SPASIFIK Issue 29 Article

RONNIE MATAFEO HOPES THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AUCKLAND regional Conference staged in October is the catalyst for the many Pacific tradespeople across the city to create more work with each other.

“As chairman of the PIBCA (Pacific Island Building & Construction Association) I know there are Pacific people working as town planners, building inspectors, electricians, builders, landscape architects, concrete and flooring specialists, timber merchants … they’re scattered right throughout the sector,” he says.

“What we’re aiming to do by working with the Chamber, which is sector driven, to expose to our communities and public what they can offer in any building work, from providing estimates cost consent plans to Council, to construction and completion of project.”

For more than quarter of a century Matafeo has worked on building projects across the Pacific.

He grew up in Tufuiopa, Apia, Samoa (with ties to Afega, Malie, Asaga and Faleatiu), leaving Samoa College in the late 1970s for New Zealand to further his education, choosing a career in quantity surveying in New Zealand over offers to study engineering in Fiji and architecture in Cyprus, Europe.

“There are family connections in Auckland and Mum and Dad thought it was a nice place and not too far. The responsibility of being a quantity surveyor in looking after the money-side of building appealed a lot to me,” he says.

“It involves looking after the costing and financial management of any construction project, from the preliminary estimates budgets, to measuring quantities for labour and materials, managing finances, contract costs, adminstration, checking and certifying builders claims for work done on job, agreed final costs,” he says.

“Banks won’t release funds for building projects unless the quantity surveyor has provided a payment certificate. We work with banks, lawyers, architects, developers, councils, project managers, fi re engineers, contractors, church groups and PI communities. It’s challenging but extremely rewarding when you see a completed project and know the part you’ve played to make it happen.”

Having studied at Carrington Tech (now Unitec) in Mt Albert, Matafeo joined the firm Dean & Jefferson, whose involvement in the Pacific enabled him to return to Samoa, working on the Samoa NPF building, Western Samoa Life Assurance Corporation and the Baha’i Faith Temple in Tiapapata.

“Building such projects in Samoa was in its infancy and a lot of the work we did across the Pacific in terms of cost engineering in those days was quite groundbreaking,” he recalls.

Matafeo’s work in the Pacific continued when he moved to Fletcher Challenge, spending a decade there before deciding to set up his own business, based in Henderson, west Auckland.

“There were projects such as churches where I could see I could help my community. I could see them struggling with the processes involved.”

Ronnie Matafeo is the first Pacific person to be a Registered Quantity Surveyor and has employed and helped a lot of Pacific students achieve their goals in this profession. He is on the trust for the Methodist Church of NZ Akl Synod Property Advisory Committee, Pitt Street, Methodist Church Trust, and works with a lot of churches from a variety of denominations. He is also chair of the Waitakere Pacific Arts and Cultural Trust backed by the local Waitakere City Council.

Matafeo’s growing understanding of process extends to government as the sole Pacific representative on the government appointed Small Business Advisory Group.

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