Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
A building company owned by three Tongan brothers has been providing free labour to those affected by the recent floods.
George Tu’ipulotu and his two siblings run Building Brothers Construction and together they’ve offered up their weekends to provide labour to clear out affected homes.
“For those who do not have insurance we are offering free labour on the weekend, personally,” George says.
“However, if you do have insurance, don’t count us out to repair or restore your affected households.
“One of our core values is being of service to the public especially in times of need and lending a hand to people where we can,” he says.
George says what cemented it for him was witnessing the loss of people’s homes in the aftermath of the disaster.
A Tongan tradie, George is the sixth child in a family of eight brothers and together they make up the construction company. He credits his family upbringing for pushing him to help out in his community.
“Looking back, we came from humble beginnings and know the challenges you face on a daily basis. So, a massive reason is just giving back to where we came from and not forgetting who we are.
“Of course, coming from the islands and as villagers, it’s in our nature to work together and help each other out,” He added.
The family-owned business put out a post on social media calling out for those in need of help. Their social media pages were overflowing with words of encouragement and plenty of requests.
“The idea behind the post was so that we could reach out to people. Because we’ve noticed that people are being too shy and are being too proud to come forward. And so, we decided to reach out to them,” George says.
And he gave a little shout to his supporters, Fortress Trailers and BBM, David Letele’s Butterbean Motivation group.
The Brothers Building crew started early in Papatoetoe last weekend, as they trudged through the Stowers family home. Hauling up damp and hazardous flooring to the end of a long driveway.
“The contamination that came out from the drainage of the client houses can be a serious issue but it’s nothing the boys can’t handle,” George says.
The crew geared up in their PPE gear as they went to work stripping the floors and unhinging warped doors.
“We made sure the structure of the site was safe and cleared out a lot of the rubbish.”
And George encountered the chaos of the backlog of calls attempting to contact the city council for free skip bins available to those affected by the flood, lamenting having to wait so long on the phone for an answer.
Later he added that, if council couldn’t get back to people in time, the company would remove the debris themselves.
With so many people having had the rug literally pulled out from underneath them, George urges them to make plans in the event of another water surge happening again.
“Always be prepared for the bad times, not just the good times, set up for a backup plan.
“Make sure you’re insured, and your family has some sort of security to protect you in these tough times.”
