FCANZ CHIEF PHIL AND WIFE DONNA SET THE STANDARDS
Going above and beyond the call of duty is a specialism for New Zealand-based fencing contractor Phil Cornelius.
Phil, who runs CPC Fencing Ltd with wife Donna, operates right across Northland, the most northerly province in New Zealand not far from Auckland.
Both are also executive board members of the Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) with Phil having been President since 2020. Both play their part in guiding the strategic direction of the industry forward in Aotearoa, the Māori name for the country.
He has up to six crews working across Northland’s rolling hillsand forests at any one time and commented: “The feeling of satisfaction in seeing a job well done can’t be beaten. It’s just
as good seeing the customer’s satisfaction especially when you’ve delivered a project better than they had anticipated.
“There’s high standards when it comes to fencing down here and we all have to work hard to maintain those levels but it’s ultimately a rewarding job that we all love doing,” added Phil who spent some time in his early twenties ranching in Texas.
He went on “When I came back from the US I was a full-time farrier but I needed something different to do. I started working carrying out fencing contracting with my ex-father-in-law and the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it.
“CPC Contracting started up as a one-man band in 2004 but Donna and I made a conscious decision eight years later to rebrand as CPC
Fencing and really go for it as a business. We haven’t looked back since.
“We now have anywhere from 10 to 20 staff depending on what projects we have on including a specific crew focused on forestry. Each crew has 3 to 4 staff and are spread right across Northland.
“We have five tractors and rammers. We mainly run Case tractors and use Revolution 180 Post Drivers as well as two fully forestry rigged excavators, a Freightliner Argosy transport truck, an F350 dually with 11 metre flat deck and several work vehicles; mainly Mazda BT50s and Ford Rangers. It’s quite a fleet to keep on the road but all invaluable and all in use regularly.
“We also have a couple of Can Am ATVs for the crews to use as and when required. We mainly carry out rural and lifestyle fencing including eight wire conventional post andbatten fencing, exclusion and waterway fencing, lifestyle fencing for small blocks with sheep netting, stockyard design and build and post and rail of different variations.
“Anything the client wants we will endeavour to deliver. You have to be flexible in more ways than one in this game!” he added.
Phil joined the FCANZ as a general member around 2009. In 2019 he became part of the Executive Board and took on the role of President in 2020.
“I joined the Board to give back to an industry that has been good to me. It’s a great organisation that
represents hundreds of contractors from the length and breadth of New Zealand. We’re here to share best practice and make sure those high standards are maintained for thebenefit of our customers.
“Donna is also on the Executive Board. She has a rural banking background with 20
years experience with Rabobank and is now the National Training Coordinator for the NZQA Level 3 and 4 Fencing Certificates. She is the training liaison between FCANZ and Te Pūkenga (the National Tertiary Education Provider).
“Currently she is working on aligning the FCANZ Career Pathway with a Managed Apprenticeship for the industry. FCANZ see this as a key mechanism for fencers going forward in NZ.
“I oversee the day to day running of the association alongside the rest of the board and the operations team and help guide the direction and implementation of the strategic plan we have in place to keep the industry going forward. I am the face of the Association when it comes to media and interviews,” concluded Phil.
It’s hard to know how Phil and Donna find the time for their myriad commitments and responsibilities with FCANZ and CPC Fencing Ltd but that’s the point. They’re both going above and beyond the call of duty for the good of fencing in this wonderful part of the world.
www.fcanz.org.nz cpc.fencing@yahoo.co.nz
