Our History
The company was formed in 1947 by George Stevenson and Matt
Williams. They carried out residential and commercial work much the
same as we do today. Rob Cunningham the current Managing
Director of Stevenson & Williams father worked for the company
in the early days having returned from the 2nd World War
and completed his carpentry training with Stevenson & Williams.
Matt and George took in Dormer Woulfe as a partner and Dormer
worked under their direction for many years. Rob started his
apprenticeship with Stevenson & Williams in 1973 and Dormer
Woulfe took over full ownership the same year. Dormer took on John
Turnbull and Neville Black as partners. Dormer was a larger
than life character but unfortunately developed heart problems that
eventually led to him being one of the first New Zealanders to have
a full heart transplant. This gave Dormer another 12 years of
life. Paul Ritchie joined the company in 1982 as a high
performing Foreman from Downer & Co. John and Neville
took over the company when Dormer became ill and it was 1985 when
Rob Cunningham and Paul Ritchie were offered a shareholding.
Neville Black retired in 1990 which left John, Paul and Rob
managing the company. Ill health meant that John had an early
retirement in 1995 and sadly he passed away in 1997.
Rob and Paul owned and managed the company until 2006 when Gary
Turner and Warren Laing purchased shares. Paul retired in
2010 and the current owners are Rob, Gary, Warren and Jason
Esplin.
Our People
Our high quality services are derived from the combined
experience, abilities and knowledge of all members of our
staff.
We have the advantage of loyal long term committed staff members
in management, administration, on the construction sites and in the
joinery workshop.
Rob Cunningham
Managing Director
Rob started with Stevenson & Williams as an apprentice
carpenter in 1972. He travelled to Ireland on completion of
his apprenticeship with his wife Dallas to work in the construction
industry on numerous building sites. On returning to New Zealand he
continued his association with Stevenson & Williams to work as
a Foreman on various projects before purchasing shares in the
company and on completion of his quantity surveying studies left
the tools and moved into a managerial role. He is now a
Registered Quantity Surveyor and is a long term member of the NZ
Institute of Quantity Surveyors.
He has a long association with the Otago Master Builders Assn.
in particular with apprentice training in the region. He is
the current chairperson of the Regional Advisory Group reporting to
the Building & Construction Industry Training Organisation.
Rob is a Licensed Building Practitioner in the Carpentry and
Site 2 classes.
He has a lifetime of experience with Stevenson & Williams in
the construction industry and continues to enjoy working in the
contracting environment.
Gary Turner
Director/Joinery Manager
Gary was educated at Kings High School and attained School
Certificate, before leaving King's when he was offered a joinery
apprenticeship with Mitchell Bros Builders.
He completed his apprenticeship with Mitchells and was awarded
the Otago Joiner of the Year Award in 1975.
He soon became a leading hand in the joinery factory but was
ambitious and changed roles when Mitchell Bros established the
aluminium joinery company known as Mitchell Almet. Gary
quickly learnt all aspects of commercial and domestic aluminium
joinery and soon became factory manager.
After 20 years working for Mitchell Bros and Mitchell Almet he
was offered the opportunity to join the team at Stevenson &
Williams to build up their joinery division.
He has been the President of the Otago Joinery Manufacturers
Assn. and President of the New Zealand Joinery Manufacturers
Federation. He is currently a director of the Joinery
Industry Training Organisation as representative on behalf of all
Joiners in New Zealand. He is committed to the training of
young people for this industry and also to our clientele as he
thinks that he offers a personal expertise to this industry and to
our clients.
Gary has a lifetime of experience in joinery, has seen many
changes and continues to learn and come up with new ideas to make
your experience in joinery the best it can be.
Warren Laing
Director/Contracts Supervisor
Warren began his building apprenticeship with Stevenson &
Williams in 1977. He progressed to being a Foreman on various
projects ranging from commercial alterations to major commercial
projects including being the Foreman on the East Otago Community
Centre in Waikouaiti and four buildings in the Otago Correctional
Facility (Milton prison). He purchased shares in Stevenson
& Williams in 2005 and moved to the contracts supervisor role
in 2009.
He is an executive board member of the Otago Master Builders
Assn. and is a licensed building practitioner.
Warren is married to Janice and they have three adult children
and 2 grandsons. He is family orientated, spending a large
amount of time with his children and their partners and his
grandchildren. He has a keen interest in gardening and
landscape design and until a recent injury was an active
competitive squash player.
He has a lifetime of experience in the building industry ranging
from house building to commercial construction and continues to
enjoy mentoring new foremen and working within the construction
industry.
Jason Esplin
Quantity Surveyor
After completing 2 years full time study at the Otago
Polytechnic in 1989 and 1990, Jason's career in the construction
industry began with Stevenson & Williams in April 1991 where he
was employed as a Quantity Surveyor.
During the next few years he was able to study part time and
gain a New Zealand Certificate in Quantity Surveying. He is
also a Member of the New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors.
In 2009 Jason became a shareholder and part of the management
group within the company.
Jason enjoys the construction industry environment, being part
of many successful residential and commercial project teams over
the last 20 years and is looking forward to many more years with
Stevenson & Williams Ltd.
Health & Safety
Stevenson & Williams Ltd are focused on maintaining our
ability to provide a safe working environment for all of our staff
and the general public.
We have been members of the ACC "Workplace Safety Management
Practises" (WSMP) since 1997. We were one of the first
construction companies in New Zealand to achieve the Tertiary level
of compliance and have maintained the highest level during six
bi-annual independent audits conducted on behalf of ACC.
Van Signage
You may have noticed that our van signage is different to our
company logo used in all other signage and stationery.
The original van signage was hand painted by local sign writer
and ex All Black coach Eric Watson. Eric had a studio in the
corner of our workshop in Prince Albert Road and we enjoyed his
company on a daily basis.
When a new van was purchased, Eric would get out his paper
template covered with pin holes and apply powder through the holes
to mark out the logo on the van doors. He then hand painted
the logo with a variety of brushes while sitting on a box beside
the van. We had a lot of respect for Eric and admired his
work. In due course Eric retired and technology overtook hand
painted signage, however to respect the tradition of our long
association with Eric we retain his signage on the vans and will
continue to do so even though all other signage was updated and
altered in 1998.