RAHOTU DAIRY SHED - Tim and Jane Flemming, Rahotu

Over the 25 years we’ve expanded our farm from 210 to 600 cows and increased the landholding up to 200 hectares.  But we were still milking in the original shed built by my Dad in 1968.  It was well and truly time for a new shed on a better position on the farm.

We’ve gone from two herringbone sheds to one fully automated rotary.  The efficiency gains have been huge.  The farm is easier to operate now the shed is in the right spot for the cow flow.  We spend less time milking and the cows will be out feeding quicker.  Plus a good shed helps us attract and retain better staff.

This shed was four years in the planning.  We wanted to do it once and do it right.  We looked at lots of different sheds and different builders, all around Taranaki and the Waikato.  But we kept coming back to 3 or 4 sheds that Kodesign had built for successful local farmers.  The sheds looked airy and robust and they had stood up to the harsh coastal wind and salt spray conditions.

In the end Kodesign’s project management and dealing with all the subbies that really made the deal for us.  We’re not builders, we’re paying the money and we didn’t want to have to do all that.  We got quoted a price from the local builder that was much cheaper but we just didn’t want the stress of running the job and farm.

We could see from our research Kodesign would do a quality job. Rocky and Ben knew and recommended the work of their subcontractors.  And I knew Kodesign were not going to cut corners on their product – you get what you pay for.  Kodesign specialises in cowsheds so we trusted them to know what works.

Overall we’d say Kodesign were highly professional. Their staff were polite and easy to deal with.  The initial quote and payment plans were really well laid out and easy to follow with everything itemised.  That made it easy for the Bank manager and us to plan ahead financially and the job finished on time and on budget.  We let Kodesign get on with the job but they were always open to our ideas, like the plastic grating (fibre mesh) we found online. Ben didn’t just say - that’s not in our plan we don’t do that.  Instead he did his research, found it was good product and now they use it in other sheds.  Plus Kodesign added value with customisations like the layout of the office area and the flexible yard design which gives us so many options for managing the herd.

The final word from Tim:

It’s a pride thing – people admire our Kodesign shed and that makes you feel good.