Quality Roading Services

Winner of the Supreme Business Award, sponsored by Pan Pac Forest Products Ltd

The judges said:

The overall performance of this organisation was consistently high across the evaluation criteria.  The judges were particularly impressed at the overall commitment shown to supporting a team environment and the managements encouragement for their people to maximise their capabilities both in the workplace and personally.  Incorporating objectives such as stakeholder relationships, sustainability, and health and safety into the strategic plan has resulted in significant improvement in these areas of the QRS operations.  Their proactive approach to continuously monitoring their objectives and making changes when necessary shows they are actively working towards strengthening their direction, community contribution and future growth.

Quality Roading and Services is a civil contracting, construction, infrastructure and roading company in Wairoa.

Owned by Wairoa District Council (WDC) we employ around 90 staff and work on multiple civil construction projects at any one time for local and national customers. The company is 27 years old.

The past three years have been our company’s most transformative and under the leadership of chief executive Nigel Pollock we’ve recorded our best financial years.

A key to the success has been the growing relationship between QRS and WDC. In 2020 the established relationship helped both entities weather the unusual trading year. After the lockdowns and the very busy time in the months that followed, we wanted to see if we could earn ourselves, WDC and Wairoa increased recognition and credibility by entering a business achievement award.

Entering the HB Chamber of Commerce Business Award felt a bit like carrying out an internal self-assessment. It required our company to get a sense of what kind of impact we were having on the wider community and gave us a chance to assess our own 2020 achievements.

Winning the Community Contribution and then the Supreme Business Award was an added bonus. We have been able to leverage off the win sharing our success with potential customers, staff, and existing stakeholders. We used it as a platform for a recruitment campaign and a push for new work. We even launched our first branding video off the back the award. At a more personal level we recently employed someone in a leadership team role who told us he forwarded his application only after reading of the win.

The win has also been enjoyed by all our existing staff – each of whom has been able to bask in the shared glory that comes when the company you work for earns wider industry respect. In a unique exercise to gauge emotions after the award announcement we were thrilled to read messages of positivity, shared emotion, and pride.

After savouring that moment in November 2020 we quickly refocused inwards. We continue to invest in our people, the future growth of QRS, Wairoa District Council, and beautiful northern Hawke’s Bay where we live, work, and play.