Life Member profile

Always doing his bit to encourage young people into the industry and willing to share his knowledge with other plumbers, Brian Foley is a deserving recipient of Master Plumbers Life Membership.

Brian Foley has been in the plumbing industry for over 50 years and says he hasn’t seen it this busy. COVID-19 might have put the brakes on many activities in 2020, but not so for renovation work. “We had a record 157 jobs in four days here at our Dunedin branch in August,” he says.

Brian is, of course, referring to Foleys, the biggest plumbing firm in Dunedin, with 10 branches around the South Island and in Palmerston North employing more than 220 staff.

Happy to help At 80, he still works in the business, going in each morning to do pricing work on the home dialysis systems the company installs for Dunedin Hospital—around two a month by Brian’s reckoning. The systems are a life saver for many people in the region, as they can use them overnight, enabling them to carry on with their working lives during the day.

Helping others is something Brian loves to do, whether it be carrying out jobs for health and disability support service Enable New Zealand, sharing his knowledge and advice with other plumbers, encouraging apprentices in their new careers, or even rescuing stranded motorists with his 4-wheel drive on snowy days in Dunedin.

Commitment to Master Plumbers He has also been heavily involved with Master Plumbers for many years, serving on the national executive for 20 years, with a term touring around New Zealand as national President in 1996.

Brian joined Master Plumbers in 1962, not long out of his apprenticeship at his father Albert’s company. “My dad purchased the business in 1934, having got together the money to buy it from doing

Brian receiving his Master Plumbers Life Membership award from son Craig, who is the current Chair of the national organisation.

a lot of reconditioning work on gas mains after the Napier earthquake,” he recalls.

“I took over running the business at 22 when my father had a heart attack and had to step back. I told him I was flat out building a house and had just got engaged to be married, but he said, ‘You’ll manage’.”

And manage he did—building the business from two to 70 by the time he retired from full-time work. He says a turning point in the company’s growth came when he hired a lady to do the wages in the evenings and answer the phones by day. He told her to bring her knitting as she might not be very busy. When she retired, she told Brian she never did manage to get any knitting done.

A great deal changed in the industry during those years, he says. “When I started, we were threading pipes and wiping lead joints. Copper for wastes and water came along soon after but we still had to plaster drains with joints before rubber rings came into use. Then plastic pipes arrived and gee that was good.”

“I took over running the business at 22 when my father had a heart attack and had to step back. I told him I was flat out building a house and had just got engaged to be married, but he said, ‘You’ll manage’.”

Receiving the award Brian is married to Cathy, an occupational therapist. He has three children, with son Craig becoming a director of Foleys along with Chris Sutherland in the late 1980s, and Sarah Alcock in 2005. Craig’s son Nathan has also just qualified as a plumber, working for Foleys in Dunedin.

Equally passionate about Master Plumbers, Craig is the current national Chair and was delighted to present his father with national Life Membership at an Otago branch meeting in July. Brian says he was honoured to receive this rare award, which came as a complete and “very, very nice” surprise.

One of only a handful of living members to hold Life Membership, he was nominated by members of the Otago Master Plumbers for his long-term support of Master Plumbers, for his willingness to share his knowledge and for being held in such high regard by other members around New Zealand.

When he’s not working, Brian is quite likely to be found tinkering on his vintage Ford Model As, taking part in car rallies, or singing bass in the Royal Dunedin Male Choir. He is also active in the Dunedin South Rotary Club.

Brian has a wide network of friends, made through his many years of attending the Master Plumbers conference. Very often, those friendships have benefited others, assisting skilled people into jobs and encouraging new blood into the industry.

As Brian puts it himself: “Helping people feels so good.”

Foleys Christchurch plumber Mike Hudson working on a bathroom renovation for @MoochStyle.

ALL IDEAS WELCOME

Foleys are a company that embrace gets feedback and if their idea is a ideas. “We don’t just say we welcome winning one, they receive a token of ideas, we have great processes to appreciation.” ensure that all ideas are reviewed, During the recent lockdown, Foleys responded to, documented and— proactively asked staff for ideas for where applicable—actioned,” says things they could do post-lockdown. Marketing Manager Tracy Pleasants. “We figured while some of our teams

When you have 11 branches across were not able to work under Level New Zealand, there is immense 4 restrictions, maybe their ‘ideas possibility to generate ideas. “In our brains’ were in overdrive and we Dunedin, Christchurch and Central could use this to our benefit,” says Otago branches we have Ideas Tracy. “We were extremely humbled Clouds,” explains Tracy. “They are by the number, breadth and ingenuity stuck on the wall of the smoko areas displayed in our staff’s responses. and we post questions and our teams “As a management team, we don’t can write responses, anonymous have all the answers, all the time. or otherwise! Every quarter in our Lockdown proved to us we have company newsletter, we ask for a fantastic team who can provide more ideas and every six months amazing ideas, because they are we publish all the ideas alongside a on the ground and constantly status of where they are at.” seeing ways to improve or do things

All ideas are reviewed and, where differently, or finding opportunities applicable, investigated further. Some for us. We remain extremely grateful are quick wins, some more in-depth. for embedding this culture into “We always ensure the idea originator our company.”

We’re hiring!

Is it time for a change? Foleys are currently looking for qualified Plumbers and/or Gasfitters across many of our 11 locations. 3rd & 4th year plumbing apprentices looking for work due to Covid restructuring are also welcome to apply. Full-time/Part-time/Casual / Seasonal roles available. Details are available on Trade Me Jobs, search Foleys, or by calling Lisa on 03 478 8009.

Millars Plumbing & Drainlaying Otautau Ltd

Are looking for a Gasfitter and or Plumber with a current Practicing Licence. The successful applicant will have to have good communication skills and excellent knowledge of products and plumbing practices. Be able to work unsupervised, have the ability to problem solve, be honest & trustworthy. We service a large country area, involved in maintenance and new work, servicing commercial and domestic clients. We are a family plumbing business operating in Southland for over 32 years. We are located at the bottom of the South Island and are two hours’ drive from Queenstown—the adventure capital of NZ—an hour and a half from beautiful Fiordland and Te Anau, and twenty minutes from the beach at Riverton. If this sounds like you, check our business out on Facebook and apply today in writing with attached CV to millars.plumbing@xtra.co.nz Graeme 0274340705

The cost to place a classified advertisement is $60+GST for Master Plumbers members; $100+GST for non-members. Email advertising@masterplumbers.org.nz