PlaceMakers brings home Hardware Awards

Three of PlaceMakers best and brightest were recognised at one of the building supply industry’s most prestigious awards nights

The 20th annual Hardware Awards was celebrated at Shed 10 in Auckland, with a crowd of 500 people gathering to mark the occasion and Scotty ‘Sumo’ Stevenson MCing the evening. All of the winners demonstrated a passion for the industry, their commitment to providing quality customer service setting them apart from the competition.

Trade Account Manager of the Year winner Rowan Wade, of Mt Wellington, was one of three PlaceMakers account managers nominated for the award.

Rowan joined us almost 13 years ago, aged 15, and has been an account manager since 2012. On the morning of the awards, he had to give a ten-minute presentation to the judges about what he saw as the three biggest issues facing the building industry, and how he was addressing them.

“I saw the quality of labour in the industry and supply chain issues as being two of the biggest,” Rowan says. “To ensure my customers have no supply issues, I work hard to keep the lines of communication open. I outline lead times from the start of a project and make sure customers are updated throughout.”

A recurring catchphrase Rowan used during his acceptance speech was “excellence never sleeps”, which sums up his commitment to working hard alongside customers, to ensure their supplies arrive on time, every time.

PlaceMakers Cranford St branch – Christchurch won the Trade Store of the Year award for the second time in three years, and branch operator Ken Jones says it’s a reflection of his team’s focus on the entire trade process. 

“We want to be the easiest store to do business with in the market,” says Ken. “From when we first make contact with a customer, to when we deliver product on site, our business is focused on the complete process and making it as easy as possible for them.”

He says that creating that type of culture in the workplace requires buy-in from everyone, starting with himself.

“I want our business to be one that people like dealing with, and I’m passionate and determined to provide that,” he says. “We provide a range of different training courses, from product training through to developing management skills. It’s about driving each category of the business to perform without any roadblocks.

“We’re also very fortunate to have a customer base that lives and breathes the same culture as us. Despite being a large branch, we’ve retained a family culture.”

Retailer of the Year went to Dale King, PlaceMakers Cook St bramch operator. Dale was pleased to accept the award, which he says is recognition of his team’s hard work.

“This award is as much for them as it is for me. I work hard to employ the best people possible for the job,” he says. “We do a lot of training and are focused on helping our customers build better.”

Asking customers what they need, rather than assuming, is an important part of the team’s success, says Dale.

“Communication is important and it means we’re easy to deal with from a customer point of view,” he says. “PlaceMakers customer service promise is also an important part of what we do. While it is PlaceMakers wide, I’m committed to making sure we deliver on the promise for our customers.” 

Three other PlaceMakers team members were finalists for awards:

Trade Account Manager of the Year: Chen Li
(PlaceMakers New Lynn)

Trade Account Manager of the Year: Damien Hermond
(PlaceMakers Mt Manganui)

Young Retailer of the Year Award: Ian Gare
(PlaceMakers Cromwell)