Since 1957

Top dog Hamish explained that despite being the founder’s son, he still had to work his way up the company hierarchy like everyone else to get where he is today. He started as tea boy, then office junior. After lunch, he was appointed to the board. He’s well red in the wine department and doesn’t spend the weekend cleaning the car (you may notice that about him when he calls).

Position in the crew: Director of first impressions. Hamish is the one who’ll talk you through the stuff you need to know and will help you to think outside the square if required, to address issues in ways you may not have thought of.

Likes: Fridays off

Dislikes: Cats with too much attitude

Email:hamish@survus.co.nz

Poor Reuben says he’s not sure he has any friends. But he’s always talking about his mates Glen Fiddich, Ben Nevis, Glen Morangie, Johnnie Walker and Rose Bank. He watches so much sport that he can name virtually any sportsperson from any sport in any country. He’s also renowned as a repository of totally useless information.

Position in the crew: Joining the team in 2011, Reuben has worked his way up the ranks to hold the position of General Manager. Aside from this, Reuben is the minister in charge of small job quotes, number crunching and accounts. This is in addition to his self-appointed position as the chief advisor to the boss.

Likes: Whisky, sport (watching) and trying to play golf, often at the same time.

Dislikes: Messy desks, rap music and bad drivers.

Email: reuben@survus.co.nz

Third time’s a charm… After leaving the crew and coming back again, a few times now, it’s safe to say Chris’ heart is with the Survus crew — unless he gets offered a job as a council lawn mower.

Position in the crew: As a Cadastral Survey Manager, Chris enjoys the balance of working both in the field and the office. He looks after all the guys that bang in the pegs, then turn it all into a survey plan. He keeps a close eye on boundary definition projects to ensure precision when marking out your property - just be aware, if you live up a narrow road — keep out the way as he’s yet to master those in the work ute.

Likes: Beer, big bikes, Birdlings Flat and the banter of those around him. (In that order).

Dislikes: Losing his glasses (we don’t blame him) and shaving!

Email: chris@survus.co.nz

Cameron joined the team in January 2023, so is our freshest employee at Survus. Cameron’s position in the crew is Three Waters Engineer, as well as a few other tasks that come along with that sort of role. His mates describe him as dedicated, focussed (and good looking), so all those attributes are ideal for his chosen vocation. When he is not doing ‘engineering’, he can be found in saltwater paddle boarding, surfing and generally getting wet. We think he has water in his veins! His ideal job would be to own a surf shop in a tropical location next to a white sandy beach, so unless he moves country, I think we have him here for a while

Position in the crew: Cameron brings a wealth of knowledge relating to everything liquid, covering stormwater, wastewater and freshwater infrastructure. You name it, he does it. Plus, he will deal with Ecan and Councils to ensure everything is tickety boo and above board. His skillset is pretty rare so there has been a queue of clients waiting at the door for his arrival.

Likes: Surfing, beaches, tropical holidays, summer, gyming and walking the dog (in the summer).

Dislikes: Stupid people, walking the dog in winter.

Email:cameron@survus.co.nz

His official title is Civil Engineer, which fits him perfectly as one of the most civil people we know. He likes birds and Guinness. By that, we mean he likes nothing better than sitting outside on his patio, listening to the birds, and enjoying a pint (473.176ml) of the Black Stuff.

Position in the crew: Jim’s part time job is office agony aunt. The rest of the day he’s in charge of engineering design and plan drawing. He also manages projects and supervises contracts. He’s wise beyond his years. And there is a few of them!

Likes: Growing veggies for the team, golfing, motorcycling and tramping

Dislikes: Work interfering with his scheduled gym sessions

Email:jim@survus.co.nz

Starting with the Survus team in April 2023, Nathan is a new face in the crew – but he’s settled into the office like he’s been with us for years! When he’s not parked up in the Survus ‘studio’, Nathan enjoys simple things among his busy life – nothing beats a holiday, some funny TV, walking in nature, racing his rally car or a quiet pub with a nice beer. But it can be hard to find time among entertaining his daughter, shopping with the girlfriend, wearing out the dog, fixing things around the house and working on the cars (phew!).

Position in the crew: Nathan comes with experience in Civil Design, a little bit of software management and occasional field assistant work – which makes him a great Civil Designer for Survus. His friends describe him as friendly, helpful and reliable – great strengths which show through in his drawings!

Likes: Football, snowboarding, the beach, rally cars (driving and building – rumour has it there’s one in Nathan’s garage that has been 2 years in the making!)

Dislikes: Idiots generally. No time for idiots.

Email:nathan@survus.co.nz

David’s ideal job would be Apple CEO, mainly due to the $378m salary. However, he’d retire after a week. He’s been with us since 2002 and we’re pretty sure it’s nothing to do with the salary here. When he’s not sleeping, socialising or travelling overseas, David referees and coaches rugby. He’s nice like that.

Position in the crew: Officially, David is a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor. We’ve found that cadastral surveying suits David to a tee as he’s super organised and loves being outside. So we mostly send him well out of town to do our country stuff.

Likes: Ignoring questions on surveys

Dislikes: People wasting his time

Email:david@survus.co.nz

Alex Morris (as in Minor) joined the team in June 2022, and after a couple of weeks advised us he was leaving to do his OE in a couple of months. Thankfully (for Survus) that didn’t work out as expected and he was back onboard by October 2022, doing what he’s good at. Another great whisky buff, his ideal career would be distilling and testing fine malts and getting paid for it. Unfortunately, Survus don’t distill whiskey yet, so he has to be satisfied with undertaking our cadastral survey work and being paid for that. His friends say he is reclusive and antisocial, but we find once he gets a dram or two and some kai in his belly, he is very sociable!

Position in the crew: Licensed Cadastral Surveyor - when he isn’t banging in pegs and processing his work, he can be found on or in the water, either sailing, windsurfing or swimming, and relaxing with his guitar. What Alex enjoys most about his job is the outdoors, surveying in remote areas and finding ancient survey marks, although when he’s back in the office its all head down bum up.

Likes: Good whisky, craft beer, boats, wind and the bosses cooking.

Dislikes: Dogs that bark, cheap whisky, not enough wind and anything to do with COVID.

Email:alex@survus.co.nz

Gorgeous Malc (from his self-appraisal form by his wife) is a Survey Technician. He likes field surveying, is happiest when he has plenty of survey work ahead of him, and his dream job is being a survey technician at Survus. His fear in life is running out of survey jobs to do. In fact, our questionnaire was the only type of survey he doesn’t warm to.

Position in the crew: Early bird. If the old adage were true, Malcolm would have worms. He rises at 3:30am and is often working by 5:30. He’s our prodigal son, having worked for the company for 13 years, before he had a break spent selling survey equipment and drinking scotch whisky. He had enough of salesmanship in 2013 when he returned to Survus, but his relationship with whisky is still going strong. Described as stubborn and always up for a challenge, Malcolm once spent four days working in a stream, in winter, up to his ‘middle’, on one of our jobs. Now that’s dedication.

Likes: (Surveying?), his wife.

Dislikes: Cats. Anything that’s not surveying, apparently

Email:malcolm@survus.co.nz

‘A complete waste of time and space’ is how Shane says his friends would describe him. We’d like to agree, but that wouldn’t be very PC of us. So, we’ll just say Shane is a truly nice guy and quite literally a computer magician (every time he’s seen near one, it disappears). He joined Survus last century after a lifetime at Lands and Survey as a public servant.

Position in the crew: We allow Shane out to conduct site surveys as the fresh air does him good. Then he will draw them. He told us he loves working with wood, so in the office, we gave him a desk for use in drafting plans.

Likes: Freshly mown lawn in the spring.

Dislikes: Mowing the lawn, particularly in spring.

Email:shane@survus.co.nz

Pete is “as fit as a buck rat” according to Hamish. And he’s better looking too. Pete is a huge outdoor fan and spends a lot of time tramping and sea kayaking. Given the chance though, Pete would have been a helicopter pilot. Fortunately, he never got the chance.

Position in the crew: Pete describes himself as a chainman. Technology has moved on a touch since surveyors measured with chains, which is why we call him a surveyor’s assistant instead. For someone who loves the outdoors so much, we have noticed that he’s a fair-weather surveyor’s assistant. In practice that means Pete is part time (weather dependent).

Likes: Outside. All of it

Dislikes: Surveying in the rain, electric fences and toi toi.

Carl is a stickler for quality. It starts with T.V. He’d be Head of Programming at TVNZ if he could do any job in the world. He’d start by replacing some of the rubbish that’s currently on with a good variety for people to choose from. After that, he’d be chief food taster for a Michelin star chef (doesn't matter who). A man of good taste and an eye for quality – that’s why he’s been at Survus since 2005.

Position in the crew: You’ll sometimes hear someone say “you don’t know squat.” That’s not true about Carl. He’s our Senior Quality Assurance Technician (SQUAT). Job satisfaction comes often when Survus survey plans are approved with no requisitions.

Likes: Medical breakthroughs and happy kids

Dislikes: Inconsiderate people, loud sudden noises, buying something and then seeing it cheaper elsewhere, and Brussels sprouts.

Email:carl@survus.co.nz

‘Loud’, ‘obnoxious and ‘opinionated’ are words you’d never use for Jistarne. ‘Reliable’, ‘friendly’, ‘honest’, ‘fun’ and ‘outgoing’ fit perfectly, which is why she’s our social coordinator. Social coordination is something that she’s good at outside of the office too as long as it doesn’t interfere with her shopping.

Position in the crew: When there are no social events to organise, Jistarne quietly prepares land transfer survey plans or talks to councils and clients and their solicitors. She was one of the first in NZ to prepare eSurvey plans.

Likes: Socialising with friends and family

Dislikes: Unreliable people

Email:jistarne@survus.co.nz

There is no one higher in the company than Andrew. Mainly because he’s a whopping 6’9” (that’s 2.0574 metres, but who actually uses metric measurements for people’s height?). Not surprisingly you’ll find him slam dunking. Mainly decent boutique beer, but also the odd basketball. We asked him what 5 words his friends would use to describe him. ‘Funny’ appeared twice. He is funny, but twice as funny? You be the judge.

Position in the crew: Anyone who is let loose on developing aircraft management systems must be pretty sharp. Andrew is proof of that as our truly excellent project manager, you will see ultra-organisation, efficiency, effectiveness and delivered promises. We see his workspace, but we take comfort in the old saying, “Behind every great man, there’s a messy desk’.

Likes: Good friends and good beer. Or maybe good friends who have good beer.

Dislikes: Questionnaires.

Email:andrew@survus.co.nz

Horses or fancy houses – if Kirstie wasn’t working for us, her dream job would have to involve one of those two things. Which all adds up really, as this outgoing UK-expat used to work in real estate, and is still happiest when she can hop back in the saddle. Kirstie’s happy, easy-going personality has made her a hit with our clients (and with our team).

Position in the crew: When ‘relationships’ is in your job title, you’ve got to be a people person. Kirstie is all about putting her listening ears on (as she tells her kids) and making sure that Survus clients get the best possible service. She also specialises in managing basketball teams, so we might have to put Andrew’s height to use with an office team.

Likes: Good feedback, riding horses and long walks on the beach with her dogs.

Dislikes: Tailgating drivers and when her kids don’t listen.

Email: kirstie@survus.co.nz

Resch joins the Survus team with a mutually shared passion for coffee, wine — and surveying (that’s what we think anyway). When the sun’s out you’ll find her walking the Port Hills or sipping wine (or a combination of both) and definitely not thinking about picking up the minefield of toys her kids have left on the living room floor...

Position in the crew: During 8am-3pmish, Resch is busy making sure that Survus’ clients are happy and she is pushing the work through the internal processes. Her friends would say she’s friendly, honest and focused on the job, and we sort of agree with them as well. Makes her the perfect fit as an Account Manager.

Likes: Sunshine, coffee, wine and her kids (most of the time).

Dislikes: Toys on the living room floor... and picking them up.

Email:resch@survus.co.nz

We know her as George, and while she claims being a mum is her dream job, we know her role here at Survus is what really gets her out of bed in the morning. (at 5am I might add!) Between mumming, gymming, running and salesing, spare time isn’t really on George’s itinerary. How her Thursday’s afternoons pan out depends on the season - family touch rugby in the summer (she would like to be in the Touch All Blacks – if there is such a thing) and preparing for the Queenstown half-marathon in the Winter.

Position in the crew: Organised, honest, and excited by attending our A&P Shows, (aren’t we all?), George is your go-to girl, whether you’re after a quote or making an enquiry, it’s likely you’ll end up in George’s reliable hands. She’ll help you get the ball rolling (touch rugby ball that is too).

Likes: The annual family holiday in Kaiteriteri (with the other half of Ohoka) and spending time with her many farming friends in and around North Canterbury.

Dislikes: Laziness and liars. Yes. Both of them are not tolerated by George.

Email:georgina@survus.co.nz

Lynly has the most consecutive double letters in her job title as our Bookkeeper. She also has the fewest vowels in her name. Friends would describe her as friendly, trustworthy and honest. That’s true until she hits the pool table, which is where the shark in her emerges.

Position in the crew: Lynly is extremely popular with all the staff and not only because she’s the one that pays them. She loves working with people and it shows in the way she interacts with everyone here and our customers and suppliers.

Likes: Family and pool.

Dislikes: Staff profile questions.

Email:lynly@survus.co.nz

Honest, loyal, and a massive softie are the perfect words to describe Shay. When she isn't in the office keeping the engineers in check, you can find her drinking champagne and going for walks (not at the same time) or spending quality time with her husband and two fur babies.

Position in the crew: Shay's role is basically telling people what to do, and she loves it! She is annoyingly organized, making her the perfect person for the job. If she wasn’t working at Survus, her dream role would be getting paid to travel and drink champagne.

Likes: When her husband ‘smiles and nods’

Dislikes: when her husband doesn’t ‘smile and nod’ and when people don’t merge like a zip

Email:shay@survus.co.nz

Email:shay@survus.co.nz

Meet Nadia, our marketing coordinator. When she's not in the office, she loves nothing more than eating out with her friends, going shopping, hanging out with her pet goats, and making sure she gets a full 8 hours of sleep.

Position in the crew: Nadia's in charge of all things marketing and advertising. Her favorite part of the job is creating pretty signs and managing our social media presence. She's also a big fan of good chats, so if you see her around the office, be sure to stop and say hello!

Likes: hanging out with her friends and having a good yarn

Dislikes: parallel parking

Email:marketing@survus.co.nz

Meet Deon, our newest survey technician! With a background in surveying, he's quickly settled into his role. When he's not working out in the field, you'll find him being a handyman at home or entertaining his grandkids.

Position in the crew: Deon is known for always being cheerful and smiley around the office. His official duties include using high-tech equipment to take meticulous measurements and plot out accurate land divisions – making sure you get the best ‘Survus.'

Likes: Being around family + friends (especially his grandkids)

Dislikes: untidiness and bullies

Email: Deon@survus.co.nz

Meet Hayden - he's the newest member of the Survus crew! When he's not at work, you'll see him out running marathons. His friends say he's super fast, reliable, diligent, and motivated.

Position in the crew: Hayden is in charge of getting resource content applications ready and submitted. He's super focused and diligent at work, and those qualities are exactly what a planner needs to get the job done on time and to a high standard.

Likes: Running, reading and a good sleep

Dislikes: Loud noises, wastefulness and congestion

Email: Hayden@survus.co.nz

If you've ever called or dropped by our office, chances are you've had a chat with Andrea, our super cheerful receptionist. When she's not here, she's busy whipping up some tasty food for her family, getting her hands dirty in the garden, and listening to some good tunes!

Position in the crew: Andrea is the magician behind lots of paperwork, creating files, and data entry. If there's anyone who knows how to keep the office running like a well-oiled machine, it's her!

Likes: Music, Family and Food

Dislikes: Rude people

Email: Andrea@survus.co.nz

If Dan weren’t stuck at Survus he’d probably be testing pokie machines instead, thank goodness fate decided to keep him here and away from jackpot fever! Outside of work, you can find Dan napping, watching movies, playing basketball or playing guitar in his band (just to name a few)

Position in the crew: To put it simply, he surveys the land. His favourite part of the job is being out in nature, and his least favourite is being asked if the total station is a camera.

Likes: sleeping in, basketball, playing guitar

Dislikes: Coriander, Rude people and ABBA

Email: Dan@survus.co.nz

Jesse believes that if you asked his friends to describe him, they would say he is legendary, kind, caring, and attentive, though he insists those are not his own words. When he is not working, he enjoys woodworking or spending quality time with his family.

Position in the crew: Jesse's experience makes him the perfect fit for the engineering team. At Survus, he handles various civil engineering tasks and is the ideal all-rounder, ready to jump into nearly any engineering project you can think of.

Likes: Spending time with family, Mountain biking and Woodworking

Dislikes: People who stop in the middle of the supermarket aisle and block the way.

Email: jesse@survus.co.nz