For more than 40 years, Christchurch civil contractor KB Contracting & Quarries Ltd has ensured the quality of its work by taking charge of every aspect of a project.
“We have drainage crews, excavators, off-road dump trucks, graders with GPS, rollers – everything we need,” says managing director Mike Blair.
“The only thing we don’t do is sealing.
“There’s an advantage in sourcing your material by knowing what exact products are required,” says Blair. “Our customers like dealing with the one company right through.”
The same philosophy applies to the company’s fleet of road trucks, all 14 of which are Iveco trucks – a pair of Stralis cab-overs and the remainder Powerstars.
The Iveco fleet includes tractor units pulling tip-ulators, 6×4 and 8×4 trucks, providing payloads ranging from 10 tonne to 27 tonne, ensuring there’s the right truck for every job.
His father Kevin Blair used to operate Internationals, mainly S-Lines and T-lines, and Blair sees Iveco Trucks as their spiritual successors – hard-working trucks that perform where it counts – on the bottom line.
“The biggest difference compared with the old days is the comfort of the Iveco units,” says Blair.
“They are a lot more comfortable to drive, and the drivers don’t get so tired, which is good from a safety perspective. Also, visibility from the cab is much better, and that’s also good for safety.”
The Iveco 500hp and 560hp Cursor 13 engines, almost all with automated gearboxes behind them, are also popular with the drivers, particularly on the occasional out of town trip.
“It may seem a lot of power for work around urban Christchurch, but we’ve always tended to spec trucks to a level higher than we need,” says Blair.
“Then the engines aren’t working as hard as they could be, and we find there are fewer problems, and the fuel economy is brilliant.”
