When Colin Ledgerwood was laid off from a senior transport operations job with a local body organisation seven years ago, he decided he would rather work for himself.
Colin and his wife, Maureen, leased an "extremely run-down" eight-unit motel on the North Shore.
In seven years they have built the Olive Tree
Motel in Browns Bay into an attractive and successful business. "I had this idea running a motel was somehow glamorous," says Maureen.
"But the first three years were quite hard. I didn't know I would end up being a skivvy working till all hours," she says cheerfully.
But the Ledgerwoods had a friend running a motel, and despite early reservations, they knew what they were letting themselves in for.
The biggest negative with the Olive Tree, that it was run down, turned out to be a big plus. Despite the gardens and trees being overgrown and casting a gloom over what were unappealing units, it was a successful business.
"We thought, if it is doing this now, it will do even better once we have refurbished," says Colin.
The cost of refurbishment was worked out and spending justified to their bank, with an increase in the motel rates. The Ledgerwoods moved from Papakura to Browns Bay and started refurbishing the units in June, when occupancy rates were low so there was least disruption to business.
The downside was that, while they were working long hours, a lot of money was going into building the business up but little coming back as revenue.
Adding to the pressures, a big clearout of the overgrown gardens and trees set the Ledgerwoods on a war footing with neighbours. Some had opposed the motel being established in the residential area 23 years before.
Revenue from the motel is split three ways - "one-third for the landlord, one-third for running the motel, and one-third for us".
Initially, the Ledgerwoods aimed to do up the motel and move on to another with a good capital gain after four years, but they felt settled in Browns Bay and opted to stay.
Neither of them hankers for the days of being wage workers, but they are pragmatists and do not rule it out. Colin renews his bus driver's licence each year so there is always something to fall back on.
