Local business aims higher

Upper Hutt business, Agricontracts, is aiming higher.

The long time grounds maintenance specialists recently got that much bigger too, having bought a massive new cutting machine.

The 11-tonne New Holland Tractor and custom-built shelter belt trimmer can top hedges and trees up to 14 metres high.

‘‘And with and vertical cuts we can go to another three-metres agan,’’ managing director Dean Munn said.

‘‘It was a significant investment for us, but it will allow us to do a lot more work,’’ he said.

‘‘Previously we could reach seven metres so we are more than doubling the height of the work we can do,’’ specialist operator operator Jaden Munn said.

The Melbourne-built trimmer is the only one of its kind in the Wellington region.

‘‘The blades run at 1600 revolutions s a minute with a 240 kilometre an hour tip speed,’’ Jaden Munn said.

‘‘It was serious money but we’ll get plenty of years of work out of it,’’ he said.

Based in Nicolaus St, Trentham, Agricontracts does a lot of contract work for the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

‘‘This machine will be great for that but with the extra capacity we now have we are really looking to expand where we work and what we do,’’ Dean Munn said.

‘‘We’ve had a lot of inquiries already about the new machine.

‘‘The word soon gets out about what you can do,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re going to be doing shelter-belt jobs in Otaki and Masterton soon.’’

‘‘But also in Upper Hutt there will be more work for us, especially in the rural areas which we have so much of.

‘‘Our first job with this new machine was in the Mangaroa Valley, near the primary school.’’

‘‘We cater for a very diverse range of clients in locations ranging from regional and local parks, hospitals and schools to farmers, vineyards and people on life style blocks and commercial sites.’’

The family business began as a contract grass mowing operation in the early 1990s in Upper Hutt.

After buying Agricontracts in 2002, it is now one of Wellington’s oldest established large scale grounds maintenance companies.