Branding is a big part of the transport industry and most operators‘ trucks are instantly recognisable due to stunning paintwork or striking graphics. The team at Haddock Spray Painters in Whakatane is responsible for the immaculate appearance of a number of the fleets on New Zealand‘s roads today.

Photo: A Kenworth ready for spraying in one of the two spray booths. Like the old adage says, preparation is everything.

Goose Haddock had been a commercial fisherman for five years but when he got married, a landbased job suddenly became more appealing. A few years earlier, his father, Dave, had bought a Whakatane spraypainting company, renaming it Haddock Spray Painters 1980. “I bought a house, and started working for my father in his spraypainting business in 1985,” says Goose. “At that stage there were three staff, and one building with just one booth, nothing else.”
The company was doing truck painting for Barry Judge of Judge Motors, who was probably one of the biggest Mitsubishi dealers in New Zealand in the 1980s. “We started off doing Dawe and Sons, Te Puke, another old name, JD Lyons down in Lower Hutt, and Taylor Brothers in Tauranga too. They were all Mitsis in those days.” Goose says in 1986 the business changed dramatically when they were asked to paint a new Mercedes truck for Phil Meades of Coastal Carriers.

“After that the next truck was for McCarthy Transport, then all of a sudden we started doing their big rebranding – I think they had about 14 trucks at the time in Raetihi, and we started doing the secondhand ones and his new ones. That led to us meeting Gary Williams and Warwick Wilshier, and that got us into the logging industry, painting log trucks, and from there we have never really looked back. They are the companies that put us on our feet.” When Dave retired in 2003, Goose took over the company and started expanding the business two years later. “We expanded into marine, and into the automotive repair and refinishing side.

“From the start when we had just three staff, now we have 29, including seven panel beaters, six automotive refinishers (car painters), and four truck painters. Once you take out the office staff, the rest are boat painters.” Haddock Spray Painters can take care of everything, from painting and signwriting to engineering work. They have a signwriter across the road and an engineering company behind them, so everything can be done at the one location. “Your truck can come in and we take care of the signwriting and everything. Most of the new trucks will come down to Rotorua and go to either Patchells or Kraft [Engineering]. The trucks get measured for the logging gear and they build the trailers and bolsters, and we paint them while the gear‘s being made so the truck doesn‘t sit idle. I drive as well, so I do a lot of picking up, mainly from Rotorua.” Haddock Spray Painters doesn‘t just work on North Island trucks – Goose says they get a fair bit of work from the South Island too. “We‘ve been very fortunate to get a lot of work out of the South Island companies.” Goose says they have two truck booths and usually work on about four or five trucks at a time. They average between 14 and 16 trucks a month.

Photo: And so it begins. A Western Star getting the treatment. A secondhand truck can take up to 120 hours.

“The turnaround on a new truck is around 40 hours, while with a secondhand truck you can go anywhere up to 120 hours. That can involve a lot of work pulling it to bits before painting. We also do refurbishments; we can do the whole lot here – engineering, panelbeating, upholstery – the whole nine yards. We‘ve always tried to sell it as a one-stop-shop. “We have some very good clients – Southpac Trucks and also Penske. We do McCarthy‘s trucks, Williams & Wilshier, and Heikell Transport. We are members of Fleet Pool, the PPG network of truck painters throughout New Zealand. The network guarantees the same quality of work, so if there is a truck needing repainting in the South Island that we‘ve painted, we can call up a Fleet Pool partner and get that truck repaired, and it will return to the same standard as it left here.” Goose says over the years the industry has changed, and today a lot of people are going with plain base colours and using vinyl for their stripes.

“When they do come to sell their vehicle, they just pull off the stripes and it‘s easier to sell. Although we‘re noticing more striping done in vinyl, of course there are still the stalwarts who like their painted stripes.” Having a brand that‘s instantly recognisable on the road is important, says Goose. “I think these days it‘s all about image for most companies, they take pride in the gear they‘re putting on the roads. It does look good when they all look the same and they‘re kept tidy, and most clients keep their gear looking really good. It‘s all about image and the driver looks after it too. It‘s good to see them take pride in their gear.” In addition to truck painting, Haddock Spray Painters is a preferred provider of car repairs for all the major insurance companies.

Photo: Goose Haddock, owner of Haddock Spray Painters in Whakatane.

“We‘re also big in painting aluminium boats – all boats really, regardless of the size. We do around 240 boats a year. For the boat side we‘re mobile, because some of it‘s a bit too big to come to us. We take a compressor to the boat and do it onsite.” Goose says the only downside is that over the years the paint has become so much better. “Many years ago we would get a truck back to paint it a second time, but today the only time we ever get to paint a truck a second time is to take it out of its colours or if it‘s been in an accident. Normally the paint will last for the whole time that a company has that livery for, a million to one and a half million kilometres. The application of 3M Scotchgard on the fronts means you no longer get them back to paint the fronts out because they‘ve got chipped.”

Goose loves being a part of the transport industry, saying the customers on the commercial side are great to deal with. “Also, with the salespeople and others in the industry, like Patchell Group and Southpac and Penske, you get on a oneon- one personal relationship. “I‘ve made a lot of close friends over the years. We get together to attend shows and enjoy the networking side of things. They are all really neat guys and they don‘t blow their own trumpets.”