www.skool.com/nextlevel-tradie or Book a free Stress Buster session with me at www.nextleveltradie/ nextstep

when problems and stress levels are feeling out of control. Getting another perspective from someone who has already been there can make all the difference.

Hit the bag, chuck the chips

Have a physical outlet to get rid of the stress in your body, such as hitting the punching bag or going for a walk. Make sure you schedule a few times a week to get rid of the tension and negative energy.

Diet is also important, so start eating healthier: food with lots of fruit, veggies and meat. Cut back on the takeaways, sugar, alcohol and chips, or even better, eliminate them completely.

Don’t do that Big Terrible Thing

I have been reading Matthew Perry’s book “Friends, Lovers and That Big Terrible Thing” and how drugs and alcohol wrecked his life and seems to have probably killed him. Such talent, it is a real tragedy.

If this is an area you are struggling in, then tell your partner, involve your doctor, and get some help now. The longer you stay on that train, the more you pay and on this train, the price is way, way too high - more than you and your family can afford.

What do you really want?

Another client has health issues that flare up when stress levels get too high. Yes, we are working on getting his businesses profitable and cash flow back on track again. But also asking the tough questions that every business owner should be asking regularly.

Can I be healthy and have the business? Is being in business still fun? Are my family getting what they need from me?

What must change to make this into the business I want? What’s my exit strategy and when would I use it?

The reality is that even the best businesses at times will be stressful. With the right plan you can minimise stress, but there will always be some.

Daniel Fitzpatrick

Hard hat safety

In New Zealand, hard hat safety is governed by specific standards to ensure the protection of workers in various industries.

Hard hat safety in NZ

In New Zealand, failing to comply with health and safety duties, including not wearing a hard hat when required, can result in significant penalties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). The penalties vary depending on the nature of the offence and the type of duty holder involved.

Here are some key points:

• Reckless Conduct: If a duty holder is found to be reckless about the risk of injury, illness, or death, they can face severe penalties, including imprisonment.

• Failure to Comply with a Duty: If the failure to comply with a duty exposes an individual to a risk of serious injury, serious illness, or death, this can also lead to substantial penalties.

• Infringement Notices: For specified offences against the HSWA or regulations, infringement notices can be issued, requiring the payment of an infringement fee, or allowing for an appeal in court.

• It’s important to note that the exact penalties would depend on the specific circumstances of the violation and the outcomes of any legal proceedings. For detailed information on the penalties, it’s advisable to consult the HSWA or speak with a legal professional.

Head protection is a vital piece of PPE!

Hard hats are the main piece of head protection that protects us from potential brain damage or other head injuries that result from the impact of being hit by falling, moving, protruding, or flying objects. They also protects the head from electric shock and weather extremes, such as UV exposure/sunstroke.

How do they protect you?

Constructed with an outer shell designed to deflect or absorb an initial impact and suspension/harness inside, which absorbs and spreads the impact, hard hats minimise the effects of a blow to the skull. Some hard hats have a chinstrap, ensuring the helmet does not fall or blow off.

Wearing hard hats correctly

To provide maximum protection, hard hats must be fitted correctly and worn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. It’s important to adjust the harness cradle for comfort and ensure total contact with your head at all times. Clothing items should not be worn underneath the hard hat as they can make the harness cradle ineffective. Use the chin strap when wearing at all times.

Compliance with standards: Hard hats must comply with the standard AS/NZS 1801:1997 (or equivalent) and should be worn at all times on sites where there is a risk of objects falling from above.

Mandatory use: The use of hard hats is becoming mandatory on most sites across New Zealand.

Types of hard hats: There are different styles of hard hats available for various types of work, including industrial, working with animals, bump caps, chainsaw use, ATV riding, high temperature, bushfire fighting, peakless, peaked, and full brim.

Attachments: Some hard hats allow for the attachment of accessories like face shields, respirators, hearing protection, and work lamps.

Maintenance

Hard hats should be stored in a cool, dry environment away from direct sunlight and heavy or sharp objects.

• They should be kept away from chemicals and cleaned regularly.

• Store in a clean, dry area, away from direct sunlight.

• Inspect your head protection at least weekly – check for cracks, frayed straps, dents, penetrations, and any other signs of damage. You may want to check with the manufacturer’s instructions for inspection.

• Replace immediately if you notice any signs of damage or wear.

• Always remove and replace a hard hat if it sustains an impact, even if damage is not noticeable.

• Clean by scrubbing, immersing in warm, soapy water and rinsing in water.

• A simple test you can do is squeeze the sides of the hard hat together and listen and feel for signs of cracking or stress.

• Your hard hat should be replaced three years after first use or five years after the manufacture date. Some suspension components may need to be replaced at intervals no longer than two years. CHECK THE DATE OF YOUR HAT. RECORD YOU HAVE CHECKED IT.

Training to use your hard hat

That’s right - you must ensure your workers are trained in the safe use, storage, care and maintenance of the hard hat. This may include:

• The hazards the hard hat may control and use for that risk

• The correct way to fit, adjust the hard hat for comfort, and use the hard hat

• How the hard hat works, its construction and the limitations of hard hats

• Instruction on which tasks require the use of a hard hat and why it must be worn

• Correct storage, cleaning and identifying of damage or wear of the hard hat

• When to replace the hard hat, regular inspections recorded

Purchasing hard hats

For purchasing hard hats or related safety equipment, you can visit your safety store. Additionally, New Zealand specifies that all hard hats must comply with New Zealand or equivalent international standards to be used in NZ.

Remember, wearing a hard hat is not just about compliance with regulations; it’s a crucial practice to protect oneself from potential hazards on the job. Always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines and check with them if you have any specific questions about your hard hat.

IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT.

Deb and the team at Rural Safe

www.ruralsafe.co.nz

Challenges facing the fencing sector

We all complain about rising prices and operating costs. Since 2020, costs have increased, driven by rising interest rates, wages and, of course, fuel. It’s tough being a fencing contractor or business owner in the current economic climate. Smarter financial management can help.

UDC Finance has provided finance to Kiwi business owners for over 86 years and has multiple locations across New Zealand. This allows us to combine wide experience with an understanding of both the local and national markets.

Business owners need to be smart with their finances. Here are some tips we’ve picked up from working with those in the fencing industry:

Cost control is key: Firms compete on price. Costs can be reduced by economies of scale – consider mergers and partnerships. Make sure you work with your financial partner to identify savings.

Invest in technology: Smart RUCs and online finance management tools not only save time, but they can also produce insights on waste and improvements.

Form a team: Get a good team of advisors, including an accountant, to develop a plan and continually monitor your progress

against it. Ensure your advisory team is prepared to challenge the numbers you put together, doing what’s called ‘sensitivity analysis’ in the finance game.

Gear depreciates: Wear and tear, and the increase in maintenance costs can affect your bottom line. It is important that you have a plan in place to upgrade your equipment versus paying upfront. The age of the asset impacts the ongoing maintenance costs significantly. Older vehicles and heavy machinery are more likely to require more complex or costly repairs, which could also take more time to fix. Equipment issues combined with warranty expiry, failing or worn engine and driveline components, brake issues, unforeseen breakdowns, lack of follow-up repairs and tyre wear can be just some of the issues you need to prepare for.

Communicate with your funder: By having open, honest conversations early on, you can work with your funder to

support delivering your plan. This can help you protect your business and ensure you are as well positioned as possible when the next upswing comes. By sharing your plan, your funder can better understand any challenges you may be facing and can work with you to overcome these.

The team at UDC would love to have a chat with fencing contractors and provide them with further information. Contact details for all UDC commercial managers can be found in the asset finance section of our website - udc.co.nz. The UDC team is located up and down the country, so you can get in touch with your local representative, who understands your region, and take it from there.

udc.co.nz | 0800 200 UDC

Best practice bookkeeping for new and existing businesses

Unravelling the roles of accountants and bookkeepers

For years, accountants have been the go-to for compliance, taxes, and discussing business financials. While bookkeepers have also been around, they’ve often been seen as redundant if you already have an accountant. So why would you need a bookkeeper when your accountant can do much of the same job?

A bookkeeper is all about the details

A bookkeeper really gets to know your business inside and out, managing day-to-day tasks with precision, and is typically the pro when it comes to systems and software. From invoicing to payroll processing, chasing debtors and filing GST, they ensure records are tidy and compliant, freeing you from administrative burdens to focus on growing your business. Freeing up your time to work ON your business and generate income is a smart business decision.

Accountants, however, focus on the broader financial picture. While some may handle detailed tasks, many prioritise overarching insights, potentially missing finer operational nuances. Nevertheless, they excel at compliance, tax management, business structuring, and providing strategic guidance.

In essence, while accountants ensure compliance and offer strategic guidance, bookkeepers handle the operational nuts and bolts, making them invaluable for business success.

Choosing the right business structure

Business structure is crucial, impacting your legal responsibilities, operations, salary, and tax obligations. Changing structures – for example, going from a sole trader to a limited company, can be relatively easy, but should be done with guidance from your accountant. Each structure has its pros and cons.

Three main structures are likely to be more relevant for FCANZ members, so let’s focus on these: Sole Trader, Limited Company, and Partnership.

Sole Trader: This is the simplest option, requiring no formal registration beyond possibly obtaining an NZBN number for credibility. As a sole trader, you own all business assets and liabilities, and paying yourself is straightforward. It’s ideal for small operations with turnover under $80,000, as compliance is minimal, though you bear all business risks personally.

Limited Company: Setting up a limited company involves registering with the Companies Office, specifying directors, shareholders and shares to allocate. Shareholders own the company, while directors manage it. This structure offers legal separation between personal and business assets, reducing personal liability. However, compliance requirements are more extensive – annual financial statements and tax returns, annual renewal of company office registrations, keeping company registers, and various other tax compliance requirements such as FBT tax, Dividends, etc.

While sole trader status suits smaller, simpler businesses, for turnover exceeding $80,000, restructuring to a limited company can offer tax advantages and provide legal protection, but entail greater administrative requirements.

Partnerships: Partnerships occur when two or more sole traders combine resources and skills for a joint business venture. A detailed partnership agreement is crucial, outlining each partner’s contributions, ownership percentages, profit/loss distribution, exit strategies, and dispute resolution methods.

There are two types: registered partnerships, which have an IRD number and file partnership returns (IR7); and informal partnerships, which don’t have an IRD number and allocate income and expenses to each partner based on percentage of ownership. Income and expenses are returned in each partner’s IR3 return, and also populated in an IR10.

Partnerships can register as employers, but partners can’t be employees without IRD approval. Legal liability is similar to sole traders, based on a percentage of each partner’s ownership. Compliance

involves partnership financials and individual tax returns.

When GST registration matters

You must register for GST once your turnover hits $60,000 in any rolling 12-month period, not just from one financial year or calendar year. We recommend voluntary registration if you anticipate reaching the $60,000 threshold early on in business, or if you want to include GST in your prices from the start. Early registration allows you to claim GST on initial expenses and assets you purchase during business set up. You can’t backdate GST claims on purchases prior to being registered for GST.

Navigating Provisional tax

Provisional tax means paying your future income tax in advance. There are currently four methods IRD use to calculate provisional tax, two of them being Standard and AIM (Accounting Income Method). If your Residual Income Tax (RIT) exceeds $5,000, you’ll need to pay provisional tax.

Standard Method: Is calculated based on last year’s RIT, plus 5%. Standard provisional tax is payable in three instalments through the year – August, January and May. You are protected by the safe harbour rule as long as you make all your instalments in full and on time, and as long as your RIT is less than $60,000. The Standard method doesn’t consider potential business growth or decline, and you may end up with a tax wash up at the end of the year, resulting in more tax to pay, or a refund.

AIM (Accounting Income Method):

Utilising accounting software, AIM calculates actual business profit or loss every two months, aligning with bimonthly GST. It’s beneficial for businesses with seasonal or fluctuating incomes, new businesses, or uncertain financial situations, offering flexibility and smaller, more manageable instalments.

While AIM’s precision aids cash flow management, only accountants can file AIM returns as they require regular adjustments through the year and have to be filed through practice software.

Valuing your time in business management

In business, your time is precious, potentially dictating whether you opt for accounting software or stick to spreadsheets. After all, none of us start a business to drown in admin tasks.

Software can be costly, but consider the time saved compared to manual management. From an accountant’s viewpoint, software streamlines recordkeeping, GST filing, reporting and tax preparation.

Yet, spreadsheets remain an option. If you choose this route, ensure your template is comprehensive, updating it regularly and backing it up with bank statements, receipts, and invoices.

Without software, accessing real-time financial reports can be challenging, hindering your business overview and financial understanding. Manual records can also create problems when you require real time reports to provide to lenders or banks.

Keeping receipts

Recent Inland Revenue updates reduce the need for detailed records for expenses under $200. For Expenses over $200, you will need to keep taxable supply information. Software like Xero can record the required taxable supply information (a combination of receipts, bank statements, supplier agreements or contracts), simplifying this process. However, we would recommend that manual recordkeepers still keep copies of receipts.

For asset purchases, follow these guidelines: Assets under $1,000 can be fully expensed, while assets over $1,000 will need to be added to an asset register and depreciated over time. Keep receipts for all asset purchases, especially if the purchase results in a GST refund. Typically, IR will query these and request verification.

When acquiring second-hand assets, the second-hand goods rule allows GST claims, even when purchasing from a nonGST registered person, as long as the asset is a business asset and will be used to generate business income.

Getting ready for year-end

When it comes to year-end and submitting your information to your accountant, it’s best to be proactive rather than wait until your accountant is chasing you.

If your annual returns are filed in a timely manner, you have more time to pay taxes and make better business decisions.

However, if your accountant requests this information, make sure you have it all ready to go!

• Reconcile Xero to date or update your Excel spreadsheet

• Carry out a stocktake

• Export PDF bank statements confirming closing bank balances

• Get together all your loan statements

• Make sure you have asset purchase information - receipts and or loan agreements

• Motor vehicle log books or mileage records

• Compile Home office expenses

• Receipts for any expenses paid with cash or personal funds

If you have a manual record system, you will also need to export bank statements for the full financial year, and potentially need to provide receipts for the bulk of your transactions.

Three methods for claiming motor vehicle expenses

Log Books: Keep a log book if your vehicle is used for business over 25% of the time. Log trips, distances, and reasons for 90 days. The book is valid for three years as long as the business doesn’t change more than 20%. Use apps or physical logs.

Claiming Up to 25% of Running Costs: You can claim 25% of fuel, maintenance, insurance, etc., without a log book. This method requires potential substantiation if requested by the IRD.

Claiming Actual Costs: Claim 100% of expenses for a primary work vehicle, including depreciation. No mileage recording is needed, but proof of expenses is required. Be ready to demonstrate the vehicle’s business use to the IRD.

Haley Reyners, Owner and Director of My Two Cents Accounting, leads a team of 14 Bookkeepers and Accountants. They offer hands-on services to businesses across Northland and New Zealand for over a decade. Their services include setup, training, business structuring, bookkeeping, cashflow management, software, accounting, and advisory support.

FCANZ offers a range of benefits and services to members in the fencing industry, whether you are looking for individual membership or a place for your company to prosper and grow. Becoming a member means you are supporting the industry and helping lift the profile of fencing

BENEFITS OF BEING A MEMBER INCLUDE:

• belong to an group that understands the industry

• use FCANZ branding to differentiate yourself

• have your business promoted on the “Find a Fencing Contractor” directory

• create industry-wide connections with unrivaled networking opportunities

• subsidised entry to industry events including Best Practice Days, National Fencing Field Day and Conference

• free Federated Farmers membership worth $499+GST

• four editions of WIRED each year worth more than $100

• 10% Site Safe trade affiliation discount And much more! Join online at www.fcanz.org.nz/join

Waratah mill tour once-in-a-lifetime experience

Waratah Longlife Blue wire is symbolic across Australian farms and is gaining a new legion of followers in New Zealand.

The huge improvements that come from the Waratah Jio post technology, which includes better installation and ductility to help contractors in the challenges that come with New Zealand’s terrain, combined with the commitment to quality, it is no surprise more and more New Zealand fencing contractors are joining the Waratah way.

As a thank you for choosing Waratah for their designs, a group of FCANZ members were recently awarded the opportunity to fly across the Tasman and experience Waratah products being made firsthand. With the heat of the steel furnace, the roar of the rod mill, the clunk of fabrication machines, and the clatter in the fence post plant, it provided the all-Kiwi team with an up-close experience like no other, into the Waratah manufacturing process.

The trip included a visit to the Wire and Rod mills in Newcastle, as well as a tour of the Sydney Steel furnace and Y-Bar Rolling Mill. Waratah NZ - Regional Sales Manager, Brendon Crequer says, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience steel manufacturing on a grand scale and it is not available to the general public – contractors will see things that they would never normally have access to.”

The quality of the mill tour experience was not lost on the visiting FCANZ members either. “It was very impressive seeing the quality on display, it was very interesting seeing how the netting was tied off firsthand” says Jarod Benbow from Limitless Fencing.

Scott Heasley has been in the industry for almost 35 years, across all aspects of the New Zealand fencing landscape, “I’m very passionate about fencing, and I like using quality gear; it was great to see where our product comes from”. But it wasn’t just the wire that caught Scott’s attention,

seeing the passion of workers who have been making these products for 20-30 years was also of particular value to him.

Allan Vaughan from Agri Fence is a big believer in Waratah “use the full system, and it really works”. He had also been wanting to find out how the knots are tied in the netting before coming on this mill tour. “The people in there were fantastic, they took us through the process in slow motion, and I could see it (the knots) being created”.

Towards the end of the tour, one of the younger contractors asked how long Waratah had actually been in New Zealand, and was quite shocked when told nearly 100 years. As you can see in this classic ad, Waratah has always had a presence across the Tasman.

After the tour wound up for the day, the group then retired back to their hotel for a dinner on the stunning Newcastle harbour.

Waratah would like to thank these key contractors for giving up their valuable time and making the trip over to Australia to learn more about Waratah’s innovative fencing systems to improve their business and help them with customers. If you’re a Waratah fencing supporter and would be keen to learn more about Waratah’s manufacturing processes, contact Brendon today on 021 393 010.

supplied by:

Article

RETAIL GOLD PARTNERS

Liberty One Steel

The earliest record we have is an advertisement in the NZ Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, issue 19048, 23 June 1936, Page 6

A Wife’s Tale

It was a beautiful, warm spring day, and we were having our weekly management meeting outside in the sun. Shaun’s eyes were bright, his grin brighter, as he made an announcement. “There’s a tender to build a fence on a remote island, and I’m going to get it!”

His eyes darted between the three of us – project manager, office manager and myself – looking expectantly for us to match his enthusiasm. We are used to these kinds of announcements by now, and we all understand what this means for us individually – a lot of work.

Shaun loves to quote. It’s the chase for him. He spent 20 years as a commercial and charter fisherman until he had an accident on the boat. The rush of catching fish is now replaced with winning a quote. The bigger, the better. He also loves adventure, and this tender ticked all his boxes.

However, this one was a bit different for me.

“Ahhh, can we discuss this privately before you bring it to a meeting, please?” I said. Stern voice. Slanted eyes.

Later that evening, I shared my concerns because this one was personal.

“Hun… we have a farm… you’ll be gone for months over spring… I can’t do this alone…”

He looked at me and replied from the depths of his soul.

“I need an adventure. I want to look back on my life with no regrets.”

[Insert gorgeous grin and a look in his eyes that made me fall in love with him 28 years ago]

“Pleeease?”

After we negotiated some details, I not only agreed on the tender, but offered to submit it. Gosh, those eyes are hypnotising.

Shaun and I divided up the tender: He would do the design and quote; I would do everything else. Little did I know what I had got myself into. I’d done tenders before, so I understood the procedure,

but this one was different. The logistics of transporting the materials, machinery, gear, staff, and food to a remote and rugged island was a murky unknown. Especially when it was via ship, plane, and barge with a crane. The customer had largely left it up to the contractor to make their own arrangements. I had to vision every little step, ask lots of questions and make some big decisions.

“ Soon, the tender was all we could think about. It became topic number 1 at dinner, meetings, and out with friends. It even infiltrated my dreams; getting a costing for flights wrong, losing money, all my fault

They said a house could be available if they weren’t using it. How many beds are there? Do we supply bedding? How do we get bulk food in? Can we store frozen food? Will there be power? Water? Washing machine? Wifi? What if they are using it? Is there other accommodation? Is diesel, petrol, oil available on the island? Will we have breaks to come home, and how many? How easy is it to get on and off the island? Is there waste management for site materials? If not, how do we get waste (materials and also personal) off the island? What if machinery breaks down? Can we hire local labour? Is it reliable? What if there’s an emergency? What if there’s an accident?

Hours turned into days, which turned into weeks spent on this tender. The more we dove into it, the more items we found to

be put into the costings. The due date was pushed out by two weeks and then another two, so I’m guessing we weren’t the only ones realising the enormity of this tender. Big companies employ people to do big tenders, and I can now see why.

Soon, the tender was all we could think about. It became topic number one at dinner, meetings, and out with friends. It even infiltrated my dreams; getting a costing for flights wrong, losing money, all my fault. The responsibility felt huge. When I shared this with Shaun, he replied, “But this is the rush of quoting, getting it all put together.”

On D-day, we had adrenaline surging through our veins. This is it! Pushing send was an immediate relief, and I went outside to lay starfish in the sun while Shaun lit a cigarette. So glad it was over. But it’s not over. It’s hopefully just the beginning.

And now, instead of the rush, it is the opposite - the wait.

And such is the nature of tenders.

Article written by Angelena Davies

Angelena Davies is a wife and mum who happens to have a Masters degree in Social Sciences. Alongside running Davies Fencing she is also a coach, facilitator and author helping children and adults to access “flow” so their lives are easier and more fun.

FCANZ Certified Fencers

A1FenceworX

Wellsford

t. 09 423 7585

e. admin@a1fenceworx.co.nz

Shane Beets

m. 027 625 5383

Barakat Contractors Ltd

Te Kauwhata

t. 07 826 4461

e. dale@barakatcontractors.co.nz

w. barakatcontractors.co.nz

Dale Barakat

m. 027 473 5513

Ben Haugh Fencing

Geraldine

t. 03 693 8088

e. info@bhfencing.nz

Ben Haugh

m. 021 523 291

Central Fencing

Canterbury e. nigel@centralfencing.co.nz

w. centralfencing.co.nz

Nigel Broadbridge m. 021 433 623

CPC Fencing Ltd

Northland

t. 09 4332644

e. cpc.fencing@yahoo.co.nz

Phil Cornelius (owner)

m. 027 274 4188

Glen Hobbs

Custom Fencing Ltd

Waikouaiti

t. 03 465 7212

e. nick@customfencing.net.nz

Nick Terry m. 021 614 100

Ewing Fencing Contractors

Oamaru t. 03 431 3864

e. mark@ewingfencing.co.nz

Mark Ewing

m. 027 498 4049

Fencing Solutions Waikato

Morrinsville

t. 07 887 5549

e. todd@fsw.co.nz

w. fsw.co.nz

Todd Sherburd m. 0274 927 337

Fensin Ltd

Taupō t. 07 825 5747

e. robertson.nd@xtra.co.nz

Neil Robertson

m. 027 474 6335

Golden Bay Fencing

Takaka

e. fourjake1@gmail.com

David Jacobson m. 027 266 7335

Grant Macdonald Fencing Service

Tauranga

t. 07 543 3486

e. grantmacdonald@mclarenfalls.co.nz

Grant Macdonald

m. 027 494 2251

Grant Scott Fencing Ltd

Te Awamutu

t. 07 870 6541

e. g.scottfencing@gmail.com

Grant Scott

Greg Burton Fencing

Cambridge t. 07 827 8765

e. gregburtonfencing@gmail.com

Greg Burton m. 027 427 8765

Higgins Fencing Contractors

Wakefield t. 03 541 9292

e. info@higginsfencing.co.nz

w. higginsfencing.co.nz

Philip Higgins m. 021 222 5033

Horton Contracting

New Plymouth t. 06 758 2217

e. info@groundupsolutions.co.nz w. groundupsolutions.co.nz

Clayton Horton m. 021 710 712

High Country Fencing Ltd

Darfield t. 03 317 8028

e. info@highcountryfencing.co.nz w. highcountryfencing.co.nz

Geoff Rogers m. 021 640 748

Jeff Joines Fencing Contractor Ltd

Kāpiti t. 06 364 2510

e. jeffjoinesfencing@gmail.com

Jeff Joines m. 027 484 4481

John Baldock Fencing Ltd

Katikati t. 07 552 0763

e. john@johnbaldockfencing.co.nz w. johnbaldockfencing.co.nz

John Baldock m. 021 176 4719

Trusts and Training Institutes

Landwork Solutions

Ōtaki e. office@landworksolutions.co.nz

Brad Joines m. 0274955693

Noksee Fencing

Motueka t. 03 5286388

e. noakesjc@gmail.com

John Noakes m. 027 446 4413

Phillips Contracting 2016 Ltd

Edgecumbe t. 07 304 8443

e. phillipscontracting@xtra.co.nz

Josh Phillips m. 027 587 3551

Renner Contracting Ltd

Seddon t. 03 577 6615

e. rennerfencing@hotmail.com w. rennerfencing.co.nz

Mike Renner m. 021 416 798

Steve Locke Fencing Ltd

Blenheim t. 03 578 1927

e. steve@stevelockefencing.co.nz w. stevelockefencing.co.nz

Steve Locke m. 021 37 1971

Steve Williamson Fencing

Timaru t. 03 686 4779

e. shwilliamson@actrix.co.nz

Steve Williamson m. 027 455 3385

Tight Wire Fencing Ltd

Taupō t. 07 378 5572

e. tightwirefencing@xtra.co.nz

Rex Graham m. 027 318 8665

West Otago Fencing Ltd

Tapanui t. 03 204 8285

e. harris29@xtra.co.nz

Grant Harris m. 0272 866 576

White Fencing Ltd

Papakura t. 09 292 8064

e. admin@whitefencing.co.nz w. whitefencing.co.nz

Tony White m. 027 495 7868

FCANZ Board

PHIL CORNELIUS (PRESIDENT)

m. 027 274 4188

e. phil@fcanz.org.nz

CRAIG SINCLAIR

m. 027 418 7693

e. craig@fcanz.org.nz

DEBBIE WHITE (VICE-PRESIDENT)

m. 027 495 7033

e. debbie@fcanz.org.nz

JANINE SWANSSON

e. janine@fcanz.org.nz

Patron

CRAIG WIGGINS

m. 027 457 6694 e. wiggyswhatever@gmail.com

FCANZ Operations Team

JAIME BIGWOOD

Executive Director

m. 021 2848 223

e: exec@fcanz.org.nz

JEANETTE MILLER

Administration Manager

t. 0508 432 269

m. 027 432 2033

e: admin@fcanz.org.nz

DONNA UPTON (INTERIM TREASURER)

m. 021 761 022

e. donna@fcanz.org.nz

NICK TERRY

m. 021 614 100 e. nick@fcanz.org.nz

HEATHER KAWAN

WIRED Editor

m: 022 630 8533

e: wired@fcanz.org.nz

Fencing Contractors Association NZ (FCANZ) is the industry body supporting the fencing industry of New Zealand.

Established in 2006, FCANZ aims to raise the profile and standards of the fencing industry, growing the market for fencing contractors and others associated with the industry, and ensuring Fencing Contractors Association NZ is the first port of call for those seeking a fencing contractor.

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

Business Directory Listing

Boost your business by being listed on the FCANZ ‘Find a Fencing Contractor’ directory, helping the public find contractors in their area. Enjoy free promotion through campaigns that attract potential clients to the directory which is visited more than 25,000 times each year!

Welcome Pack & Exclusive Offers

Receive a new member Welcome Pack which includes a branded cooler bag, hi-viz vest, hat and other merchandise.

Federated Farmers Membership

FCANZ’s affiliation with Federated Farmers gives all members a complimentary Federated Farmers membership – worth $499, including access to free legal and employment advice, group purchasing opportunities and much, much more.

Quarterly WIRED Magazine

All members receive four editions of WIRED magazine per year worth over $80

WIRED is the official quarterly publication of FCANZ, and is New Zealand’s only fencing industry magazine. Each issue contains a host of informative news, business & industry insights, human interest articles and information specific to the fencing industry.

FCANZ members also benefit from:

• Being part of a group that understands the industry

• Regional fencing Best Practice Days

• Access to free business best practice webinars

Plus, enjoy access to exclusive offers and unparalleled support from FCANZ Partners. There are a lot of benefits to being an FCANZ member, all for only $325+gst per year!

• Subsidised Annual Conference tickets

• Use of FCANZ logo to differentiate your business from your competitors

• Creating industry-wide connections through networking opportunities with members and Association partners

• 10% discount on Site Safe membership

• Free job, tool and equipment listings on the FCANZ classifieds web page

• Certified Fencer and Accredited Fencing Contractor industry endorsements to prove your quality