About Base
Contracting
Base Key Personnel
Scott Sutherland
General Manager
In July 2024 Scott took over the reins from Julian as General Manager for Base Contracting. With over 18 years’ experience in the Civil Construction Industry and working on various projects around the Southern Lakes area, Scott has developed good relationships and integrated himself into the community. As the General Manager Scott runs the day-to-day operations, finances, staff organisation and business development at Base. Scott has a New Zealand Certificate in Engineering Civil and a New Zealand Institute of Management Certificate in Operational Leadership.
Chris Murdoch
Operations Manager
With over 30 years’ experience in the Civil Construction Industry and working on various projects around the Southern Lakes area, Chris has worked as a Site Supervisor and a highly experienced Machine Operator, on various large projects at Base. He taken to the role as Operations Manager very quickly and has developed strong relationships with the team, Contracts Manager and key suppliers throughout the region. As the Operations Manager, Chris overseas the day-to-day plant and resource operation requirements for Base.
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Brodie Flannery
Project Manager
Brodie has recently started with Base and taken on the role of Project Manager. He has been the Project Manager on the Parkins Bay subdivision project in Wanaka and now is running the Hogans Gully Golf Course project here in Arrowtown. With over 6 years experience in the Civil Contracting industry he has worked on a variety of jobs in the Central and Southern Lakes region, mostly on civil, drainage and subdivision work. While doing this Brodie has formed good relationships with different clients from around the region. As the Project Manger he oversees the day to day running of the project, as well as looking after the financials and making sure that construction programme is being achieved, while keeping the client in the loop to insure smooth running of the project. Brodie has a New Zealand Diploma in Engineering Civil.
Matt Southgate
Project Engineer
Matt has worked at Base for the past 4 years, starting as a labourer then drainlayer which helped to develop his skills and understanding to move into the position of Project Engineer. With over 4 years’ experience in the Civil Construction Industry and working on various projects around the Southern Lakes area, Matt has developed great client relationships and integrated himself well into the local community. As the Project Engineer he runs crews on site, as built/ basic set out, organises sub contractions and performs quality assurance on works to ensure smooth running of the projects.
Jeff Grieve
Surveyor
Jeff started out Surveying in Christchurch in 2011 immediately after the Earthquakes reestablishing benchmarks throughout the city. After a few close calls with aftershocks he made the move to working for an earthmoving company building large scale irrigation schemes throughout Canterbury, Otago and Southland. In 2014 Jeff immigrated to Canada and worked in Oil and Gas and some Highway redevelopment. He returned to NZ in 2018 and spent 6 years on new subdivisions in the Christchurch area, before making the move to the Queenstown area in May 2024, to join Base.
Michael Stroud
Site Supervisor
Michael Stroud Site Supervisor. Michael has over 20 years experience in the civil construction and mining industries both in New Zealand and overseas, Michael, who is born and bred in the Wakatipu Basin, has good insight, local expertise, and solid relationships with key suppliers throughout the region. As the Site supervisor, Michael overseas the day-to-day operations on site, he also has experience in Project Manager roles.
Murray Forward
Site Supervisor
Murray has over 35 years’ experience in the Civil Construction Industry in and around Queenstown Lakes district, he has integrated himself into the community and is Chief of the Arrowtown Fire Brigade. Murray has invaluable knowledge of contractors, council, and the Wakatipu Basin Environment. Murray is a highly experienced and skilled Machine Operator. Due to Murrays experience he is well qualified for projects on steep terrain that require a certain depth of understanding. Murray has a wide range of qualifications including a national certificate in water and drain reticulation and New Zealand Forest service.
Andy Gillies
Fleet Manager
Andy has over 27 years’ experience working in the road transport, mining, and construction industries throughout the world and in New Zealand. As the Base Fleet Manager and Workshop Lead, specialising in Komatsu and Mercedes machines, Andy maintains a robust scheduled maintenance program for all Base plant and equipment, his attention to detail and breadth of knowledge and vast experience has made him an integral part of the Base Team. Andy has an Automotive Engineering certificate specialising in Road Transport.
Jay Hull
Health and Safety Supervisor
As the Health and Safety Supervisor, Jay supports the day-to-day health and safety requirements for all Base projects, while ensuring compliance under the Health and Safety at work act 2015. Jay maintains a robust health and safety system to ensure health and safety of all Base staff. Jay has a NEBOSH diploma in Health and Safety.
Courtney Jones
Business Support Manager
Courtney is the Business Support Manager, with a background in business and administration across various industries from Hospitality, Tourism, Property Maintenance, and Engineering. From these different industries Courtney has gained extensive knowledge in the smooth running of an office. This role is essential to support the overall day-to-day office management, company-wide business development, accounts, project support and HR employee requirements.
Quality
Base has a significant amount of experience ensuring quality and compliance in regard to testing and certification. Base has a clegg hammer and scala penetrometer with a clear testing procedure, that is used for testing each lift/chainage of trench. The testing procedure can be adapted for any testing regime as specified by our clients. At Base Work Instructions (WI) and/or Inspection Checklist (IC) are used to control the work and verify compliance with the quality requirements.
Safety and Wellbeing is important to Base, at the end of each day we want all our staff and subcontractors to go home safe and healthy and we want to continue to provide services for our clients incident free. Our dedicated Health and Safety Supervisor supports Base in compliance, internally and with any requirements set out in our clients Health and Safety Management plans, for works on site and relevant legislation included in the Health and Safety Work Act 2015.
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Base develops comprehensive Site Specific Safety Plans, Task Analysis and Safe Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for all our projects, tasks and equipment, these outline hazards, associated risks and methods of control.
BASE Team
Base Contracting Ltd is a medium sized civil contracting company with 40+ full time employees and an extensive fleet of Komatsu Excavators, Mercedes Trucks, Loaders, Rollers, various Small Plant and Utilities.
We are a multi-faceted contracting company undertaking large earthworks, drainage & utility services, trenching, excavations, installation of reticulated services, subdivisional developments, retaining structures, rock walls, rural property development, ponds & water features, roading, demolition and high alpine re-vegetation projects.
With a well-established team of ‘can do’ contracting staff and management, Base Contracting’s experience and work portfolio is extensive.
Training and Development
All our team and subcontractors are trained and assessed by our internal Connexis and NZTA approved trainer and assessor.
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Investment in our employee development and training is important to Base, our key staff attend regular Leadership courses, and we also support our employees through their apprenticeships, licenses, water retic, drainlayer certifications and engineer qualifications.
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