Rural driveway construction in Taupō and the South Waikato

Whakamaru sits where State Highway 30 meets State Highway 32, on the Waikato River hydro chain. From the yard we can be on a job in Mangakino, Tokoroa or Ātiamuri inside half an hour, and in Taupō in about 45 minutes.

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.

Tokoroa is the biggest town in the South Waikato and the closest real town to our yard. It has industrial sites, a growing residential edge and dairy farms on three sides, so we are in and out of it most weeks.

Putāruru is dairy country with spring fed streams running through it, which means crossings, culverts and drainage matter more here than on drier ground. Most of our Putāruru work is on farms, with a growing share of lifestyle block work on the edges of town.

Tīrau is the junction town where State Highways 1, 5 and 27 meet, which puts a lot of lifestyle properties on busy roads. Entranceways here have to handle sightlines and stormwater properly, not just the tanker.

Arapuni is a hydro village on the Waikato River, with dairy farms on the terraces above the lake and a steady trickle of new builds and holiday places around the water. We work the same river a few dams upstream, so this is familiar country.

Taupō is growing fast, with new subdivisions at Wharewaka, Kinloch and Acacia Bay and a lot of terraced sections above the lake. That means pads, retaining and stormwater, and a council that expects the paperwork to be right.

Tūrangi sits at the southern end of Lake Taupō, on the Tongariro River, where the Desert Road heads south. It is the wettest and most exposed end of our patch, and the jobs here are usually roading, drainage and track work rather than residential.

Hamilton is where most of our commercial and residential work sits. New growth cells at Rototuna, Peacocke and Rotokauri, a city full of gully sections that need retaining, and older suburbs being redeveloped one section at a time.

Cambridge is growing fast and it is horse country. Most of what we do here is new build work for builders and developers, and arenas, tracks and yards for the equestrian and thoroughbred properties around the town.

Te Awamutu is a dairy town with a fast growing residential edge and lifestyle blocks running out to the Pirongia foothills. The catch around here is peat in the low ground, which changes how a pad or a driveway has to be built.

Ōtorohanga is where the Waikato flats meet the King Country hills. Flat dairy land along the Waipā River, sheep and beef on the limestone hill country behind it, and a lot of water moving through both. Most of our work here is farm work.

Te Kūiti is sheep and beef country first, with limestone hills, papa gullies and the Mangaokewa running through the town. Tracks and crossings that survive a wet winter are the bulk of what we do here.

Rotorua is the eastern edge of our patch, about an hour from the yard. Pumice ground, lake sections with a step in them, geothermal areas that need care, and dairy farms on the flats around the district. We come across for the jobs that suit us.

Morrinsville is dairy country, flat out to the horizon, on the edge of the Hauraki Plains. The ground is peat and heavy alluvial soil, which means drainage is not a part of the job here, it is the job.

Matamata is horse country and dairy country in equal measure, on some of the best draining ground in the Waikato. Arenas, tracks and yards for the studs, and races, feed pads and drainage on the dairy farms around them.