14/10/2026
Hey guys
Wrote a bit of a review of the last 10 years.. it’s been busy!
Hire Smart: 2016–2026
2016
● Started buying brand-new machinery for the hire fleet, including a brand-new Hitachi ZX200LC-5 excavator.
● Established a strong machinery importing and sales operation, importing and selling machines from Japan at a rate of up to one machine every six weeks.
● Continued carrying out a wide range of contracting work, including building horse arenas, farm realignments, residential section work and drilling holes for house foundations.
● Began a period of extensive hands-on work across contracting, machinery, engineering and equipment hire.
2017
● Partnered with Kelly Armfield on the Mangorei Road section development, a project that continued through to 2019.
● Won the Health and Safety Excellence Award at the TSB Business Awards.
● Designed and commissioned the Smart Puzzle asset management app. What started as an innovative project developed into a fully fledged operating tool that we still use every day. The product went on to win awards in its own right and commended by Worksafe.
2018
● Continued replacing hire fleet equipment with machinery imported from Japan while maintaining the machinery sales and importing business.
● Purchased a Komatsu D61 bulldozer.
● Won a major excellence award through HIANZ, presented by Sir Graham Henry. A fantastic achievement — although, disappointingly, it didn’t result in an All Blacks call-up!
● In one of the more unusual experiences of the journey, Grant Cudby and I removed a washed up pod whales from Kaupokonui Beach.
2018–2022
● Completed a huge range of engineering and fabrication projects using parts and equipment acquired when Porters moved yards from Hamilton to Hunty. We had truck loads and truck loads of parts and equipment.
● Built and refurbished equipment for resale, including towable rollers, dump trailers, buckets and a range of other machinery attachments.
● Designed and custom-built specialist equipment, including root rakes and picks.
● Continued combining practical engineering skills with the ability to identify opportunities, turn surplus equipment into useful products, and create additional revenue streams.
2019–2026
● Started training apprentices and have put three apprentices through their training over the past seven years.
2020
● Grew the hire fleet to more than 50 machines.
● Navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and all the associated disruption, uncertainty and general bu****it that came with it.
2020–2023
● Replaced a substantial proportion of the hire fleet with brand-new machinery.
● Invested millions of dollars in more than 15 new machines, significantly modernising and upgrading the fleet.
2021
● Entered into a partnership with Grant Cudby and Grant McEwen.
● Purchased a substantial crushing plant in Thames, then decommissioned it, transported it to Taranaki and began the major task of rebuilding it at HireSmart.
● Established Smart Aggregate and began crushing and screening operations at Surrey Road.
● Purchased a brand-new Powerscreen Warrior 1200 mobile screening plant — a significant investment for the newly formed operation.
● Rebuilt a truck and two trailers to transport rock for the quarry.
● Began supplying and carting rock, a business activity that would expand across the North Island over the following years.
And in December 2021, I temporarily abandoned all sense of self-respect and honour and purchased a CAT loader.
2022
● Purchased a late-model used Powerscreen PT300 mobile crusher in late 2022 — the biggest single-machine purchase I had ever made at that point.
● Continued developing the quarry operation, machinery fleet and associated transport capabilities.
2023-2026
● Sponsored the Wolverines Sports Club and New Plymouth Rangers to help get kids involved in sport.
● Sponsored the New Plymouth Mountain Bike Club with metal for the local bike park.
● Continued investing in machinery, infrastructure and the development of Smart Aggregate.
2023–2024
● Rebuilt the finishing screen and three conveyors, including designing and constructing a 17-metre hydraulic stacking conveyor.
● Continued improving the crushing and screening plant to increase production capability and operational efficiency.
2024
● Took delivery of a brand-new Hitachi ZX210LCH-5 excavator.
● Rebuilt two Volvo articulated dump trucks for quarry operations.
● In December, took delivery of a brand-new 34-tonne McCloskey S130 screening plant, which would soon become a key part of the planned wash plant operation.
● Completed the massive rebuild of the 24 × 36 jaw crusher purchased in 2021. The crusher was transported to Wiremu Road, commissioned and ran exceptionally well.
● In December, purchased Kells Quarry at 1017 Wiremu Road. This marked the beginning of another major undertaking: cleaning up the site, rebuilding infrastructure and developing the quarry into a productive operation.
2025–2026
● Designed, built and commissioned a custom wash plant and secondary crushing plant.
● Developed an integrated operation capable of producing a range of quality aggregate and sand products.
● Continued supplying and carting rock across the North Island, expanding the market reach of Smart Aggregate.
● Undertook extensive work to clean up, rebuild and develop the Wiremu Road quarry following its acquisition.
● Continued investing in plant, equipment and infrastructure to improve production and expand the range of products the quarry could supply.
2026 —
● Made a major push to upgrade the transport fleet, purchasing a Mack tip truck and a Western Star with 2 axle tilt deck, 3 axle heavy transporter and Tipulator tipping trailer.
● Purchased a Hitachi ZW310 wheel loader.
● Purchased a massive 30-plus-tonne Tesab screening plant, further increasing the quarry’s processing capability.
The personal side of the journey
Behind all the machinery purchases, business awards, contracting jobs, engineering projects and quarry developments, there was another challenge happening at home.
I had two kids who, unfortunately, didn’t sleep properly for the first two and a half years of their lives — five years of sleep deprivation in total.
Looking back at everything listed above, dealing with that was at least 100 times harder than any of it!
Building a business is one thing. Trying to do it while raising a young family and surviving years of broken sleep is another challenge entirely.
Looking back
From importing machinery from Japan and building a hire fleet to more than 50 machines, developing award-winning asset management software, training apprentices, supporting local sports clubs and ultimately building a substantial quarrying operation, the journey has involved constant investment, hard work and plenty of calculated risks.
Much of the equipment was not simply purchased and put to work. It was transported, rebuilt, modified, engineered, commissioned and made productive through a huge amount of hands-on effort.
The journey has evolved from machinery hire and contracting into a broader operation spanning equipment hire, machinery sales, engineering, transport, crushing, screening, aggregate production and quarry development.
And throughout all of that, there has been a family to raise, a team to develop and a business to keep moving forward.
Ten years of hard work, major investments, setbacks, achievements and a fair bit of bloody-minded determination.
And we’re still going.
Thanks to all the staff, clients, helpers and family!
