Image: Bart Mulder speaks at the 2024 CCNZ Hawke’s Bay East Coast Awards.
Bart Mulder joined the CCNZ Executive Council following election at the 2025 Annual General Meeting back in August.
Bart says his motivation to stand comes from a wish to give back to an industry that has supported his business and connected him with the many people in civil construction who have become his colleagues and friends.
“This is an opportunity to give back, and CCNZ is a safe space for competitors to work together for the good of the industry, and the country.
“I want to see our members succeed. It’s been tough times out there, but I think the advocacy we’re doing for the industry has never been as important as it is now.”
Another goal is to improve public perception and understanding around the importance of the work contractors do for communities.
Bart attended his first Executive Council meeting in Taranaki in August, also meeting with local branch members to hear their perspectives and find a better way forward.
“To be honest, it was less scary than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into, but I was pleasantly surprised at how welcome I was, and how easy and comfortable it was for me to say my piece.”
Originally from Hastings, Bart is a keen car and motorbike enthusiast with a collection ranging from Holden V8s to a Nissan GTR Skyline, ‘Godzilla’.
A longstanding CCNZ Hawke’s Bay Branch committee member, Bart recently handed over branch chair position to Mike Wilson of QRS Wairoa following more than five years in the role.
He first found out about CCNZ through a friend in the industry, attending his first meeting in 2008. He later became vice-chair to Rob Beale and took the reins of the newly minted CCNZ Hawke’s Bay East Coast Branch as chair in May 2019, following the merger between CCNZ Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne branches in June 2018.
Bart says the move to bring the branches together was “fantastic” and being chair has been a “really positive experience”.
“Hawke’s Bay branch didn’t really have much to do with Gisborne before that. Then it got pitched to amalgamate, and it all went down really well.
“We got welcomed by the Gizzy crew and vice versa. They were down on membership and committee members, but since the merger, it’s steadily grown. Now Gisborne is pretty strong on membership, numbers and representation.”
He adds there have been some real highlights in his time as branch chair, including developing a broad view of the industry and restructuring the branch to a subcommittee structure where people who had less time could still contribute what they needed to.
This sort of cohesion was vital for the branch, given the coming challenges of the pandemic, and later Cyclone Gabrielle. “We had a massive influx of members, first through Covid as people looked for guidance, and then through the Cyclone Gabrielle response.
“It was hard to navigate. We had a lot of people apply that had absolutely no industry experience or expertise, just wanted to buy a digger and go for it.
“We had to turn a few down. We felt that we had to keep the brand strong, and if we had every man and his dog join, that would undermine the level of quality and professionalism we needed to achieve.”
He says the Branch kept the discussion going with the newcomers, many of whom had applied for “the right reasons” but just needed a bit of guidance. Many were mentored and supported to become members as they gained capability and experience.
Now, things have levelled off after five very hectic years – as seen in the record number of awards entries showcased in November.
‘The new normal’ feels like it’s quiet, says Bart, but it’s more like business as usual, and shows the importance of right-sizing business for what’s coming.
And he has considerable experience in right-sizing a business. He started his own contracting business in 2002, working in vegetation control and arboriculture as a subcontractor for council roading and amenity teams.
He’d just returned from his big OE, travelling to Holland and Sweden to see how the Europeans handled tree care on their transport networks, following training at Otago Polytech in 1998 and a couple of years working for a local company.
“I wasn’t mucking around. There weren’t many companies to work for back then, and I wanted to have a stab at it myself and get stuck in the way I thought it should be done.
“In Holland and Sweden, tree work took a bit more care than how we did it here at the time. Things grow a bit slower over there, and I was able to bring back some really good ideas and techniques.”
The business gained capability and he now owns both Pro Arbore (a vegetation control and arboriculture contracting company) and Hi Viz Traffic Management, a specialist traffic management company he founded in 2022.
He says CCNZ provided essential support for businesses to understand what was happening and make the most of change. Now he is looking forward to giving back to industry, utilising his experience as a small-to-medium contractor to inform the industry’s direction, and make sure small-to-medium contractors have a voice at the table.
“I’d like to thank CCNZ for the opportunities I’ve had for personal and professional development so far, and I’m looking forward to my time on the Exec!”
Contractors and civil emergencies