Prior to meeting his wife Jose, Fletcher Cranfield didn’t know what civil construction was, or how roads and bridges were built.
Like many in the sector, Fletcher Cranfield of Wanaka Civil didn’t start with road construction knowledge, but family connections meant he ‘fell into’ contracting. And once he discovered the industry, he found it was a perfect fit.
Fletcher was elected to the Civil Contractors New Zealand Executive Council at the Annual General Meeting in August.
He studied commercial law and management at Victoria University of Wellington, where he met his wife-to-be, Jose Wilson. Finishing their studies in the mid-2000s, he and Jose embarked on their ‘big OE’, travelling through Europe.
Fletcher landed a job at Lloyds Bank in London, one of the UK’s oldest financial institutions. But when the Global Financial Crisis struck, his career in high finance was dented. He returned home to New Zealand in 2009 with Jose. They had seen the world, but financiers were downsizing or facing regulation, and Fletcher was disillusioned.
He wanted to work on something practical and family connection provided a key opportunity. Jose’s father Dave Wilson owned The Roading Company, a road construction company working across the lower South Island. Fletcher made his start in civil construction working a paddle on stop-go for ten weeks – and discovering a passion for roading in the process.
“Prior to meeting Jose, I didn’t know what civil construction was, or how roads and bridges were built. But I found I quite liked what was going on amongst the graders, rollers, and watercarts. I thought I’d give it a go.
“I went back to Wellington, went to WelTec and did a two-year diploma in civil engineering. Jose went back to uni too and did chemistry.
“We said whoever got the highest paying job, the other one would follow.”
It turned out they went together. Jose got a job at Kinleith Mill in Tokoroa, while Fletcher landed a graduate engineering role in Tauranga. His role as a consultant lasted a year, but a desk job designing mining roads in Australia wasn’t Fletcher’s dream. He wanted to get back into the action.
Becoming a contractor
After working on a Higgins project, Fletcher realised how much he liked being on site. He landed a role with Higgins’ Taupō branch in 2012.
Higgins was a family business at that stage, and he remembers Bernie Higgins stopping in regularly. Fletcher’s role was that of a generalist and he got broad experience in a business with its own asphalt plant, a bitumen sprayer, two maintenance contracts and three capital works crews in land development.
The fast pace, the broad range of roles and the immediate nature of the work suited Fletcher’s calm temperament and can-do attitude.
“Being a grad engineer for a contracting company, you’re thrown in the deep end left, right and centre. I was doing quality control one day, contract management the next and on the tools the day after. It was good exposure. And I was becoming a contractor.”
Eventually, the time came for Jose to return to her southern roots and an opportunity came up for Fletcher to get involved in the family business. He returned to The Roading Company in 2015 as a skilled Project Manager, soon stepping up to be General Manager.
Fletcher looked after the Otago business alongside longstanding CCNZ Southland Branch Chair Regan McRandle, who managed the Southland Branch. Times were good. At its peak, the company had five crews, three mobile crushing plants and around 40 staff.
But in 2019, Raewyn and Dave Wilson wanted to move on from the business and Fletcher wanted to spend more time with his young family. A plan was made and The Roading Company was sold to Downer.
Fletcher stayed to ensure a smooth transition and there was good support within Downer but, ultimately, he wanted to hold his fate in his own hands and stay local. In 2020, he set up Wanaka Civil as a project management company.
His timing was good. He had no staff when the pandemic hit and the business survived just fine. At the end of 2020, he could see a lot of opportunity. A subdivision tender came up, and he won a construction project on a tight timeframe and a promise not to let the developer down.
Fletcher bought a grader and was humbled to find people wanted to ‘back the underdog’, support his vision and get behind the business. So, Wanaka Civil successfully delivered Hikuwai Stages 4 and 5 – and has never looked back.
Jose’s brother Henry Scott-Wilson bought into the business in 2022 as co-owner and Project Manager. They bought a second grader and hired more staff. Family-owned Wanaka Civil has now become a fully-fledged pavement contracting business with 12 staff and prequalification to work on New Zealand Transport Agency and local authority projects.
“Our focus is quality,” says Fletcher. “We don’t have ambitions to take over the world – we’re happy being pavement specialists. It’s about being agile on the job, and our people being good at what they do.
“We’re in a really good spot now. Financially secure, good forward work programme, a great team. Everyone goes out and they enjoy doing what they do on a day-to-day basis.”
Moments to be proud of
In terms of projects, Fletcher says he’s proud to see projects like the Hanley’s Farm development in Queenstown come together. He remembers tendering on the project in 2015, when he went to the site to have a look – and couldn’t find it, just a paddock with trees and cows.
With 1,400 plots to go in, the last road was delivered a decade on from that visit. Fletcher is proud to have been ‘a small part’ of the project, working across three companies and many crews that have contributed to it.
“You’re working big days and long hours, but it’s the people that make it special. Now there are shops, playgrounds, daycares and we’ve been part of building a community. I find that pretty satisfying.”
Giving back
At 40, Fletcher’s passionate about the power of sharing knowledge and learning from others.
His first encounter with CCNZ was at the Wairakei Conference in 2015. In some ways, it was the organisation’s first conference following the merger between the Contractors Federation and Roading New Zealand in 2014.
He’s been inspired by the genuine connections he’s found through CCNZ and seen the value since. Connecting with others facing similar challenges means “you always walk away with something good”, he says.
With Wanaka Civil operating smoothly, it felt like “a good time to give back”, so he put his hand up for the CCNZ Executive Council to contribute at an industry level.
He’s heartened to see a focus on delivering real value for members, is enthusiastic to see the membership base expand and sees real opportunity, not least in a value proposition project the organisation’s working on.
Fletcher feels CCNZ is undervalued despite its “immense potential”. He wants to encourage younger staff and new people to get involved in events and branch meetings, so they can get behind the industry, “jump on the journey”, understand the wider industry and take the opportunities on offer.
He’s also looking to better connect with schools and career seekers, so opportunities are visible and accessible, and others can take a path many don’t realise exists while they’re at school.
“We’ve got a small talent pool in NZ, and we’ve got to tap into things like EPIC and Civil Trades and work to connect with schools and career seekers, especially in a region where everyone wants to be a pro snowboarder or jetboat pilot.
“It’s a brilliant industry we work in. I started in stop-go 12 or 13 years ago, and it’s enabled me to get where I am today. I want to show other people it’s a path they can follow. No matter what your interest is, there’s something for you in civil. Find your place and you’ll never look back.”
A close-run race