Earthworks contractors in Mangakino
House pads and driveways for the lake sections, races and crossings on the converted farms, and the drainage that stops pumice ground washing out. Fifteen minutes from our Whakamaru yard.
Mangakino sits on Lake Maraetai, one of the Waikato River hydro lakes, and it is the closest town to our yard. Most of what we do here is lake section work and farm work on the plateau behind the town.
Lake sections, lifestyle blocks and plateau farms
Mangakino has two kinds of work. Holiday and lake houses that need pads, driveways and retaining, and the big dairy and grazing blocks on the converted forestry land around it.
House pads and driveways
Pads and driveways for new builds and holiday homes around the lake. Pumice needs proper compaction under a slab, so we build pads to the engineer's level with grade control, not by eye.
Farm earthworks
Races, tracks, culverts and crossings on the dairy conversions around Mangakino. The formation and the drainage decide how long a race lasts on this ground.
Retaining and drainage
Retaining walls on the terraced lake sections, and the subsoil drainage and culverts that keep pumice batters and driveways from washing out.
What Mangakino ground does
Mangakino was built for the hydro construction crews in the 1940s and 50s, and the ground around it is the same Taupō pumice as the rest of the plateau. Free draining, easy to dig, and prone to tunnel gullying wherever water concentrates.
On lake sections that shows up as batters and driveways that erode after a big rain. On the farms it shows up as races that slump. The fix is the same in both cases: shape the ground to shed water, put the outlet somewhere that actually runs, and compact in layers rather than tipping metal on soft ground.
Mangakino is in the Taupō District, so building and earthworks consents go through Taupō District Council, and work near the lake edge comes under regional council rules as well.
- House pads and driveways for lake and holiday sections
- Retaining walls on terraced sites above the lake
- Farm races, crossings and culverts on the plateau farms
- Land clearing and site preparation for new builds
What we take on
Civil construction is the core of it. Around that we do the earthworks, drainage and farm work that keeps a site moving.
Questions we get from around here
The things people around Mangakino ask us before a job starts.
Yes. Give us access and a rough idea of what you want and we can quote, build and send you photos without you needing to be there.
Yes, if it is built properly. Pumice compacts well in layers but has no strength loose, so we build to the engineer's level, compact with a roller and work in with your engineer for sign-off.
We are 15 minutes away at Whakamaru, so smaller jobs can usually be slotted in quickly around the bigger ones.
Still have questions?
Give Scott a call, or send the form and we will come and look at the job.
Contact us
Tell us what you are dealing with and we will come and size it up.