Latest / Best of Business / Business Panel: Working Style boss Chris Dobbs and Tommy's Real Estate CEO Ben Castle

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Business Panel: Working Style boss Chris Dobbs and Tommy's Real Estate CEO Ben Castle · Best of Business

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Speaker 1: Monday's Mean Business. It's the business panel on Willington Mornings
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Speaker 1: with Quadovic Property Management. A better regal experience for all.
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Speaker 1: Visit Quadovic dot co dot insad.
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Speaker 2: Let's get down, let's get down to business. We'll give
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Speaker 2: you one monnight wo mon Gard. We've had a million
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Speaker 2: million nights just slash person. So let's get down. Let's
0:41
Speaker 2: get down.
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Speaker 3: Let's get down.
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Speaker 1: Let's get down.
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Speaker 2: Give you ward.
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Speaker 1: We've got a million.
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Speaker 3: Joining us with the business panel because we do a
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Speaker 3: business panel every second Monday at this time. Is Tommy's
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Speaker 3: real estate CEO being Castle Morning, Bed Morning Mack. Thanksgving
1:03
Speaker 3: to do on the weekend.
1:04
Speaker 4: I was up and up in mail MONGINOI uh chase
1:07
Speaker 4: this the four and Zach.
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Speaker 3: Battle and they smash them here they got the chiefs
1:13
Speaker 3: have got a bit of a job to do this weekend.
1:15
Speaker 3: I think the Hurricanes.
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Speaker 4: Big battle at sky Stadium, that's right.
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Speaker 3: I think that. I mean, I was, I had I mean,
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Speaker 3: I don't want to sound too emotional, I am emotional.
1:24
Speaker 3: I had a little bit of a tear by after
1:25
Speaker 3: the Hurricanes game, I thought there was one hell of
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Speaker 3: a performance. I don't know whether he saw.
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Speaker 4: It or against the haven't won there in a long time.
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Speaker 3: But the first New Zealand team to win.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, needed to.
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Speaker 3: And needed they look great. They didn't. They did right
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Speaker 3: across them. They look great.
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Speaker 4: So he propped a back. A lot of talk about.
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Speaker 3: Him, gosh, didn't he play well?
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Speaker 4: He did? He did. It's great, great.
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Speaker 3: And my favorite player in the whole world at the
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Speaker 3: moment is Griffy. So if he's not an all black, umrong.
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Speaker 3: If he's not an all black this year, I'm running
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Speaker 3: down the key nude wow.
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Speaker 4: Ra he might pull him in late just see.
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Speaker 3: It and joining us as Working Style director Chris Dives. Now, Chris,
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Speaker 3: welcome to the show. The first time that we've had
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Speaker 3: a non resident person on this business panel. Now you
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Speaker 3: working Style is synonymous with Wellington. I don't know why
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Speaker 3: it's anonymous with Wellington. Maybe because I grew up. It's
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Speaker 3: probably an Auckland based company. But you're so Wellington. And
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Speaker 3: the reason that I was so excited to have you
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Speaker 3: on the show is that last week on the show
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Speaker 3: we had a very prominent Wellington business person saying that
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Speaker 3: no way would he set up a business in Wellington
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Speaker 3: right now. Now you have just although you've been here
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Speaker 3: for thirty odd years, whatever many years you've been here,
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Speaker 3: you just shifted, which is almost like setting up a
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Speaker 3: new business.
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Speaker 5: Very much so moving house and moving business, they're both
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Speaker 5: painful things. But yeah, I started working style in nineteen
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Speaker 5: eighty seven, so that's thirty eight years ago, if my
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Speaker 5: maths serves me correctly. So it's been a long journey.
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Speaker 5: And then we set up Wellington in ninety two, and
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Speaker 5: there was a long time ago and we had been
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Speaker 5: in Woodward Street there since then. So why did you shift?
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Speaker 3: Well, it was.
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Speaker 5: Our staff begged me too, insisted, threatened not working for
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Speaker 5: me if we didn't. So the time had come. The
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Speaker 5: old space we've grown and grown from it, and it
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Speaker 5: wasn't it wasn't quite right. Had we had a good
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Speaker 5: tenure there and it was time to move. So we
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Speaker 5: felt we needed, you know, where we've moved to, down
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Speaker 5: onto Johnson Street. There we feel famal connected with the city.
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Speaker 3: It's light, it worked for you.
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Speaker 5: It's it's early days. We're only into our second or
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Speaker 5: third month of trade, so you know, two months doesn't
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Speaker 5: make a summer and but we feel good. But the
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Speaker 5: platform's great, the showroom's beautiful.
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Speaker 3: Have you boys been in No, but out of my
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Speaker 3: pacecal a little bit.
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Speaker 5: Christal, we could extend that family and friends discount to
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Speaker 5: two percent. Know, we've done a beautiful job of it.
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Speaker 5: If I may say, it's you know, I've got found
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Speaker 5: found some beautiful light fittings from around New Zealand, New
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Speaker 5: Plymouth actually your your hometown.
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Speaker 3: There is a shop that we've used them in our
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Speaker 3: restaurants as well. That's they do very well with those
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Speaker 3: light footings, that vintage.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, Steve, he did a great So we found lights
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Speaker 5: from a Czechoslovakian railway station, an Austrian ski lodge and
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Speaker 5: it's really given the space a good blurse. But anyway,
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Speaker 5: what was the question next?
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Speaker 3: How's it going? How's it go? But so apart from
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Speaker 3: the light footings, that's going pretty well.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: Look, we're excited about it. I think it'll be a
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Speaker 5: really good platform for us and Wellington. Wellington deserves it,
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Speaker 5: we need Wellington and it all came together and we're
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Speaker 5: really excited about it.
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Speaker 3: I just for our listeners, do you have shops in Wellington? Auckland,
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Speaker 3: christ christ Church out. That's so just the three three
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Speaker 3: main seasons.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, so Sex stores nationwide and we've been in Auckland,
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Speaker 5: we Wasnington and christ Church since only two and Wellington in
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Speaker 5: two thousand and christ Church and yeah.
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Speaker 3: Great, let's talk about. The big article on this weekend's
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Speaker 3: paper was Westpact Regional Roundup report finding Wellington's facing the
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Speaker 3: lowest consumer confidence levels of any region in New Zealand
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Speaker 3: as unemployment and tough training conditions continue. Just to hang around, Ben,
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Speaker 3: I'm going to start with you right now. I mean,
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Speaker 3: you're out there selling property in Wellington. You know, you're
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Speaker 3: dealing with the people that are buying. You're dealing with
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Speaker 3: the people that are selling. What is the general mood
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Speaker 3: around Wellington right now?
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Speaker 4: We are dealing with people right at that pointy end
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Speaker 4: of a real estate market, and real estate has a
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Speaker 4: big influence I think across a number of different areas
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Speaker 4: around employment, around different sectors, around the retail sector, both
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Speaker 4: commercial and residential. The feeling is quite mixed at the moment.
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Speaker 4: There are pockets of real confidence. We've seen. It's been
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Speaker 4: well publicized the jobs that have been cut, employment that's
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Speaker 4: been hit, especially by the public sector and private sector,
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Speaker 4: so that's one side, but there are businesses that have
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Speaker 4: spoken to and an example, Chris, you're just mentioning moving premises.
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Speaker 4: I mean that is a move, but it is a bigger,
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Speaker 4: nicer connection. So there's some confidence there to take that on.
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Speaker 4: And we are seeing some businesses growing, so there is
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Speaker 4: some mix there. I think the I look at the
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Speaker 4: media and that the headline tends to be negative. That's
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Speaker 4: an easier headline to write where there is there are
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Speaker 4: some good stories out there and we're certainly seeing them.
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Speaker 4: Like the market, the market is still transacting, whether it's
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Speaker 4: transacting what it was back in twenty twenty one. I
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Speaker 4: don't think we'll ever see those times again anyway.
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Speaker 3: I hate That's the one thing I really hate the
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Speaker 3: narrative of people saying, you know, like from a hospitality background,
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Speaker 3: everyone says, well, don't expect it to ever come back
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Speaker 3: to what it was. It's never going to be the
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Speaker 3: same again. I mean shivers. If it isn't, we're all
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Speaker 3: a lot of us are in trouble.
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Speaker 4: Well, I think it will definitely move back to a
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Speaker 4: certain space we were in. But COVID, post COVID was
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Speaker 4: no one had ever seen that before, and it was
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Speaker 4: it was a bit of hysteria around I think, and
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Speaker 4: that that got everyone maybe over confident a little bit
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Speaker 4: around around business expansion and so on. And look confidence
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Speaker 4: in the market. You probably see it. We're through the
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Speaker 4: retail side, is it.
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Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean because maybe just concentrate Cross on Wellington
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Speaker 3: a little bit because you know the style, working style
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Speaker 3: part in the part. But you know, your clothing would
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Speaker 3: appeal to a lot of the people that have been
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Speaker 3: made redundant. You know, a lot of the government employees
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Speaker 3: are down in your area shopping with you. A lot
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Speaker 3: of people that are in more senior positions are saying shivers,
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Speaker 3: that could be us next? Are you feeling it is?
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Speaker 5: But I think I should really qualify that by with
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Speaker 5: all respect to anyone who's had their livelihood taken away
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Speaker 5: by redundancy or restructure and the pain that that causes
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Speaker 5: anyone who goes through that. Our real problem across our
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Speaker 5: network and particularly in Wellington is people are not at work,
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Speaker 5: so they're at home and we're still that transition back
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Speaker 5: to I don't think it'll ever go probably back to
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Speaker 5: what it was. I think we've seen the greatest change
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Speaker 5: in how people work in the history of mankind in
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Speaker 5: some ways. You know, it's certainly not a five day
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Speaker 5: working week anymore. I've arrived in beautiful Warrington this morning
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Speaker 5: on a Monday morning early, and it's pretty quiet out
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Speaker 5: there on the street where you know, school holidays have
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Speaker 5: just finished. I think, is that right? I think that
8:54
Speaker 5: just finished. It's a Monday. So Mondays across our network
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Speaker 5: are very challenging, and in Wellington it's acute and I
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Speaker 5: think the real you know, we have a hybrid mix
9:07
Speaker 5: in our company of people where they work, but the
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Speaker 5: genius in our company only really happens when we bang heads,
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Speaker 5: and we really only bang heads when we're in the office.
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Speaker 5: It's quite a delicate, soft thing to do.
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Speaker 3: But we have to be also very careful that we
9:25
Speaker 3: don't push it too hard because if you push it
9:27
Speaker 3: too hard, you get pulled out by social media as
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Speaker 3: being anti people working at home, and that goes against you.
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Speaker 3: So we've got to be pretty clever how we try
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Speaker 3: and get people back into workplaces, don't we.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I think we've also got to be pragmatic.
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Speaker 5: And you know, this is a Wellington is a pioneering
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Speaker 5: part of New Zealand. It's a raw, beautiful, gritty city
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Speaker 5: that has got everything going for it. And one of
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Speaker 5: the great attractions for Wellington for me historically, has always
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Speaker 5: been Wellentonian's. You know, they're a hardy bunch. They cluster
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Speaker 5: together on a foul day and have a drink together
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Speaker 5: and bond and talk and make things happen. I don't
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Speaker 5: I don't have a you know, I don't care where
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Speaker 5: people work. What I do care about is productivity and
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Speaker 5: making things happen. And I've been doing that for thirty
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Speaker 5: I've been feeding myself for thirty eight years. So you
10:24
Speaker 5: can only do that if you are really honest with
10:27
Speaker 5: yourself about what you're doing. And that doesn't mean you
10:30
Speaker 5: have to work any harder.
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Speaker 3: I m my dad.
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Speaker 5: You've just got to be incredibly smart about it.
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Speaker 3: So working from coming back to you been working from home?
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Speaker 3: Are you seeing people actually now looking for properties where
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Speaker 3: they think, oh, I can put an office in there,
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Speaker 3: or I can do this, and I can say is
10:43
Speaker 3: that has that made any difference at all?
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Speaker 2: Oh?
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Speaker 4: Absolutely. One of the number one search keywords is home office.
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Speaker 4: That were when people are looking for property, so they're
10:53
Speaker 4: looking for options to do that and whether they still
10:57
Speaker 4: have an office option in town, they're still wanting that
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Speaker 4: flexibility to do exactly that.
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Speaker 3: Nick, Yeah, that scares me a little bit, Chris. I mean,
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Speaker 3: you know, you're saying you need people in your shops.
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Speaker 3: We need people in the hospitality. Other retailers need them.
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Speaker 5: Part of us doing the expansion that we've done in Wellington,
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Speaker 5: which for a humble, small little business that feeds families
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Speaker 5: was a significant splash. You know, We've done a beautiful,
11:22
Speaker 5: big statement in downtown Wellington and part of the part
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Speaker 5: of the rationale for doing that is we believe we've
11:27
Speaker 5: got to drag people in from the greater Wellington area,
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Speaker 5: you know, of four hundred odd thousand people and bring
11:34
Speaker 5: them down into into downtown Wellington for a shopping experience
11:37
Speaker 5: when they need stuff. So we're very realistic that things
11:41
Speaker 5: have changed and they're just not going to have fallen
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Speaker 5: to our door like they used to. They've got they're
11:45
Speaker 5: coming for an experience and they've done their homework. They're
11:49
Speaker 5: coming hot and they know what they want.
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Speaker 3: So can I just quickly ask you, because I've got
11:53
Speaker 3: to go to an air break, but just really really quickly,
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Speaker 3: is it doing business with the carving and lambdon key
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Speaker 3: and everything is that different to Auckland. What do you
12:02
Speaker 3: mean is, well, we're trying to be so anti cars
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Speaker 3: coming in and parking. You're saying you want people from
12:07
Speaker 3: the area, the region coming.
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Speaker 5: No, Auckland's got a real car culture. Well, Valentonian's got
12:14
Speaker 5: always been blessed with a better public transport system than
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Speaker 5: Auckland's had historically, So I don't really think it matters
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Speaker 5: how they come in, whether it's on the way from
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Speaker 5: the airport out to the regions or whatever. The you know,
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Speaker 5: I've got a twofold hat on here with this conversation
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Speaker 5: because you wear clothes for work, celebration, life events, all
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Speaker 5: sorts of reasons. So what has changed? I think for me? Sorry,
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Speaker 5: I'm consciously your ad break is you've got to make
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Speaker 5: it happen.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, join us for the business panel this week is
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Speaker 3: Tommy's real Estate CEO Being Castle and Working Style director
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Speaker 3: Chris Dobbs. Chris, I want to start with you on this.
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Speaker 3: I want to ask you about retail, just actual Wellington retail.
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Speaker 3: How is retail in Wellington right now? Is it better
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Speaker 3: than it was this time twelve months ago? Do you
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Speaker 3: feel it's getting.
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Speaker 5: Better, similar saying, you know, just to sort of constant
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Speaker 5: in saying that this month's been particularly challenging, very hard
13:12
Speaker 5: because we've you know, had Eastern school holidays and everyone's
13:15
Speaker 5: been on holidays. So again, you've gotta be really careful.
13:19
Speaker 5: You don't sort of beat yourself up. You know when
13:23
Speaker 5: things are not going well, that you focus on what
13:26
Speaker 5: you can focus on and ignore what you can't.
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Speaker 3: Can I ask you to put me on the couch
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Speaker 3: because I'm that person that keeps thinking every bad day
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Speaker 3: with the end of the world and it's changing. How
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Speaker 3: do you get through that? How as a business person
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Speaker 3: do you say shivers? You know, I need to do
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Speaker 3: fifty grand this week and I've only done thirty. What
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Speaker 3: do I do?
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Speaker 5: Do you ask yourself that what anyone who's rows their
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Speaker 5: own boat doesn't sleep that well. It was a general
13:53
Speaker 5: rule of thumb, And when times are tough, we focus
13:58
Speaker 5: on our team, our staff, and our customers. So we
14:03
Speaker 5: believe that's the medicine that you need to really take
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Speaker 5: and focus on to actually be fast, to be better
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Speaker 5: and to have a crowd a better business because you've
14:15
Speaker 5: got total control on that. And if you keep on
14:18
Speaker 5: looking after your a teen beautifully and you give them
14:22
Speaker 5: good service, things seem to come right and you can
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Speaker 5: get people coming back.
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Speaker 3: That's good advice. Ben. Let's talk property. What's the state
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Speaker 3: of the market right? We got to the chase because
14:35
Speaker 3: you know, I just set off in the ad break.
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Speaker 3: I've got three properties for sale. I can't get a
14:40
Speaker 3: dog to come and sniff around the front door, so
14:44
Speaker 3: you know it's tough out there.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, look, it han't. It's again been well publicized how
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Speaker 4: where the market has been. I mean even qv recently
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Speaker 4: said that this latest latest quarter was virtually motionless around
15:00
Speaker 4: any movement. But there again I disregard that to a
15:05
Speaker 4: point because there are some numbers that we're seeing that
15:07
Speaker 4: has definitely seeing life back into the market. I mean
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Speaker 4: days days to sell on the market went from forty
15:13
Speaker 4: six down to thirty six from February through to March.
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Speaker 4: We're seeing we saw twenty percent more sales across Wellington
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Speaker 4: in the last month as well. So there are pockets
15:26
Speaker 4: starting to creep in and I think it's only going
15:30
Speaker 4: to the next twelve months will be really interesting. Property
15:32
Speaker 4: market goes. Interest rates is a big driver, but there's
15:35
Speaker 4: always a lag, so interest rates fall, but it doesn't
15:39
Speaker 4: mean the property market goes from zero to hero overnight take.
15:43
Speaker 4: There's always a bit of time, so we're starting to
15:45
Speaker 4: see that time now catch up. We saw a drop
15:49
Speaker 4: in April, we'll see another one probably in May into May,
15:52
Speaker 4: and that will just keep keep generating some momentum.
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Speaker 3: Can I ask you a question self question here for
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Speaker 3: me to you. Is it now more out in the regions?
16:01
Speaker 3: Is it getting out into the suburbs? Are people not
16:04
Speaker 3: looking to buy? I mean I know a guy that
16:07
Speaker 3: actually sold and a very nice apartment in six days
16:11
Speaker 3: in Wantington, so that the apartments are selling, yes, but
16:13
Speaker 3: it does feel like that it's gone back to the
16:16
Speaker 3: burbs because of all what we've talked about working from
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Speaker 3: home being in the region. Am I right?
16:21
Speaker 4: Yes, suburbs have certainly increased. We've seen numbers across suburbs,
16:25
Speaker 4: but we're even just this month now we've seen the
16:28
Speaker 4: investors come back in and apartments come back into the market.
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Speaker 4: Now we're seeing the life in that space as well,
16:34
Speaker 4: and that's where the investors are coming at. Interest deductibility
16:36
Speaker 4: and so on has now been cemented in so we
16:40
Speaker 4: are seeing that suburban shift was definitely there and that
16:43
Speaker 4: was possibly based around op X in town, around insurances
16:47
Speaker 4: and rates, I mean, insurances were going through the roof
16:49
Speaker 4: here in the city, around earthquakes and so on, a NBS,
16:53
Speaker 4: I mean, that's it's almost a dirty word around that,
16:55
Speaker 4: the property market. But so that did push people out
16:57
Speaker 4: to the regions. Now insurance is definitely leveled off. We've
17:02
Speaker 4: seen more competition in there, which has brought it back
17:04
Speaker 4: down a bit, and there's some more clarity, of a
17:06
Speaker 4: bit more clarity around MBS. It's still of a myriad
17:09
Speaker 4: to navigate, but I think in the next twelve months
17:12
Speaker 4: in particular, we will see some more more activity in
17:16
Speaker 4: this market and more positive than it was.
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Speaker 3: Chris Dobbs we rang. We read a story Ethan and
17:21
Speaker 3: I about we both discussed it together on yesterday about
17:25
Speaker 3: how the latest quality of life surveys found the South
17:28
Speaker 3: Island is growing far quicker than the North Island. Now,
17:31
Speaker 3: you're based in up and have a Wellington business, obviously,
17:34
Speaker 3: are you are you feeling that hearing that.
17:36
Speaker 5: Christ Church has been solid for us for some time.
17:39
Speaker 5: They've the Cantabs have been rolling up their sleeves and
17:44
Speaker 5: working hard and they had a very diverse economy now
17:47
Speaker 5: and the city's looking beautiful. It was down there recently
17:51
Speaker 5: with my family and they loved it. They all the kids,
17:56
Speaker 5: my wife just thought it was fabulous and I thought, well,
17:58
Speaker 5: that's interesting, you know. And it's been a long journey
18:01
Speaker 5: for them to rebuild the city and get it to
18:04
Speaker 5: get it to where it is. So it's a mixed bag.
18:07
Speaker 5: I think. I think you bang on the money with
18:10
Speaker 5: the interest rate conversation. You know, it's an incredible tonic
18:12
Speaker 5: to an economy, particularly the New Zealand economy. We've alway,
18:15
Speaker 5: we've always paid a lot for money in New Zealand
18:18
Speaker 5: and those interest rates coming down are really going to
18:20
Speaker 5: be a great tonic for our country. And it's just
18:25
Speaker 5: a bit of a shame with the speed bump with
18:27
Speaker 5: Trump and the global outlook, because that's certainly put the
18:30
Speaker 5: skids on a few parts of the country from where
18:34
Speaker 5: I can work out. But I think once we get
18:35
Speaker 5: a long period of you know, affordable interest rates and
18:40
Speaker 5: that you know, round five percent, I think is very
18:43
Speaker 5: is good money in New Zealand's historical levels. I think
18:48
Speaker 5: that will really underpin the recovery that we are all wanting.
18:53
Speaker 3: And I love the fact you brought out the Trump
18:55
Speaker 3: things just as we were starting to feel a bit stable,
18:58
Speaker 3: and yeah, Ben's laughing here. As soon as we just
19:01
Speaker 3: started to feel a little bit stable and a little
19:03
Speaker 3: bit of greed to Trumps covered and made us feel, Oh,
19:07
Speaker 3: we've got to careful again, don't we. Yeah, you know,
19:10
Speaker 3: we watched.
19:10
Speaker 5: As some has finished and one has started, which you know,
19:14
Speaker 5: it's a shame when.
19:15
Speaker 4: He's going around in circles again were who knows what
19:18
Speaker 4: he's going to do the next the next day. I mean,
19:20
Speaker 4: it will may may be a bit inflationary, but I
19:24
Speaker 4: can't see interest rates really changing because of it, so
19:26
Speaker 4: I think it won't necessarily impact us as greatly as
19:29
Speaker 4: it will others.
19:30
Speaker 3: Ben, I've just got it really quickly because I've got
19:32
Speaker 3: to go to the news break, But I've really got
19:33
Speaker 3: it quickly. Are you hearing or you seeing people actually
19:36
Speaker 3: selling to move down south? Are you?
19:38
Speaker 2: Are you?
19:38
Speaker 3: Is that something that the agents are talking about? Oh,
19:40
Speaker 3: they're moving down south, They're moving.
19:42
Speaker 4: We'll cross it. That ciddenly was attractive. But where what
19:46
Speaker 4: we are seeing at the moment, some of our agent
19:48
Speaker 4: feedback at the moment is that people from out of
19:50
Speaker 4: other regions are coming into Wellington, are starting to inquire
19:53
Speaker 4: from Wellington, Queenstown, Aubland in particular.
19:55
Speaker 3: Wow, look at well Well that's positive. Chris Dobbs and
19:59
Speaker 3: Ben Castle with us roadworks, Ben roadworks everywhere, cones everywhere.
20:05
Speaker 3: Pain in the ass. Can we do anything about it?
20:07
Speaker 3: I mean, why Field Streets a nightmare. I went down
20:09
Speaker 3: and had a look and they're doing their best. In
20:11
Speaker 3: this meeting up today we found out that Torrey Farno
20:14
Speaker 3: has turned the dug the hole and turned the side
20:17
Speaker 3: for the first time on the corner of Courtney Place,
20:21
Speaker 3: Wakefield and Kent. We're in trouble, aren't we.
20:24
Speaker 4: Courtney Place revitalization, they're saying. I mean that that has
20:27
Speaker 4: an impact on New Tunic and your business is there around?
20:29
Speaker 4: I mean the road cones that are that are every bit.
20:32
Speaker 4: But it's an inconvenient reality of city growth, isn't it.
20:36
Speaker 4: I get it. It's really frustrating. Look, we all have
20:40
Speaker 4: to deal with it, and we're banging the bondom of
20:42
Speaker 4: the car and wanting to get there faster. But what
20:45
Speaker 4: what do we do? How do we how do we
20:47
Speaker 4: get around that? We need to keep building that city.
20:49
Speaker 4: I know it's almost a book nd for the Golden Mile.
20:52
Speaker 4: Whether that eventuates or not, it's probably for later in
20:55
Speaker 4: the year. But it does need an upgrade, really, doesn't it.
20:58
Speaker 3: It needs a cleaner yeah, clean, But we're in financial
21:01
Speaker 3: we're all in financial tough times, whether we like it
21:03
Speaker 3: or so. If you start digging up, I mean they'd
21:06
Speaker 3: dig up the front of Tommy's. You'd be sitting there thinking,
21:08
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, how long is it's going to last?
21:10
Speaker 2: Yeah?
21:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it does have a big impact though
21:13
Speaker 4: on travel times there are a nightmare. Car parking is
21:15
Speaker 4: not easy. I've always already talked about. But then the
21:18
Speaker 4: business growth and the it might give some confidence that
21:21
Speaker 4: something's happening, But equally then we can't actually get people
21:24
Speaker 4: into the shops or into the restaurants or into the
21:26
Speaker 4: bars that we need them to and spending that money.
21:29
Speaker 4: I mean road works yeah, necessary, evil probably.
21:32
Speaker 3: Chris, What are you hearing? I mean your staff when
21:34
Speaker 3: you look at the reports on Saturday afternoon and you
21:38
Speaker 3: bring your manager and Wellington say well, you know you
21:40
Speaker 3: could have done a little bit better, and he says, well,
21:42
Speaker 3: I've got buddy Cones all down the road, cars, car park.
21:44
Speaker 3: What are you hearing?
21:46
Speaker 5: Well, what I believe is we have been through one
21:49
Speaker 5: of the toughest things in the world with COVID, and
21:54
Speaker 5: the recovery from COVID is still going on, and we've
21:58
Speaker 5: talked about this new way of working where people are
22:00
Speaker 5: at home. So my frustration really is when you've got
22:03
Speaker 5: had the sort of trauma that we've all been through,
22:06
Speaker 5: is that bureaucracy is trying to fix things and focus
22:12
Speaker 5: on road roading and those sorts of things as opposed
22:15
Speaker 5: to just keeping you know, supporting businesses and keeping out
22:18
Speaker 5: of their way. Because you know, whether the pedestrianization of
22:23
Speaker 5: Lampton Key is a good or a bad idea, I
22:26
Speaker 5: don't really know. And to a certain extent, it's sorry.
22:31
Speaker 5: I was going to say I don't really care. That's
22:33
Speaker 5: not true. What I what I do feel is that
22:36
Speaker 5: regardless of whether it's a good or a bad idea,
22:38
Speaker 5: it's not the right time for it because there's just
22:42
Speaker 5: too much pain. And I think there's a lack of
22:44
Speaker 5: respect for the rate payers of the city in terms of,
22:50
Speaker 5: you know, the businesses are paying the rates, the insurances
22:54
Speaker 5: for those buildings, and New Zealand has something right. Six
22:58
Speaker 5: hundred thousand small businesses four hundred thousand of those have
23:03
Speaker 5: zero staff members and one hundred thousand have one to
23:05
Speaker 5: six staff members. So you've got a a highly productive
23:09
Speaker 5: sector of employment who employer a hell of a lot
23:12
Speaker 5: of people who have to administer paye every week, student loans, key,
23:17
Speaker 5: we save, a holiday, pay due, holiday paid, accrued personal
23:21
Speaker 5: tax due every week. It has to be tended to
23:23
Speaker 5: diligently and dutifully to ensure as an employee you don't
23:27
Speaker 5: break the law. The point I'm getting to is that
23:31
Speaker 5: being in business has a hell of a lot of
23:33
Speaker 5: responsibility and bureaucracy that comes with it. And then to
23:37
Speaker 5: have the person that you're paying the rates to dig
23:41
Speaker 5: a hole in front of your business and start to
23:44
Speaker 5: have a higher order about where they believe the city
23:47
Speaker 5: is going, it's just rubbish and it's just not a pragmatic,
23:51
Speaker 5: can do sort of way to be running this city.
23:56
Speaker 5: And I think that is a problem because all people
24:02
Speaker 5: in business really want to do is be able to
24:04
Speaker 5: get on with it and not have people holding them
24:07
Speaker 5: back with you know, really frustrating actions.
24:11
Speaker 3: And take a short break here here by the way.
24:14
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I agree with you totally. I mean
24:16
Speaker 3: it should be how can we assist you rather than
24:18
Speaker 3: how can we hid hundred percent? Because we're taking all
24:21
Speaker 3: this money from you, how do we make it better
24:23
Speaker 3: for you? And has any one from council ever run
24:26
Speaker 3: you and said well done, Chris, You've just spent a lot,
24:29
Speaker 3: a lot of money building a new business. Beautiful, well done,
24:32
Speaker 3: thank you. Anyone from counsel ever do that to you.
24:35
Speaker 3: They're very quick with their rates bill, aren't they. They
24:38
Speaker 3: are no Christmas, no Christmas cards at Christmas time. I
24:41
Speaker 3: want to talk insurance, being Castle and Chris Doves. We've
24:44
Speaker 3: been hearing for a while that insurance companies have been
24:46
Speaker 3: very selective who they want to ensure. We're hearing, you know,
24:50
Speaker 3: people that own strip clubs or own sex toys retailer shops.
24:54
Speaker 3: Insurances don't want to do it. I started hearing murmurs too,
24:59
Speaker 3: and you'll be able to correct me if I'm right
25:00
Speaker 3: or wrong on this one. Ben that sometimes you actually
25:04
Speaker 3: buy it, will go to buy a house and the
25:05
Speaker 3: insurance company won't ensure the house that you're buying. Some
25:08
Speaker 3: deals are falling through on that. Am I right or
25:10
Speaker 3: my wrong? Or are insurance are they starting to ease
25:13
Speaker 3: off a bit now?
25:15
Speaker 4: I think there's the last point there easing off, but
25:18
Speaker 4: I think there's a bit more stability in that insurance market. Look, banks,
25:24
Speaker 4: a lot of us are using the bank to purchase property,
25:27
Speaker 4: and banks require insurance, and some properties have had insurance
25:30
Speaker 4: for a period of time, and what we see is
25:32
Speaker 4: some policy changes and some regulations change around what is
25:36
Speaker 4: required in that property, and that has an impact on insurance.
25:39
Speaker 4: I think Wellington's been a tough market to ensure and
25:43
Speaker 4: the earthquake seismic challenges we have here has probably led
25:46
Speaker 4: to that. We also have a city that's built in
25:49
Speaker 4: a nice big half circle around a big body of water,
25:53
Speaker 4: and that we will talk about global warming and so
25:56
Speaker 4: on and the changes of water level. So that has
25:58
Speaker 4: had an impact on insurability.
26:00
Speaker 3: And have you lost deals because insurance companies won't insurance.
26:03
Speaker 4: There have been deals that have fallen over through but
26:06
Speaker 4: then you're talking to another insurance are insurance that will
26:09
Speaker 4: take it. It just depends on what premium you're willing to pay,
26:11
Speaker 4: and I think you know if you're that's that's where
26:14
Speaker 4: the market sits. But as I mentioned before, around the
26:17
Speaker 4: city moving in a more positive direction now as insurances
26:20
Speaker 4: have started to level off. It got a bit crazy
26:23
Speaker 4: for a while. I think there's more competitors have come
26:25
Speaker 4: in and they've brought the pricing down of it.
26:27
Speaker 3: Chris, have you looked at your insurance? I mean, I'm
26:30
Speaker 3: in a different business, but I'm in a business and
26:32
Speaker 3: we've started to you know, lots of profits. We used
26:35
Speaker 3: to pay for those. Now we actually got rid of
26:37
Speaker 3: those because we thought during COVID, oh, don't worry, we're insured.
26:40
Speaker 3: We found out very quickly that we were at insured
26:43
Speaker 3: because pandemics aren't in your loss of profit. Have you
26:46
Speaker 3: looked at your insurance and said, shiver, this is getting
26:49
Speaker 3: too tough. I need to cut back on here and
26:50
Speaker 3: do things with it.
26:51
Speaker 5: We we review our insurances every year, you know, in
26:55
Speaker 5: terms of fire in general, and as you get older,
27:00
Speaker 5: I think you also cut back your insurances in terms
27:03
Speaker 5: of your personal policies and some of those other cross
27:06
Speaker 5: shareholder policies and things like that.
27:08
Speaker 3: Do you still have health insurance?
27:09
Speaker 5: I do ye. Yeah, I wouldn't drop that either. And yeah,
27:13
Speaker 5: it's those non tradable parts of the consumer price index insurance.
27:18
Speaker 5: It's it's been a keller. It's really hurt in christ
27:24
Speaker 5: Church after the earthquakes. What was quite interesting, Ben, picking
27:26
Speaker 5: up on your conversation on property insurance. A lot of
27:31
Speaker 5: the policies assigned to the property and transferred from owner
27:35
Speaker 5: to our owners, which is how insurance used to be conducted.
27:39
Speaker 5: So that was just a response to the earthquake situation.
27:42
Speaker 5: So I suppose with Wellington and earthquakes you've seen some
27:46
Speaker 5: more creative ways.
27:47
Speaker 3: It's still happening. Let's still have a deal that I
27:50
Speaker 3: saw lately, you know that did exactly the same thing,
27:53
Speaker 3: just crossed over. The insurance company just swapped it over
27:55
Speaker 3: to the new owner. So those deals are.
27:57
Speaker 4: Getting done absolutely, and then probably eight to nine times
28:00
Speaker 4: out of ten it's like that. It's just there. There'll
28:03
Speaker 4: be some depending on what the transaction is or the
28:06
Speaker 4: property type or property sector, where it may have little
28:08
Speaker 4: For sure, we will require a bit more analysis from
28:11
Speaker 4: either the bank or the insurer, and that's where it
28:13
Speaker 4: can be derailed.
28:14
Speaker 3: Okay, the big one before we go to the side
28:17
Speaker 3: where you're taking your guests, the Mayoralty race. Andrew Little's
28:21
Speaker 3: put his name in the hat. Just in case you
28:24
Speaker 3: didn't know, chrissops for you didn't know, I do, Yeah,
28:27
Speaker 3: of course you do. Okay, I'll start with you. What
28:31
Speaker 3: do you think, well, I mean, you're obviously I've met
28:34
Speaker 3: Andrew and I liked him. I thought he was a
28:38
Speaker 3: good guy when I met him. He I think he's
28:40
Speaker 3: hard working, he's he's look, I think I think it's
28:46
Speaker 3: time for a change. I don't think it's I think
28:49
Speaker 3: I can be a political in my viewpoint in terms
28:53
Speaker 3: of he might not have got my national vote, but
28:55
Speaker 3: he I think he's a solid, hard working, straight shooter.
29:00
Speaker 3: He's a Wealentonian born and bred Saint Pat's town, I
29:04
Speaker 3: think from a memory definitely not born and bred because
29:07
Speaker 3: he was born in New Plymouth.
29:08
Speaker 5: Right, my apologies, but he's we won't hold it back
29:13
Speaker 5: on him that he's the left foot it. But I
29:14
Speaker 5: think he'll do a good job for the city. I
29:16
Speaker 5: think he'd be a good candidate.
29:18
Speaker 3: Did you say he went to stream?
29:19
Speaker 5: I went to stream?
29:20
Speaker 3: Did you say that town that's weird?
29:25
Speaker 4: Did you know that didn't they went there?
29:28
Speaker 5: I think I'm right, and so maybe his sons went
29:32
Speaker 5: there anywhere.
29:33
Speaker 3: I'm not sure. Okay, then tell us what your thoughts
29:37
Speaker 3: are you looking like you've got a lot of notes.
29:40
Speaker 3: He's got smoke.
29:41
Speaker 5: I'm just careful.
29:43
Speaker 4: I love Wellington born and raised and really proud of
29:46
Speaker 4: the city. And the biggest issue I have at the
29:48
Speaker 4: moment around it is the division that we're seeing through local,
29:53
Speaker 4: local government even central government to a degree, and that's
29:57
Speaker 4: unity breeds progress for me, and I don't see that
30:01
Speaker 4: at the moment. There's there's fighting and disagreement and we
30:04
Speaker 4: can't actually get on the same page and until we
30:06
Speaker 4: sought that out. And that's what we need from a
30:07
Speaker 4: new lead. If it's Andrew Little, if it's Ray Cheng
30:11
Speaker 4: or Carl or Tory or whoever is the one that
30:13
Speaker 4: the people. We need the people to get out and vote,
30:15
Speaker 4: but they need to get that behavior, some of the
30:17
Speaker 4: sandpit behavior out and get some real clarity back in leadership.
30:22
Speaker 4: And there's of course we've got debt issues, We've got
30:25
Speaker 4: projects and safety in the streets and incentivizing development and
30:29
Speaker 4: all these lists of policy that we need to look at. Firstly,
30:32
Speaker 4: we've got to get on the same page. We're not
30:34
Speaker 4: even there yet. We just we tend to fight a
30:36
Speaker 4: lot of the time. We don't have that unity and
30:38
Speaker 4: that's what's hampering I think things at the moment.
30:40
Speaker 3: Hear here, Okay, someone very very special is a right now, Chris,
30:44
Speaker 3: You've just opened your shop and down and you've got
30:47
Speaker 3: someone that you really care about and really is important
30:50
Speaker 3: to you. Arriving into Wellington, you're driving out to the
30:53
Speaker 3: airport and you're thinking to yourself, what the hell am
30:55
Speaker 3: I going to do to impress this person? What are
30:57
Speaker 3: you going to do in Wellington?
30:58
Speaker 5: I'd go straight to the Marineri Surf Club for breaky
31:01
Speaker 5: or coffee on the way and from the airport. I
31:04
Speaker 5: think that's an easy sort of segue from the airport,
31:07
Speaker 5: isn't it.
31:07
Speaker 3: Yep?
31:08
Speaker 5: It's always been a spectacular spot to have a bite.
31:11
Speaker 5: And then on the way back into town, I swing
31:14
Speaker 5: by a Portneck yacht Club, which I think on a
31:17
Speaker 5: beautiful morning is a pretty special pad of Wellington with
31:20
Speaker 5: the water right up on the hard there and the
31:24
Speaker 5: working yachts and boats and things and that in that
31:26
Speaker 5: yacht Club's always been a special place for me and Wellington.
31:30
Speaker 3: Great. Come on and Ben, someone you played rugby with
31:33
Speaker 3: in France Wellington and never been here before and they
31:37
Speaker 3: are out at the airport and do you want to
31:38
Speaker 3: show off Wellington? What are you going to do?
31:40
Speaker 4: Well I'd probably I'll go to Spruce Scoos this time,
31:42
Speaker 4: Mack go the other one. And then look, I'm a
31:50
Speaker 4: big fan of the markets on a Sunday here out
31:53
Speaker 4: on the waterfront down here, the or the produce, everything
31:56
Speaker 4: that's going on, the sites and sound smells all the
31:58
Speaker 4: rest of Wellington that it's best on a nice day
32:00
Speaker 4: that would be one there and then i'd I could
32:03
Speaker 4: pick up a Saints game or a Hurricanes game, or
32:06
Speaker 4: maybe some open homes Blair Street Street out there.
32:16
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what. That market is a hidden gym though.
32:19
Speaker 3: I mean, every time I go down there, I think why.
32:21
Speaker 3: I mean, it is very busy, but I say to myself,
32:24
Speaker 3: why the hell isn't this actually nuts? It's so good.
32:27
Speaker 3: It just feels so welly to know a little bit
32:29
Speaker 3: of music playing, get yourself somebody to eat, get some
32:32
Speaker 3: veggies for the weekend. Can't you can't beat it? Thank
32:35
Speaker 3: you both very very much for joining us this morning.
32:37
Speaker 3: I told you, Chris, it would go pretty quickly. Eve,
32:40
Speaker 3: looked at your watching the Working Styles director Chris Dobbs,
32:44
Speaker 3: who's just opened his new shops. So please check it out.
32:46
Speaker 3: I'm going to check it out. He's going to give
32:47
Speaker 3: me about you to get a discount. I say, Ben
32:52
Speaker 3: doesn't need the discout. By the way, he's got he's
32:54
Speaker 3: got pleady, he's got he's got a beautiful suit on,
32:56
Speaker 3: so he's Oh, there you go. CEO of Tommy's real Estate,
33:03
Speaker 3: Ben Castle and Chris Tops thank you both very much
33:06
Speaker 3: for joining us.
33:07
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