Michael Price

Bird Built is a locally owned and operated company known for delivering high- quality building services in the Canterbury region since it was established in 2015.

The friendly, tight-knit team of experts builds new homes, architectural homes, and townhouses effectively, every time.

The Bird Built team has exceptional workmanship, communicates well, are fast and efficient, pays lots of attention to detail, and is passionate about all builds – big or small – nothing stops them from doing the best job they can in new builds, building renovations and/or alterations.

Bird Built director and qualified builder Cameron Bird and their administration and office manager Abby Ley formed the company together.

Abby is also the Canterbury chapter of NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction) secretary. When growing up, Cameron always enjoyed being hands on and doing practical activities.

After a couple of years of overseas experience in London, he got to experience the building industry more and enjoyed it so much that he naturally went to get a building apprenticeship, when he got back to his hometown in Christchurch.

Being so passionate about the building industry led Cameron to eventually create the business.

Bird Built employs its own team of hardworking builders, which means they can administer and have the same people do all sorts of different tasks, which helps the team build their confidence and skills.

As a small team, Cameron is onsite most of the time doing the hard work with his fellow team members.

The fun thing about working in a small team is everyone knows each other well and clients can get to know the team, as they get to see the same faces each week onsite, Abby says.

Cameron and Abby have a genuine, reliable, and practical approach when on the job, so clients can reach them easily.

Their projects are personally managed and completed by them so clients will always feel at ease knowing they’re dealing with Cameron and Abby directly.

Bird Built doing exceptionally well means the team will continue to provide quality workmanship, professionalism, and customer service, Abby says. She also shares what they’ve recently done to improve their organisation skills.

“We started using Rave Build (a project management system) about six months ago, which has improved the way we manage builds. The schedule in the system enables us to secure trades well in advance.”

In the future, the Bird Built team hopes to continue to be a family-owned company with a reputable reputation known for its high-quality building services in the Canterbury region.

What makes Bird Built so unique compared to other building companies is it’s more of a boutique building company, as Cameron is often out onsite most of the time, Abby says.

“When building with us you deal with just Cameron and I, and Cameron being the builder is across the whole build and not just sitting in an office somewhere, he’s involved in the day-to-day progress of the job.

“We try to just treat people (customers, trades and supplies), how we would like to be treated.

“We operate on what we say are ‘old school values’ such as never being late, doing what we say we are going to do, respecting everyone on site from clients to delivery drivers to the council inspector, and not cutting corners.”

Abby and Cameron also share what they find is the most enjoyable thing about owning and operating Bird Built.

Abby loves the process of seeing a blank section come to life, communicating with various groups of people involved in building a project, and creating a home that will be dearly appreciated by someone for many years, she says.

On the other hand, Cameron says he also enjoys the process of a project and the gratification he gets when Bird Built played a big part in building a beloved home.

By Natasha Parrant
Canterbury Today

One of the main barriers preventing women working in the trades includes a lack of support.

Many companies in the trades claim that they are inclusive and support women working at their companies, but they don’t have anything to show for it.

At the bottom of its website, Bird Built displays the BCITO icon which reads: “supporting women in the trades” and pictured is a female gender symbol with a hard hat. Bird Built administrator, Abby Ley, is the embodiment of that symbol for the company.

Reflecting on her experience on the tools, Abby says, “It gave me great insight and understanding on how a building site runs and the process of how it all comes together.

“In the last few weeks, I’ve been on the tools again because we had a really busy patch. I like the variety and don’t mind putting on the boots to help the team.

“Cameron and the team have been so supportive, it’s certainly helped me to really understand the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of a builder.”

Abby’s experience on the tools gave her a sense of confidence and an understanding of work sites that many other administrators don’t have.

Also, she’s feels more in tune with the team as Abby says, “Usually, behind the desk, the team might only see you once every few weeks and communicate via phone and emails.

“But being onsite, you get to know everyone on a more personal level, it’s been really great.”

At Bird Built, the team’s cooperation and values cross over to how the business is run.

Bird Built strives to be professional and approachable at all times, whether it’s replying to emails promptly, keeping sites tidy or welcoming people onsite.

Abby says, “We try and put ourselves in the customer’s shoe and ask ourselves: what would we want from our builder?

“What would we expect from our builder in this situation? The answer then leads to the right action to take.

“We treat all of our customers like they’re going to be a repeat one,” she says.

“We don’t want to just build a house for someone once, we want them to come back and do another one or recommend us to their family and friends”