Building bridges all in a day's work

A new bridge is being built on a farm somewhere in the North Island. You can bet your bottom dollar that Pat Seuren and his team have a hand in it.

Four years after Mr Seuren and his wife Nicky established their new company, Katikati-based Bridge It NZ has become a strong player in the construction and refurbishment of small to medium-sized bridges.

Assembling a team of 10 qualified builders and engineers, most of them from the Western Bay, Mr Seuren is geared up to build about 40 bridges in a year, as well as underpasses and culverts.

His business doubled last year and will do the same this year. "We are growing exponentially," he said. "We began at the start of the recession; not a good time but we've come through it. It's gone better than I expected by a long shot."

The Seurens' company handles everything from design and surveying, obtaining resource consents and building permits, earthworks if needed and the actual construction - if it goes smoothly, the whole process can take three to six weeks.

Bridge It NZ builds three main types of bridges - all concrete, steel beams and concrete panels, and steel beams and wooden decks, the longest so far being 22 metres. It has completed projects for energy (exploration) companies, councils and more particularly farmers.

"I could see an opening in the market," said Mr Seuren. "A lot of bridges on farms have reached the stage where they are unsafe or are falling apart and need to be replaced.

"We are pricing from Wellington to Cape Reinga. We don't win every tender but we are competitive in the marketplace."

Bridge It NZ is finishing off widening a bridge on State Highway 1 south of Putaruru to give the milk tanker more room to turn into the dairy farm. Before that, the Katikati team installed a heavy duty, pre-made 10 metre bridge for logging trucks and loaders at Northport in Whangarei.

The team will be in Ohakune refurbishing an old railway bridge on the property opposite the big Carrot. The bridge has been out of action since the rail line was decommissioned in the 1960s but the owner now wants to use it for vehicle access to his property.

Bridge It NZ will retain the natural structure of criss cross railings and build a new wooden deck.

Next, the team will pop up in the Waikato building a 16 metre long concrete bridge on a side road halfway between Hamilton and Raglan. There's also a 12m long bridge to build on a farm near Wairoa.

Brett Harland manages the pricing and building consents, and Bert Donker, who started last month, is the project manager. Bridge It NZ works closely with Tauranga-based Tiaki Engineering Consultants who produce the designs.

Bridge It NZ has also invested in television advertising around the time of the Field Days at Mystery Creek and in October-November. The company was launched at the Field Days in June 2007, and it has crossed a few bridges since then.

The Seurens moved from Wellington to Matahui Rd near Katikati in 2004 for "the lifestyle and weather." After building a new home, Mr Seuren helped a mate build some bridges. It was time to get back into business.

Brought up in Dargaville, Mr Seuren first went farming near Morrinsville and was a sharemilker for eight years. He then bought his own herd, 400 cows, and shifted to Glenbrook.

From there, he headed south to Wellington and worked for civil engineering contractor, John Rae, which was busy installing drains and utilities such as fuel lines.

Mr Seuren went out on his own and formed P and N Siteworks with his wife. For eight years they completed a variety of council and subdivision projects, including building houses, and employed up to 13 tradesmen.

"We weren't frightened of any work," he said. During that time P and N Siteworks worked alongside bridge contractor, Juno Construction. Mr Seuren soon learned how to build bridges.

"I'm very excited about how it's all evolved; the demand has pretty much kept us on our toes.

"I don't want to gloat but we are good at what we do. We are very professional and will do what we say we'll do. 'Keep it simple', that's my motto," Mr Seuren said.