"When I first came here 10 years ago to build the Northern Gateway we were in a joint venture with Fulton Hogan," he recalls. "I saw it was a company that was growing and learning to operate in the big company space but whose family values were obvious and when I decided it was time to move on and Fulton Hogan approached me, I felt our values aligned and I've certainly not regretted it."
Jones feels Fulton Hogan is now at a "bit of a watershed".
He says the company is looking to expand its operations through controlled growth without taking a major step away from core business. It's been a player in Australia for some time, but is now looking further overseas and is pursuing a contract, in a joint venture with Fulton Hogan's Australian arm, to upgrade an airport in Brunei which is being funded by the Sultan.
"We've not been that far afield before," says Jones. "We're testing the water for where we want to go next."
The company has prospered as a member of the Scirt Alliance rebuilding Christchurch's horizontal infrastructure, and nationwide is engaged on a number of roading and water infrastructure projects.
Importantly, Fulton Hogan is also diversifying its business.
Jones is clear it is not totally reliant on the roading space which makes sense given National's Roads of National Significance programme is expected to be curtailed if the Government changes next month. "We've made quite an effort to develop our skills into the rail and water irrigation sectors over the last 18 months."
He says that means a different focus as bidding and designing projects in the irrigation space is a long game. It can take 18 months or more before the project is lined up and the first holes are dug. But having a major contracting company sitting alongside the farmers gives banks the confidence to lend money.
The Central Plains water irrigation scheme is now well under way. It's another string to our bow," says Jones.
In the rail sector, the company has formed a joint venture with John Holland of Australia which supplies the rail expertise for work done for KiwiRail.
Jones says Fulton Hogan was recently awarded a contract for putting base isolation into the Christchurch Art Gallery; in essence separating the building from its current foundations and putting new ones in.
"We've taken our civil capabilities and teamed up with an international company that has done this throughout the world," he says.
There is strong commercial potential to use this approach as the Government and councils move to strengthen their building stock to meet new earthquake standards.
Sometimes there is a tendency to jump to the last resort quickly, when there is actually work that could be done to bring them up to standard in a cost-effective way."
In the public private partnership (PPP) space, Fulton Hogan has found it difficult to play in more than one PPP at a time. "The cost of bidding is enormous," says Jones. "You look at the international players. We have to be quite selective and truly believe if we go into it we have a chance of winning and not just be there to make up the numbers."
Jones says the company gave the Transmission Gully bid a good shot and has learnt from that the necessity of teaming up with an international player ('who has done it all before") if it has another go at a very big contract.
Robert Jones likes the ethos of Fulton Hogan - a firm with family values that is facing the future positively.
He picks that there will be an increased trend for European infrastructure players - who can get much better margins on funding from the European financing industry - to join alliances bidding for major projects here. "We've seen real interest on the Puhoi to Warkworth highway project with three Spanish players all intending to team with locals and to bid that project. All are experienced in PPP market and are operating in Australia and see NZ as a natural extension of that market."
Across the Tasman there is increased bundling of major projects. Jones believes the Waikato Expressway (Hamilton Bypass) with an estimated $800 million cost will also attract international interest.
But back to those family values that attracted Jones.
He says they come to the fore during the inevitable conflicts that can emerge in lengthy projects.
"We work through issues and resolve them without having to resort to legal recourse. We might be 5500-strong with a $3.5 billion turnover but the company is still run along the lines of a family company."
Fulton Hogan
• Established in 1933 in the Great Depression by Jules Fulton and Bob Hogan.
• The non-listed public company employs about 5500 people many of whom are shareholders.
• The company is vertically integrated across engineering and construction, owning and managing quarries, producing asphalt and emulsions and high quality pre-casting services.
• It is very active in the re-build of Christchurch through its participation in the SCIRT alliance and in Auckland where Fulton Hogan employs around 1000 people. Its current involvements include a number of road maintenance contracts such as Lincoln Road, Te-Atatu Road and State Highway 16 Causeway piling and ground improvements.
• A number of water projects on the go at Puketutu Island Biosolids, BnR Earthworks and the Hunua 4 Watermain.
