For Eric Kaukiainen, a lifetime in earthmoving has also been a lifetime spent in Cat® cabs – starting with his father in the 1970s, all the way through running his own business for over 30 years. Here we have a chat with the local legend to discuss why Caterpillar will always be his number one choice
Eric Kaukiainen, known as ‘Kauki’ to the many people who have worked alongside him at sites across Queensland, is a legend in Australia’s construction industry. With earthmoving in the blood and decades of driving, owning and repairing Cat® machinery under the belt, Earthmovers & Excavators caught up with Kauki to chat about a life spent in dozers.
Born to dig
Growing up in Dayboro, Queensland, Kauki says he was on and around Cat machinery as soon as he could move.
His father, Leo, was a dozer operator who worked on the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme and Kauki says he was fascinated with the machinery from as early has he can remember.
“I started go to work with my father when I was about three or four years old,” he says.
“I learned a lot off my father about driving and, when I left school at 14, I started operating machines myself.”
He says the first machine he drove was a Cat D4D dozer in the late 1970s – the first of many Cat dozers that have passed through his hands in over 45 years of being an operator.
In 1992, Kauki and his wife started their own earthmoving business – Kaukiainen Earthmoving & Plant Hire, based in Pomona, Queensland.
“I always wanted to have my own business, and my wife was very supportive, she did all the books and I did the outside stuff,” he says.
“I love Cat machinery and still do. The first machine we bought was a Cat D7G.”
After building his first dam aged 14 in north Brisbane, Kauki says he’s become known for specialising in dams, alongside road building and subdivisions “anywhere from Brisbane to Gladstone”.
“I have a good reputation for building dams, but we cover anything related to earthmoving,” he says.
“I’m 60 now so I’m starting to take it a little bit easier. I have a young grandson who’s two years old, so I like to spend time with him.”
Firm favourite
Now that he’s easing back, Kauki is currently running just two Cat dozers – a D6 and a D8, but a wide variety of models have passed through his hands over the decades. Three that stand out were the Cat D7H, Cat D8R Series II and a Cat D8T, all for their reliability he says.
“With the D7H, if a tractor ever made you, it would have been that tractor,” he says.
“It was a just incredible tractor. We rebuilt it at 13,000 hours, and we rebuilt it again at 28,000 hours, and sold it with 33,000 hours on it. It just never gave us much trouble in the bush.”
Caterpillar and local dealer Hastings Deering were embedded from a young age he says, heading back to when he was a young boy watching his dad fix machinery.
“When Dad was working for people, if their machine ever broke down, Dad normally fixed them himself,” he says.
“So, he’d go over to Hastings and, even if I was in school, I’d take a day off and go with him, because I just loved it. They had a beautiful canteen over there – it was like going over to the other side of the world and eating amazing food! So that’s when it started, back in the late 60s.
“I’ve predominantly driven Cat machines, so even when I was working for somebody else and we broke down, I was still going to Hastings, so I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years.
“They’re just so good to deal with, always had the parts there, and people that you could talk to. Nothing is too much trouble for them. I’ve developed friendships with people there, I like the parts availability and their support is great.”
As to why Caterpillar has remained his go-to brand over the years, Kauki says that the reliability and ease of operation has been difficult to beat, as well as being “easy to fix”.
“I did own a couple of dozers from another brand at one time, but they were terrible to work on from a mechanical point of view,” he says.
“The way Caterpillar designs things means it’s a lot easier to replace things when they break.”
Evolving machines
There have also been some welcome additions to the models over the years, not least of which is an enclosed cabin with heating and air con.
“When my father was working on the Snowy Mountain scheme, he was driving an old D8 up the back of the Blowering Dam, out in the open, whether it was hot or freezing cold,” he says.
“Today, we sit in beautiful tractors that are climate controlled, everything’s electric and they’re very easy to operate. So that’s a big change, the ease of operation compared to what they were.
“GPS is great – it’ll take a bloke who can just operate a machine and turn him into an acceptable operator, but for someone like myself, who has 40 years of experience, give me a machine with GPS and I can make that thing talk. I’m pretty proud of my success over the years.”
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As to what he has loved most about working in the earthmoving industry for nearly 50 years, Kauki says he still enjoys the challenges of working out the best way to undertake a project – as well as seeing the final result.
“I like building a beautiful dam for someone and seeing it full of water, making sure it doesn’t leak,” he says.
“I’m not saying I haven’t built a leaky dam – I haven’t seen an operator alive who hasn’t – but to go back and see that job finished and completed with the grass growing and full of water, or people driving down a road that you’ve done, that’s great.
“And the people, of course, I love the people in the industry. It’s a big industry, but it’s also a little industry. I can drive to Gympie, get onto an earthmoving site and someone will say ‘do you know Kauki? Ah yeah, we know Kauki’. I’ve been around it for so long, I know many people in it.”
As to what the future holds, Kauki’s hoping his young grandson will be picking up the love of machinery the way he did from his father, and maybe the business will pass down to one of his sons. For now, though, he’s still getting into his dozers and, as he says, “earning his beer”.
“I might retire, but I’ll always be in the industry,” he says.
“I’m one of them blokes that’s worked all his life, and I’ll continue to do so. I’ll never stop, because of the mateship. It’s great to get on a job and at the end of the day have a beer with a couple of the boys.”
For more info, visit: www.hastingsdeering.com.au
