“I'm just a typical small town young Māori boy from Moerewa.”
A Northland man has set a goal for his construction company to become the first Māori tier one construction firm in New Zealand, and is taking as many whānau Māori along for the ride as he can.
David Reid (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine), 34-years-old, grew up in Northland, and was 16 when he moved away from home to Auckland to pursue a building apprenticeship.
After an almost 20-year journey, including a stint in prison in his late teens, Reid is the proud founder of Reid Building, a construction business in which the majority of staff are Māori.
"I'm just a typical young Māori boy from Moerewa. A guy from Auckland offered me an apprenticeship when I was 16 and I moved away from home to Auckland."
He now has 40 employees based across Northland and Auckland.
Reid said that starting a family turned his life around following his time in prison.
“It was actually having a child. Once you're not responsible for yourself people tend to change. That was definitely the case for me," he told Te Karere
"What I would say to anyone, and it's all I say especially to all the young guys that jump on with us too - it's just about working hard and if you actually show that you can work hard opportunities open up. That's what I've always found."
Reid is aiming for his business to become a Tier 1 construction company - an accreditation that sees companies get work on the largest and most significant infrastructure projects - by mid-2023.
At present, his crews work on an array of different construction projects, including social housing.
Their latest project is transforming the Kaikohe RSA into the new Ngāpuhi health centre.
“It's really cool to be a part of it, especially on the social housing side you know there’s some people in some pretty hard-up situations."
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