HISTORY

Excessive demand for these services soon saw him take the plunge and buy nearly one acre of scruffy low lying swamp, with no access, in the Courtney Road basin. Draining and filling the swamp on weekends and nights, Bill reclaimed sufficient land to build an 8m x 6m shed and park one vehicle. This was to become his joinery factory and builders shed.

Two of Bill and Roses sons, Jim and Bill Jnr, eventually entered the business. Jim started an apprenticeship in 1975 under the strict guidance of Bill Snr. Jim soon mastered not only the trade but also the skills necessary to manage projects profitability both large and small. Bill Jnr. joined in 1982 after completing his Quantity Surveying qualification and an eight year stint in a professional Quantity Surveying practice.

In late 1985 the two sons purchased the modest but sound business from their father. The second generation took the business to new heights where today they employ in excess of 120 staff and are established in Auckland, Christchurch and Tauranga and operating internationally.

Bill Snr. started to phase himself out of the business in 1985 and the sons started to take more control and inject their influence and enthusiasm into the future of the business.

Brothers, Bill and Jim, have operated the business in partnership for over thirty five years. At an early age they realised the benefits of investing everything they had into the business. With hard work and with continued investment, that single business has grown into a substantial group of companies across a number of industries.

As early as 2005 Gartshore knew they would eventually outgrow their 50yr old Factory, thus the planning and site location research began. Envisaging the growth between Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland with infrastructure development, increased capacity of the Port of Tauranga and the demands of the hotel and retail fitout industry the Tauriko Business Estate was the obvious choice. In early 2014 Gartshore commissioned their brand new state of the art 30,000sqft joinery manufacturing plant and head office in the Tauriko Business Estate.

In 2011 Rob Gartshore (Bill Jnr’s son) joined the business initially as a South Island Manager and then as General Manager across the Group. Rob set about diversifying aspects of the business looking to mitigate risk, all the while gaining invaluable business experience from Bill in terms of Business administration and Jim in operational matters. As Jim’s desire to take a more active role in the development of commercial property increased, and Rob’s drive to take Gartshore to the next level a deal was struck in late 2017 for Rob to buy Jim out of the business.

Being a family owned business in this industry for over 60yrs is no mean feat…… being a 3rd generation family owned business is even more significant and with the injection of further young blood in Daniel Gartshore (another of Bill Jnr’s Sons) all under the guidance and governance of business stalwart Bill Gartshore Jnr, the Gartshore Group is well placed to continue its market leading position.