Coming together for the Community

CB Civil partner up with sub-contractors Earth Tech Excavation and SMP Earthmoving to create a lasting impact for locals in the beautiful Bay of Plenty.

Brent from Attach2 is onsite to catch up with Liam McCord from CB Civil & Sam Mitchell from SMP Earthmoving to learn about the how the different teams here are working together to create not only successful projects, but to invest in successful outcomes for the local communities involved. He talks to Liam McCord, the area manager for CB Civil Construction, who is running the Housing New Zealand development project. He later catches up with Sam Mitchell from SMP Earthmoving, another key contractor working alongside Liam on a community-funded project at the Wairoa River.

CB Civil and Construction is a civil engineering firm that predominantly focuses on three waters projects, but they branch out into all aspects of civil construction.

“We work typically on council projects but also hook into the private sector when needed. We have three main projects, all legacy projects at the moment, spanning upwards of a year long. We are looking to get onto the Tauranga City Council panel works in the upcoming year”. Liam explains.

Liam has been employed with CB Civil for around 3 and a half years, but is an industry veteran, having been in the business for 16. “I've been involved in both the client, consulting and construction side.” Establishing a Bay of Plenty office just over a year ago, the area branch has grown from five to around 40 staff, fluctuating with weather and bringing extra hands-on board through sub-contractors when needed. The housing development project is a key example of this.

The Omakarao housing project’s goal is to construct low-cost housing for New Zealanders who fall into the category of having a low-socio economic status – It’s a big project with big heart. Liam goes over the work that has been done so far.

“We took this site over around six months ago as a forested piece of land. Since then, we've cleared the scrub, undertaken a variety of earthworks and preloading, including an MSC retaining wall which is around 200 metres long. We're now in the summer season, which we're gearing up to hook into preload removal and into the civil works come the new year.”

The A Team

Being a predominantly earthworks job that leads into civil, CB Civil needed to surround themselves with operators who possessed particular skills. Working with both Dan X Group and Ben Pollard at Earthtech Excavations throughout the years, they brought them onboard this project to help muck in.

Liam mentions how having their particular knowledge and capabilities in both earthworks and drainage has been a real asset to their company - having them on site for this project has been essential to it’s success. “The machines that the guys have are GPS equipped with A2 hitches which enables them to undertake a variety of complex excavating works. Both have been here since the start, and they will be here until the end. Not only are they an asset to us construction wise but are great members of the team too.”

The right tools for the job

It was important for CB Civil to collaborate with key industry players to help get the project done. They also needed to make sure that both their and their subcontractor’s gear was up for the job.

Liam describes how they usually gear up their machines;

“Both our subcontractors and CB Civil equipment utilize Attach2 hitches. When we purchase an excavator and spec the hitch, we typically always purchase a dig and trenching bucket to suit. We find that the interaction between the hitch and the specific Attach2 buckets is seamless, and we would always buy the package together. We've dabbled in other hitches in the market and found that Attach2, specifically the Heli-Tilt system is superior to others on the market.”

Venturing out on the water

Liam tells Brent about another meaningful, community-funded project that his team are lucky to work on, again utilizing their industry relationships to bring in Sam Mitchell from SMP Earthmoving to help on site. The job is another big one – installing a new jetty for the Wairoa Rowing Club. Tasked with the construction of the piling, installation of the pontoon, gangway, concrete access ways and various retaining works along the riverbed, they knew they needed the right people around and the right tools for the job.

“It's a sensitive project both to the iwi, to the local environment and the rowing club members themselves and so we do our best and utmost to impress the community on the project.” Liam expresses.

Sam Mitchell, the man behind the machines from SMP Earthmoving, and working alongside CB Civil, talks to Brent about his experience of the project and echoes Liam’s sentiment of doing right by the community.

“They've had a long road getting consents to get this over the line, and with budget constraints too. We’re proud to be here. We're doing it for the community at the end of the day. We're hoping to do it with good ideas and good intention to save costs, and then we're hoping to give some money back to the organization at the end of it.”

Building stuff and breaking ground

Sam Mitchell has always had a love for machinery, from Tonka trucks to tractors and everything in between.

“There is something about burning diesel, breaking ground and building stuff with machines, it’s really my thing.” He grins.

Being in the civil game for nine years, he brings his wealth of experience to the project, and describes the challenges of working on such an integrated and collaborative piece of work.

“There's movement in the design so there's a lot of thinking on your toes and working in with the designers to make things practically possible. To date it's been good, still early stages but we're progressing well”.

Like Liam, Sam had his machine geared up with Attach2 Attachments from the get-go.

“I've got a 14 and a half tonne Sumitomo I fitted it with the Attach2 kit from Day Dot. I opted for the zero-swing option for predominantly drainage and tight spaces and deep holes. Operating and being on the ground and being able to carry all your attachments with you and interchange with a flick of a switch is just a game-changer when you're in tight spaces. It definitely makes it easy.”

The gear was not the only part of working with Attach2 that Sam was impressed with. Establishing key relationships with the service and warranty teams also proved easy when he had a slight hitch hiccup.

“We had a little issue with some hydraulic fluid coming out the breather on the Heli-Tilt. Within a few days, the boys were up, they stripped it, new seals, no questions asked. I think it was more of a maintenance thing. Jono the Attach2 Salesman was good and straight to the point. It all went smoothly.”

Sam is always up for a good challenge and envisions a long future in the industry.

“Right from the small gear to the big gear, using machines to build things is so satisfying for me.”

After catching up with Liam, Sam and later, Ben to talk about working on these collaborative projects, it becomes clear that establishing key relationships with others that share a passion for machines, as well as for the communities involved - leads to success. Not only is this success evident in the projects themselves, but on a larger scale - creating lasting impact for the Bay of Plenty locals who can enjoy them for years to come.