It's a painstaking job - but somebody has to do it.
Workers from Goldfield Stone, a Christchurch-based stone specialist company, are currently in Wanganui to work on the restoration of the World War I monument at Pakaitore/Moutoa Gardens.
Several weeks into the work, the monument has reduced in height by about one-third as the workers remove its exterior cladding.
Marco Buerger, from Goldfield, said the monument was made of shellrock cladding with a core of steel rods and cladding.
It was this unstable interior that caused the monument to crack and begin crumbling, Mr Buerger said.
"The steel rods will be taken out and replaced with stainless steel rods, and the rubble with concrete."
As for the shellrock cladding, that is being carefully taken off, piece by piece, and labelled so that it can be replaced in exactly the same position on the monument.
Mr Buerger said the dismantling of the monument would take until Christmas, then the re-building would begin.
Work initially began on the monument in early 2013. The marble statue of local World War I soldier Herewini Whakarua, which sat on top of the monument, was removed at that time and is being restored separately.
The monument, commissioned by the Native Memorial Committee and built in 1925, is dedicated to all Maori casualties of World War I.
The total cost of the restoration is nearly $500,000, money which comes from the Lotteries World War I committee. However, the funds come with the condition that the work must be completed by Anzac Day 2015 - the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli.