ADVERTORIAL
A special celebration is in the pipeline for Thames Drainage & Digging, who first swung open their doors in 1975.
The Deverill family company will celebrate 50 years in business serving the community and beyond on March 21.
Owner operators and brothers Shane and Brett Deverill run a tight ship with a team of six.
The brothers joined their parents in the business around 30 years ago, assuming full responsibility about 10 years ago when dad Peter retired.
Drain laying, drain unblocking, and earthmoving services, installation and maintenance of septic tanks, effluent systems and filters and wastewater plants are some of the services on offer from the team at Thames Drainage & Digging.
“We go all over the Peninsula – [Thames], the Hauraki Plains, the Kaiaua Coast. We cover a pretty reasonably big area,” Shane said.
“We pretty much go anywhere and do anything.”
And that’s been a rule of thumb for Thames Drainage & Digging since the beginning.
It was 1973 when Peter and Maureen Deverill shifted to Thames.
Peter, a plumber, noticed an opportunity to transition into drain laying “and that’s where it all started”, Shane said.
And with that, Peter, alongside Colin Brokenshire and Dave Dunlop, established Thames Drainage & Digging in 1975.
Even though Dave and Colin departed from the organisation, Peter and wife Maureen carried on the business, and are still directors today alongside sons Shane and Brett.
The brothers worked for their parents during the school holidays, and when they graduated from school – they worked in different jobs and explored different places, before heading back to be part of the business around 30 years ago, Shane said.
“I spend most of my time in the office looking at jobs and pricing and stuff. And Brett runs the job with the guys. That’s kind of it in a nutshell.”
But the consistency of Thames Drainage & Digging stands as a milestone in its own right.
The business has more or less “chugged along just quietly”, Shane said.
In terms of machinery in the early 70s, there wasn’t much around.
They started off with an old Cranville digger, and also had a digger built for them called a Ferret, Shane said, which they had for many years before they got their first tracked excavator.
Thames Drainage & Digging now boasts a fleet made up of two different sized excavators, trucks, a water blasting unit, cameras and a telehandler – which has a big bucket, a jib for lifting and forks, and is the biggest one in the area, Shane said.
“And we’ve just replaced our big digger last year. So that’s like brand new from last year.”
It was clear Shane, Brett and the team were proud of the steady growth. “We’ve grown quite a bit over the years – and now we’re turning 50.”
But a key factor in the business’s longevity is the unwavering trust and commitment from its clients. The team of directors and staff at Thames Drainage & Digging wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported and chosen to work with them for the past 50 years.
“We really need to thank our ongoing loyal customers that have been with us for a long, long time. We have a few of those,” Shane said.
The main goal for the next 50 years was simple: to just keep going and carry on providing a good service to our customers, he said.
– By Davidda Hikatangata
