OUR STORY
It started with a digger and a builder's eye.
Every civil company has a fleet list. Not many have a story where the founder spent years on the tools as a builder before he ever priced an earthworks job. That background still shapes how Rhodes works today.
2017
Footings, one after another.
Cameron Rhodes was a builder by trade when he started the company in 2017. Back then the work was slabs and ground: concrete on a finished sand pad with a perimeter footing, so Rhodes ran a small digger doing footings for the builders Cameron already knew. Do one job well, get recommended to the next builder, repeat. No advertising, just word of mouth in an industry that runs on it.
THE MARKET SHIFTS
The ground rules changed. So did we.
As engineering standards evolved, foundations moved toward gravel rafts and TC1 and TC2 ground treatment, and the earthworks under a build became a bigger, more technical job. Rhodes grew with it, adding machines, capability and crew as the work demanded, while keeping the builder's habit of thinking about what happens on the site after the diggers leave.
2021
Two more owners, one shared mindset.
In 2021, Greig Gonano and Tony Walker bought into Rhodes. They also own Doctor Plumber, our sister company, and the two businesses share an office in Hamilton. It started when Cameron did the earthworks on Greig's own development; Greig liked how Rhodes operated and wanted in. Greig brought twenty-five years of business experience and a level head. Tony brought an appetite for growth. What made it work was simpler than any of that: the same mindset about what to buy, what to build and what standard to accept.
THE FULL SCOPE
The missing piece was underground.
With Greig and Tony's drainage trade knowledge behind it, Rhodes stood up its own drainage division around 2023. That was the piece that completed the package. Commercial head contractors want less risk, and less risk means one operator carrying demolition, earthworks and drainage together, accountable for all of it. Once Rhodes could offer the complete scope, the commercial work followed, and the company has grown on it since.
NOW
A couple of thousand jobs in, still measuring once.
Today Rhodes runs a modern Hitachi fleet with GPS machine control mandatory on every job, a truck-and-trailer fleet, a transporter and a crew we're genuinely picky about. We tender with our own measures and full methodologies, we debrief every job, and we invest early in the gear and technology we think will be standard tomorrow. The plan from here is simple: keep growing, keep the standard, and keep being the contractor that gets it right the first time.
LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR SITE
Got a job coming up? Let's measure it right.
Tell us about your project and we'll come back with a clear plan and a straight price.
Earthworks, drainage, demolition, the whole civil scope, handled by one team.
Serving the Waikato & BOP
CONTACT
Phone 027 356 8170
Email info@rhodesplant.co.nz
