He started off in traffic control but had quickly risen through the ranks and taken advantage of further training with the company.
This included completing a traffic site management supervisor course and attending the Higgins 'Young Fellas' Camp at Lake Okataina.
"That was really fun and a great team building exercise. I got to meet other young people my age from other Higgins sites and we did heaps of activities like going into the bush and seeing the glow worms and building mock bridges.
''They also taught us some life skills on how to budget money and tips on healthy eating.''
Matehaere is now a roller driver and is compacting metal on a new road at Waipa Mill. He plans to gain more experience on other machinery.
Higgins Bay of Plenty East manager Gerry McLaughlan said the business had taken on more staff last year due to growth.
''We took on six people due to that growth and self-delivering some aspects of the business. With everybody being so busy sometimes we can't always hire a subcontractor so we have had to look at doing more work ourselves rather than relying on others.
''I think that it's good for the community as we can bring people on and train them.''
The Bay of Plenty region had also grown with the increase in population which brought on demand for infrastructure, he said.
The latest figures from Trade Me show new job listings for Rotorua were up 6.6 per cent year-on-year compared to 2.6 per cent nationally.
Trade Me Head of Jobs Jeremy Wade said construction and roading had the biggest growth.
