b'A RE W EN AChapter 5Survival modeIt was 1990 and the pairs first move outside the scope of the original tender, and was to inject $200,000 into the business,rendering the job more intensive and costly.thinking it would be sufficient to reverseThe situation called for the skills of a the decline. It wasnt anywhere nearquantity surveyor. While Dixon & Haddon enough; it just disappeared, remembersdidnt have one on the team, Bob knew justthe manRod McIntyre.Mike. It soon became clear that halfRod was a major factor in our turn-of those on the debtors list werentaround, affirms Mike. Rod put significant collectible. The business was reallyclaims together, recovered a substantial quite insolvent. Tougher measures amount of money and turned the job from were required. a loss maker into a profit maker. The client entertained Dixon & Haddons claims andpaid it for its work. The capital about-face was Te Rapa pivotal in helping to restore the business to a sound footing. Dixon & Haddon had won a major project toIt also denoted the moment when quantity rebuild the Te Rapa dairy factory for Hawkins.surveyors became integral to a job, working Work was well underway but, financially, ithand in hand with the project managers.appeared to be going backwards on a dailyIt set in motion a change in the way Dixon basis. Mike ventured down to the Waikato& Haddon priced jobs, and it was an entreLeft: Extensive steelwork to support the dryers and to inspect the project first-hand and find outto the increased formality and commercialassociated plant for the Te Rapa dairy factory.why. What he saw was a phenomenal amountmanagement that would support the companyAbove: The Te Rapa milk powder factory was the largest dryer building in the world in its day and of extra work being done, which was clearlyto move forward. has been upgraded many times over the years.51'