The Duncan brothers in New Zealand are continuing a family legacy of earthmoving, with Caterpillar machinery forming the beating heart of their businesses
Based in Wanaka in the Central Otago area on New Zealand’s South Island, twin operators Kane and Blair Duncan are continuing to build their family’s earthmoving legacy through their businesses Maungatua Contracting and Summit Civil.
For the Duncans, earthmoving runs in the blood with both sides of the family tree having worked in construction and associated industries across the Otago region.
With Kane and Blair’s paternal grandfather Murray Duncan having set up Maungatua Contracting in 1960, the business was taken over by their father Robert. With his passing in 2020, Maungatua Contracting is now being run by Robert’s wife Lynette and son Kane while Blair has set up his own business – Summit Civil.
For both, working on civil construction and road building in and around Wanaka, Cat machinery is the brand of choice to help them tackle a wide range of tasks – often in challenging mountainous terrain.
Local pride
Both sides of Kane and Blair’s family tree were involved in the development of the Otago region of New Zealand, from digging coal to building hydro dams and mountain passes.
On the maternal side, Kane and Blair’s great-grandfather Nick Harliwich founded Harliwich Carrying Co. in Roxburgh in 1906, which was continued by his son Ken Harliwich – Lynette’s father.
Harliwich Carrying was involved in mining coal in Roxburgh – carting it down to Beaumont, before the building of hydroelectric dams in the area prompted the move into civil earthmoving.
“When they built Roxburgh Hydro Dam, that set my grandad, Ken, up with a lot of machinery,” Blair says.
“In 1949, when Ken was 17 years old, he got his first bulldozer, a new Cat D4R, and the family still has this machine.”
On the paternal side, Kane and Blair’s grandfather Murray Duncan set up Maungatua Contracting in 1960, originally focusing on crushing, quarrying and gravel supply. After their father, Robert, qualified as a civil engineer in the 1970s, Maungatua made the move into civil works, with Robert and his brothers working on building the Lindis Pass between 1976 and 1981.
Once Kane and his brother Blair were old enough, they too worked at the family business during school holidays – helping out with manual labour on the site from 14 years old.
After gaining their Diploma of Civil Engineering at Otago Polytechnic, the brothers went on to work for Fulton Hogan and Multiplex before eventually coming back to the family business.
After their father, Robert, died, they continued Maungatua before Blair decided to set up his own business, Summit Civil, in May 2022, while Kane continues to run Maungatua Contracting.
Continuing the legacy
Maungatua Contracting, now employs 22 staff and covers a wide range of civil construction works.
“We’re predominantly a civil construction company, so we’ve got two drainage crews that do wastewater and stormwater gravity lines,” Kane says.
“We also do bulk works and cut out as well as road building and maintenance.
“We have a Kenworth truck to transport bulk waste and aggregate for the business. Then we’ve got a ski field crew who do snow clearing and maintenance grading over the winter months. In summer we do trail work and road maintenance.”
Cat machinery has long formed the bulk of Maungatua’s fleet – supplied by New Zealand dealer Terra Cat and its predecessor Cat dealer Gough, Gough & Hamer.
“My granddad [Murray Duncan] had a lot of RD4s and D2s back in the day,” Kane says.
“Then they bought a few D5s and D7s. My father bought one of the first excavators that came out – a 225. We also had a 951 track loader, which he did a lot of work with as well.”
One old Cat machine, a 1958 12C grader, Robert bought from a Ministry of Works auction and he spent three days driving it back home. The machine is still in the fleet, having been restored in 2018.
“A couple of my uncles enjoy starting that up and taking it for a drive,” Kane says.
“It was used for snow clearing back in the 90s, up to when my father bought a Cat 12G.
“We’ve also got an old 951 track loader that’s still operational.”
Currently the Maungatua fleet is made up of 24 Cat machines. The 11-strong excavator fleet includes two 302.7 mini excavators, two 305s, a 306, a 315, three 325s, a 330 and a 336, in addition to two 730 dump trucks, a 299D2 CTL, an 815 compactor, two 938 loaders and two 12M graders.
When asked if he’s had any favourite Cat models over the years, Kane says that the D Series excavators were a favourite with his older operators.
“We’ve had a few 320D LRR excavators and they were awesome machines to put in the rugged terrain around here,” he adds.
“They were just quite stable, long track machines with plenty of power.”
New pastures
Having decided to set up his own business in 2022, Blair now runs Summit Civil, undertaking a wide variety of civil works in and around Wanaka, from clearing snow on ski resorts, to building dams and digging sewers.
“We’re doing earthworks at the moment – a 48 million litre dam for [ski resort] Cardrona, which is about 58,000 cubic metres of solid rock,” he says.
“We’re doing a 93-lot subdivision in Hawea as well – everything from earthworks, drainage services and grading through to laying the topsoil and planting the trees and grass. The only thing I don’t do myself is the concrete and blacktop.
“We do a lot of smaller stuff as well – if someone rings up wanting a water connection or a sewer connection, we’ll go and do that and do a bit of council work, mainly the Three Waters jobs.”
He says he often goes for the work that falls into the ‘too hard’ basket for other contractors.
“It’s the challenge,” he explains, “but it’s also down to risk and reward. You might spend a week doing what everyone else does or you can make the same money in one day by doing something more specialised.”
Blair says his fleet has 14 Cat machines that run from a couple of older machines through to next gen excavators.
“I’ve got a Cat 143H grader, which is probably my favourite machine, and a Cat 320E, which is an older digger,” he says.
“There’s also a 30-tonne Cat 328D, which is solely for drainage digging, as well as 305, 313, 315 and 325 excavators. I’ve got a Cat 140 grader on Cardrona – that pretty much lives up there all year round, doing snow clearing in winter and road maintenance in summer – and I’ve got 950K and 962M wheel loaders.”
Tech support
Both Kane and Blair say that older operators may still prefer the hydraulic controls of past models, but advancements in tech such as Trimble’s machine control has been a positive for both businesses.
“Maungatua Contracting was one of the first customers that bought a Cat D7 with a Trimble machine control kit,” Kane says.
“This made jobs a lot easier, especially subdivision roads and earthworks, just knowing you had the 3D design in there.
“We’ve got 13 machines with GPS on, and every operator is always keen to make sure it’s working right and calibrated in, so they’re only trimming things out once and know where they’re working.
“We also use the VisionLink monitoring platform on the website for getting data on utilisation hours and job boundaries and geofences, and it also means that service reps get sent out when it’s time for a service.”
Blair adds that he put GPS onto his Cat 305 next gen excavator and that, along with the increased precision, it can be a draw for younger operators.
“I was right on the cusp of operating machinery without machine control and then seeing it come in,” he says.
“There is an art to operating machinery and construction is an industry that is undervalued. Having the machine control come in is appealing to a lot of the younger kids, because they have a video game background, and they like their touchscreens.”
Terra Cat
Kane says that the strong reputation and longevity of Cat machinery is the reason why he and his brother continue to buy the brand and expand on the legacy of their family’s earthmoving history.
With strong resale value and its proven ability to take on demanding work for decades, Kane adds that the support of Terra Cat across the region means Cat is always a great choice when deciding on his next purchase.
“We’ve worked with some really good guys there that have been there for over 30 years now,” he says.
“Their support has always been there. They’ll catch up with us every couple of weeks, check what we’re looking for and let us know what’s available.
“Caterpillar always leads the market with technology and servicing. It also lasts – we’ve had a few machines that have gone over 10,000 hours and they still go just as good as a new machine.”
Blair agrees, calling Caterpillar the Rolls Royce of machinery.
“They offer a premium product and Dad always had Cats. I’ve mostly only driven Cats my whole life,” he says.
As for his own fleet, Blair already has plans in place for adding more Cats to the business.
“I’ll get a 335 excavator and a 150 grader is due to arrive in April, which is a 3D mastless machine,” he says.
“After that, I’ll probably get a new 275 CTL as well.”
For more info on the Caterpillar range available through Terra Cat, visit: www.terracat.co.nz
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