After 100 years in the plumbing business, there will be some stories to tell about F B Hall & Co.
And the team are hoping to unblock the memory pipelines of former staff and clients, and put together the recollections of F B Hall’s past.
“This old Hamilton company has touched a lot of lives in its 100 years and I hope the reach we can achieve these days, with online communication, means that people can send through their stories and help us to paint the picture of how F B Hall has impacted the lives of the people involved,” shareholder Joe Calkin says.
An email account has been set up – history@fbhall.co.nz – and Joe says they would love to hear from anyone who has a story to share.
Whilst there are no longer any descendants of the original company directors involved, FB Hall is very much run like a family business
The current shareholders Joe Calkin, Mike Wilson, Bruce Wallace, Jason McLaren, Glen Mackintosh, Matt Hart and James Nixon, have a combined experience of nearly 180 years in all parts of the trade, they are a formidable knowledge bank.
Joining the company in 1996, Joe was a certifying plumber – gasfitter. Of the current shareholders, James was the last to join as an apprentice in 2004.
‘’Colin Middlemiss and Wayne Hodgetts, our most recent retirees, were both on the cusp of 50 years, in fact many of the staff and shareholders have been involved with the company for 20 plus years. There are tradesmen here who spend more ‘quality time’’ with their leading hand than their parents, and this results in a business that feels like a family,’’ Joe says.
‘’Any companies strength is its staff, its culture and its heart, and we enjoy the opportunity to try and make F B Hall a supportive happy place.”
Managed by Joe, F B Hall currently has 49 staff, including 12 apprentices who are all at various stages of their apprenticeship.
“We make a commitment to hire apprentices every year and build a work force, rather than trying to buy one,” he says.
The total staff numbers to pass through FB Hall & Co Ltd during the 100 years of business is near impossible to count, but between the ‘Life Members’ and those who just pass through, they could number well over 1000.
The end of 2015 marked the end of era with Ken Douglas retiring from the manager’s chair and handing over to Joe; along with Ken and his brother Colin also a previous shareholder in the company, the Douglas name had had a longstanding association with the company. Eric Douglas, Ken and Colin’s father, joined the company as the ‘after school boy’ in 1935 and Ken’s retirement saw an 80-year span of the Douglas name at F B Hall.
From modest beginnings in 1923, Mr Frederick Benjamin Hall, Jack Wainscott and Frances Lound joined forces as company directors to supply plumbing services to Hamilton and the greater Waikato.
Drawing a wage of seven pounds each a week, the trio would have been making the princely sum of $116 in today’s currency.
The company began life in Alexandra Street, Hamilton, and as well as plumbing services they provided products for the dairy industry – most notably the manufacture of large dairy cylinders.
Plumbing was a different ball game back then, requiring a different skill set to that of today’s plumbers.
Water pipes were run in galvanized metal with lead basin connectors, soil and wastes in either lead or cast iron, drainage in glazed earthenware with cement joints, and excavation done with a team of drain-layers and labourers.
Transport was by pushbike, hand cart or, if you were lucky, a model-T Ford truck.
Fred and his wife Beatrice Hall were English immigrants; Fred brought his engineering and plumbing skills from the old country which was well suited to the demands of manufacturing for the burgeoning New Zealand dairy industry.
Taking on the role of foreman, Jack Wainscott was skilled in working sheet metals and soldering cream cans for the Matangi Dairy Factory Glaxo plant.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing, the company hit hard times during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the three directors managed to navigate the economic turmoil of the time.
By the mid-1930s, things were looking up and a new plant was added; including a lathe costing 21 pound 10 shillings, soldering irons at 1 pound 16 shillings and two ladders costing 7 pounds.
Such was the work ethic and the dedication to FB Hall’s success, the company directors worked solidly for 14 years before finally being allocated two weeks of holiday each year in 1937.
By 1939, the company, having returned to profitability, included in its assets one Ford Car (cost 290 pounds), one Ford Truck (363 pounds), and one bicycle (4 pounds, 16 shillings, 3 pence).
Not long after, the growth of the business meant a move to larger premises growing company across the road, which included a show room featuring solid fuel fires of all kinds (wood or coal fired), bathroom fixtures and tap-ware.
The workshop out the back had a drive shaft running at high level through to the rear of the building driven by an electric motor. This powered a number of large belts which in turn drove the lathes, drills, grinders and, towards the end of its life, the old corrugated-iron roller (which F B Hall still have) used for making water tanks and veranda roofs.
Like many companies assisting the war effort, FB Hall did quite well during World War II, most likely due to an increased demand for agricultural produce.
In 1954 Jack Wainscott and Burty Hall (Fred’s son) retired, selling their shares to Hanwell Seymore, Eric Douglas and Burt Asplin – the very first apprentice that F B Hall ever trained.
Fred Hall passed away in 1956 and his wife Beatrice continued the business, a very uncommon occurrence in the 1950s.
Around 1959 she sold her share to the remaining directors. Eric Douglas took up the role of manager around this time. Between Hanwell and Eric they started to put systems in place to improve productivity, some of which are still are still being used today.
Ces Pollock started with Halls in 1950 and by 1958 was the senior tradesman. Ces attained the titles of foreman in the 1960s, manager in 1980 when Eric retired, and retired himself in 1990.
The original team of F B Hall had all but left when the torch was passed to the next generation of shareholders during the 1960s-70s.
A new breed which included names like Garry Woodcock, Paul Ravlich, Colin Trebes, Graeme Coleman, Colin Douglas, Colin Middlemiss and Wayne Hodgetts began to steer F B Hall into the future, with Ken Douglas as manager.
By 1965, the company had outgrown the Alexandra Street premises and a new workshop was built in Pembroke Street, converting an old house into additional office space. This site served the company for well over 30 years but in 1998 it was time for modernisation and expansion so the company up sticks again to the present site in Greenwood Street.
Over the years F B Hall & Co Ltd have been involved with many jobs of all sizes; carrying out the plumbing, gas-fitting, drainage and roofing tasks around Hamilton and the Waikato.
From Waikato Hospital and the university science blocks in the 1920s; to many of the high-rise buildings which comprise the city’s skyline in the 1960s, to the dairy factories of the greater Waikato during the 1970s and 80s, F B Hall has been a major player in building the region and employing its citizens.
In recent times F B Hall has carried out contracts which include The Base Shopping Centre, Tetra Pak, Innovation Park New Building, Waikeria Prison development, Tristram Street Precinct, Union Square development, The University of Waikato Pa project, and Tainui Project Hauata-ACC, to name a few.
Share your F B Hall and Co stories at history@fbhall.co.nz.
