Like most rural kids, Tristan Graham drove tractors and diggers at a young age and grew up around machinery.
Now, the 37-year-old is the owner and operator of TG Contracting, an earthworks business. Tristan was raised in a large family on a small kiwifruit orchard in upper Tākaka.
“I guess coming from a large family we had to be a bit more independent,” he says, “however I was the same as most rural kids and drove tractors and diggers at a young age and grew up around machinery.”
Tristan's first job was for the forestry sector in the Tasman region where he completed a Certificate of Forest Harvesting. “The forestry work included a lot of digger work, so I learnt heaps and liked the type of work,” he says.
Tristan says he is ‘ambitious and enjoys challenges’ so when the opportunity came up to own his own earthworks business, he jumped at it.
“My father was a great help when I started out, he was always in the background helping and a solid bookkeeper.”
Ten years on and earthworks remains a core part of the operation, however five years ago Tristan expanded to meet local agricultural needs which has kept his team busy. “I really enjoy contouring paddocks and basically making rough old land into nice productive grassland,” Tristan says with a smile.
“Now we do the whole lot. I have really enjoyed the Maize planting, a lot of rough paddocks that needed cultivating and sorting out.” He also says that the variety of work his company now does keeps it interesting for all the operators and has offered some a chance to learn new machines, tools and skills.
The journey hasn’t been without its challenges and Tristan says. “It’s not like it used to be. There’s a lot of red tape for us these days, especially around waterways. They are definitely making it harder for farmers. There’s been massive changes and the impact from the increased compliance means people are more cautious about what they are doing.”
Tristan says that he’s happy with how things are at the moment, and he has no plans to scale back.
“Things are good and I’m still enjoying it. Seeing my kids in the gear and what they are able to do in it is incredible and they are both great operators.”
Tristan says: “I’m realistic that as time goes on it will only get harder for people to get established in business, so I’d really like to hope that one day my boys will be interested in taking over. My boys are a lot of my drive, they enjoy the machines and trucks just like me and I want to see them carry on enjoying it.”
