Peter joined JC McCall Plumbing Contractors way back in 1978 when John McCall decided to start his own plumbing business and needed an apprentice to be his side-kick. At the time, Peter was a motor-bike loving 15 year old needing a job and some career direction.

Peter’s passion for motorbikes has never left him and neither did plumbing, although there have been a few twists and turns along the way. This makes Pete a great story-teller and his staff have often told him “You should write a book!” Pete just says that he is glad Facebook and Instagram weren’t around in his growing-up days!

In the early parts of Peter’s career, he worked as a drainlayer all over New Zealand, travelling and meeting different people along the way and gaining valuable skills and experience. Hard work and loyalty pays’ off – they are values that are still part of the JC McCall ethos and Peter consistently tries to instill this in the younger generation coming through.

Peter is the quiet, consistent leader who is always around to guide and teach. He is affectionately known as the ‘stealth ninja’ as you never know exactly when or where he is going to quietly turn up. Peter’s management team and crew of plumbers are accustomed to seeing Pete come and go throughout the week, keeping an eye on projects and giving sage, honest advice when needed.

Clare’s journey into the plumbing industry began when she was young and got to go on a job with her dad on a Saturday morning, passing him the tools while he worked under a sink. It’s been a continued journey of learning and cooperation since then, and today, Clare is proudly one of those at the helm of her late father’s company. It has grown from a small handful of staff to over 35 since she has been working in the company.

Clare’s Dad, John McCall, was a household plumber and formed the business in Torbay, Auckland, in 1978 with one apprentice, Peter Loughran, who is now the proud MD of the company. They had one client and one van, and it was Clare’s job to clean the van on a weekly basis.

“Dad would go over the van with a magnifying glass
and if he found one spot on it, I’d have to clean
the whole thing again.”

It is this attention to detail, that is reflected in the company’s motto today – “Do it once, do it right”.

Clare wanted to leave school as soon as she could, and a hair dressing apprenticeship was the first part of the journey before she decided to go on her overseas education (OE). Landing in London, she started a filing job when a woman took her under her wing and taught her how to use a switchboard. From there she worked as a receptionist in numerous companies and industries.

On her return to New Zealand with her newfound skills, Clare continued in reception and was soon working closely with the executive assistant to the CEO of an electricity trading company. Attending multiple courses, Clare was always upskilling and challenging herself.

A few years later and back again to London, Clare worked as a PA in investment banking, conference organising, and travelled around Europe having the time of her life. For her 30th birthday, she returned to New Zealand for a holiday. But conversations with her Dad around the charter fishing business he also had, which they wanted to grow together, convinced her to pack up her life in London and move back to NZ. Her Mum Margaret was doing all the bookkeeping and then the plumbing business won a large contract at Oceans Resort in Tutukaka – too much work for one person. Clare then started working with the plumbing company and worked closely with her family until they moved out of Auckland to give retirement a go – although Clare’s dad John never fully retired and was an active member of the JCM Management team right up until he passed in 2016. She has now been at JCM for 15 years and has no plans to retire herself just yet.

“I enjoy working with tradespeople because they’re straight-up. You know what you’ve got, they tell it how it is.”

JC McCall is in another exciting growth stage with various projects going on all over Auckland. We did get impacted by some of the large construction sector liquidations, which is never great – but the future is looking positive for the next four-five years in the commercial sector. We will always keep moving forward.

We have developed other divisions within JCM, including our maintenance division. As well as continuing to grow the commercial maintenance clients, this will assist more residential customers with water conservation, tank storage, helping them to go ‘off-grid’ and into alternate plumbing solutions.

Not only will this division look after projects we’re already involved in, but we’ll be able to take on more projects as the division expands. It’s another way to grow and evolve our team as they gain knowledge and experience in both commercial and residential plumbing. JC McCall is a family business – it always has been and will continue to be so. We treat our team like they are our family – through all the ups and downs, warts and all!

Clare is also a founder of the Himalayan Leaky Foundation (HLF) www.himalayanleaky.org – and is passionate about transforming lives through kindness. Dealing with the most poverty stricken communities in Nepal, HLF provides sanitation, water, education, safe homes, women empowerment and trafficking awareness – essentially, hope to people who don’t always have the ability to help themselves, through circumstances beyond their control.

“All of these people have absolutely nothing, and yet they are so kind and generous to whomever they come across.”

Between the family business and the not-for-profit organisation, the family legacies are intertwined as if they were always meant to be. The whole team is in support of where both entities are headed. Because the Foundation is making such a difference and because the team believe in giving back (both locally and globally)– tradespeople want to be a part of it . People get in touch with us all the time – they want to work for a company that has a definite purpose and gives back to people and communities who need it most.