10 YEAR MILESTONE
PRESTON HIRE welcomes Steve Bowden to the 10 Year Club.
1. When did you start?
My first day was the 22nd January 2007 and the guys who employed me lasted 3 days.
2. What are the roles you have had at Preston Hire?
I started as a “Boilermaker/Site Foreman” when we were still doing a couple of structural steel jobs. I quickly moved into the operational role where I ran the workshop, continuing the structural steel jobs and still fabricating Superdecks. I was also coordinating the deliveries and returns of the Superdecks with 2 trucks. After a couple of years, I was asked (told) by Mr Serg to move into the sales role which I had always resisted but it proved to be the right choice
3. Most memorable moment(s) at Preston Hire do you have?
There has been too many to list here but initially being promoted after 2 and a half months, then working with the construction team of Watpac for multiple tricky projects of the One Central Park project, crashing the server and spreading nasties through the group (that’s a bad one) but most memorable is kicking off our NZ business last year which is now in great hands with Sean running the show.
4. Current major task:
Currently I’m in the early stages of setting up a branch in the ACT and surrounding region. We want to copy the model of NZ and eventually have a local run the business. Next one I’m going to tackle is NASA and setup a Moon base but finding a local may pose an issue
5. What major changes have you seen in the business:
As above when I started we were still fabricating Superdecks, we haven’t done that in about 8-9 years. We had 2 cranes in PN a 285 and an old 345, PQ had the same. Now we are pushing 90. The group consisted of PN and PQ with Trevor running PQ and dipping his toe into the North American market. Now we are fully national and have good operations in NZ and North America. Staffing has also exploded with this growth; I remember our group meetings could be held in the Silverwater boardroom with a telephone link up with PQ and took about an hr. Now we have 40 or so people in a conference room which on a few occasions has gone over 2 days. Our sponsorships and Charities work has also increased bringing great brand awareness to our group.
6. What makes a Preston Hire person?
First thing, you must look good in Yellow (see attached) and it must be the right Yellow RAL-1012. You also need to be quite flexible (in mind, not body) as things can and do change quite quickly. Having a good sense of humour help and being focussed on client satisfaction.
7. What advice would you give new employees?
Answer emails quickly, particularly the ones from Markus and Dave. Seriously though, I’d say do your job and do it well and you’ll have no problem getting on. This is a great company with great people running it and Preston Hire is here for the long run