WEKA LANDSCAPES

Interviewee:

Andrew Rae (Director)

Location: Alexandra

Staff: 4 full-time, 3 part-time

To be honest, I feel really lucky that we haven’t been too affected by material shortages. We have been short on timber a few times and had to go to a different supplier, but that doesn’t seem like much compared to some stories I’ve heard.

I think it helps that most of the product we use is sourced locally and, because we have a five-acre section, we can buy in bulk and have somewhere safe to keep the material. We buy irrigation from Tauranga, but there haven’t been any issues with that.

The one hold up we’ve had is with steel edging, which we buy from a local engineer. We managed to get about 30m, and need another 150m to finish, but if it hasn’t arrived by the time we’ve finished the rest of the job, we’ll put in temporary edging so they can use the area until it arrives.

The one other product that’s a bit delayed is stone, but we were lucky to get some because the stone mason we use had stocked up, so I guess it sometimes comes down to what suppliers you use and whether they are looking ahead as well.

Basically, I think we could all be a bit better with planning, and this situation has just proven how important that is.