Our Story
Skilled Trades New Zealand® – A KIWI BUSINESS DIRECTORY
Skilled Trades NZ® – A KIWI BUSINESS DIRECTORY is the brainchild of Ex-Tauranga handyman Mike Kemmerer and Ingrid von Nordheim and helps New Zealand’s tradespeople find more customers for their businesses.
Mike came to New Zealand in December 1989 from Germany as an adventure holiday. His background is toolmaker, mechanical & precision engineering, prototype engineering and design and fixing Volkswagen Beetles has always been one of Mike’s favourite hobbies.
Mike’s first job in New Zealand involved fixing old VW Beetles for a company in Rotorua called Volkswagen Spares & Services.
An inventor at heart, Mike travelled back to Germany to market a bicycle invention around 2003. This is when Mike met Ingrid as both went scuba diving regularly as their hobby.
Together, they moved to NZ in 2006.
Mike studied web design and computer-aided-design, at Te Wananga o Aotearoa Tauranga, as well as at Toi Ohomai Windermere Campus and the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic – Bongard Centre, Tauranga.
Ingrid was running a small business, training students at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in Rotorua, studying Maori language Te Reo Māori level 3, Computing Level 3, Small Business Enterprises level 5 and qualified with a Postgraduate MBA at the University of Waikato.
Mike started working in structural engineering as a Fitter and Welder for Mount Maunganui Engineering and later on, worked as a specialist for panel repairs on vehicles for Truck Painting Specialists Tauranga, where Mike made a name for himself fixing race cars for local Tauranga race drivers. He also fixed all kinds of other vehicles, like school buses, classic hot rods, mobile homes, hauling trucks and classic American oldtimers.
In 2011 Mike started ‘Mike K Handyman – Your Tauranga Handyman’, a handyman service, which served the Mount Maunganui, and Papamoa areas and the extended community in Tauranga. Having done thousands of repair and maintenance jobs, Mike built up a very good reputation over the years. Having worked for most Real Estate Property management companies, private customers and property investors, he built up a large, solid base of loyal customers. “I believe in customer service, honesty and being a reliable and trustworthy tradesperson, who will get called again for the next projects”, Mike says.
Both Ingrid and Mike became NZ Citizens in 2014.
A workplace accident in July 2020 resulted in spinal surgery with an artificial disc replacement that forced Mike to stop working as ‘Mike K Handyman – Your Tauranga Handyman’.
Still getting calls from customers and unable to help them, Mike had an idea to create a brand new website for his customers to find help for their repairs and maintenance jobs by other skilled workers and specialist companies. Mike’s original handyman website also got changed, now leading his existing and new customers to other NZ Tradies who offer their services with Skilled Trades New Zealand®.
Mike and Ingrid both have a strong business background and experience and together developed this new business venture for the trades & crafts sector and launched Skilled Trades New Zealand® – A KIWI BUSINESS DIRECTORY in March 2022. “I had to change the way I do business, and so far, it’s been a steep learning curve”, Mike says.
In just two months after its official launch, Skilled Trades New Zealand® made it to the top page of Google and customers started to add their businesses and services in over 49 trade categories. Skilled Trades New Zealand® and Skilled Trades NZ® are now registered trademarks and an established reliable platform for Kiwi Tradespeople to offer their businesses and services nationwide.
Mike’s website taurangahandyman.co.nz has been adapted and now links all visitors and potential customers to Skilled Trades New Zealand® – A KIWI BUSINESS DIRECTORY to guide them to find help for their home & property maintenance and any other repair requirements by local New Zealand tradespeople, handymen, builders, plumbers, electricians and other specialist companies.
We also added a Trade Supplies Marketplace which we jokingly called Sell-What-Have-Ya as sometimes you hear the old Kiwi saying, ‘What-Have-Ya’. It’s a free-to-use marketplace to trade secondhand or new building and construction materials, tools, hardware and supplies related to the building and construction trade.
We invite you to come back from time to time to re-read OUR STORY as we will be adding new content now and then.
Thanks for reading our story. We are wishing you a great day!
Mike and Ingrid, founders of Skilled Trades New Zealand® – A KIWI BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
LIST YOUR BUSINESS
Try it free!
Read more…
Why List Your Trade Business?
Get Your Business Booming
