From building traps by myself in the back of a shed 4 years ago to employing around 10 staff and building cabins, it's fair to say things have changed a bit around here.
Growing the business has always been a goal of mine but I'd never have expected that it would have been so enjoyable and that we would have got the opportunities we have been given.
My initial goal was to give back to New Zealand in a more meaningful way than the engineering work I was doing at the time - that's why I started with the pest traps, because I love NZ's Eco System and particularly Native Birds.
We have a fair bit of wood processing gear here at work and because of my engineering background, I was able to design a desk for my flatmate at the time, Katie Nimon (soon to be National MP for Napier!). This was during the first COVID lockdown when everyone was working from home and needed a desk so we were busy almost overnight.
I hired my first staff member, a part timer to help me smash the orders out.
We added heaps of different products and we got really busy especially over Christmas sending out cornhole and other fun games.
Our export crates with ISPM 15 stamps are now a backbone of what we do too, we provide local businesses with high quality and strong crates to export their product overseas while being protected and arriving safely.
Fast forward a couple more years, we start building cabins. Builder Dave Jarvis came aboard and we got underway, building some small cabins and getting some orders. Then we added more builders and started building more. The sheds came in to maximize our efficiency in recouping offcuts and they were a hit too. They do look good.
The future for Goodwood isn't a straight line - we will always investigate opportunity when it calls & we have the ability to perform to a high standard in the space. We have reduced our offering on the website because we want to continue providing high quality goods, and if we spread ourselves too thin, this won't happen.
We still manufacture the traps, the desks, the beds, the crates, the games and the cabins are will do for the foreseeable future.
What are we going to add next?? Well with the upcoming cabins needing kitchens and bathrooms, we will be releasing vanities, kitchen cabinetry and a few other tiny home products, built to our usual high standards and designed to fit your space.