PieBot is new technology invented by two guys in their 20s; “like a shrimp” is how a sacked ELE worker said he was, curled up sleeping in his car - now some good news; a retirement village advocate is stepping down; and the Property Council and Auckland Property Investors Association
Property Insider: Who ate all the pies? Sacked Filipino worker finds new job; retirement chief retiring; Property Council, Auckland Property Investors Association welcome Government changes
Pie lovers Sasha Mates (left) and Vincent Wong with one of their PieBots which are now on a number of construction sites. Photo / WM Robotics
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WM Robotics’ Sasha Mates, aged 24 and Vincent Wong, 23, said up to eight flavours can be offered via the pastry edibles from Dad’s Pies at Silverdale.
They sell for $5.49 each or $9.98 for two.
They are designed to help “improve employee morale,” the inventors say.
Zero costs accrue to the site “except electricity”. Providing hot food onsite allowed construction companies to keep workers there. Naylor Love, Fletcher, Ockham Residential, GN Construction and Kalmar are businesses PieBot is already feeding, they say.
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A trial is also being run at Mitre 10 Mega Pukekohe.
Wong said the business had been running for only about a year and arose from their eating habits.
“We used to work together and would go to the bakery daily. It got to the point where the bosses questioned us, so we decided to quit our jobs. That’s how the whole idea started,” Wong said.
They registered the robotics company under Wong & Mates in 2021.
The machines don’t dispense the pies automatically but they are more akin to a self-service kiosk because cabinet doors open.
“When customers shut the doors, they get charged for what they took,” Mates said. “The whole idea is we wanted it to be like you going to a local bakery. We wanted to mimic that experience.”
No pies dropping from heights in this ‘bot.
Asked where the money came from to establish the venture, Wong said: “We’ve bootstrapped it ourselves up until this point: basically, all our savings. We can’t reveal what a ‘bot is worth but everything you see is designed by us including the electronics, software and POS [point of sale] system.”
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The two want PieBots to go national.
Favourite pies? Mates likes steak and cheese. Wong likes butter chicken. Property Insider’s favourite is mince - with Worcester sauce.
Sacked migrant ELE worker Red Aguhar employed
Remember sacked Filipino migrant ex-ELE worker Red Aguhar living in his small Toyota Aqua in January when he told of the terrible circumstances he found himself in?
Now, there’s a good news update.
Aguhar had been working for the now-bust construction recruitment business ELE when owner Brent Mulholland asked the bank to call in receivers just before Christmas. More than 1000 people were out of work.
Aguhar had been working on a West Coast on a residential building site. He emigrated to New Zealand last May after seven years working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he earned $1070 a month which included free accommodation and transport to construction sites. Back in the Philippines, he could only earn about $71 each week.
When he was laid off, he headed to Auckland. No wage meant he couldn’t afford rent, so he was sleeping “like a shrimp” in his black car.
But now he has settled into a new job in the Bay of Plenty and has expressed relief that he could find work, given he’s supporting around five people from his earnings here. He hopes one day his family can migrate to New Zealand.
Retirement boss John Collyns retiring
John Collyns, executive director of the Retirement Villages Association, steps down after the national conference in August. The outspoken advocate for village owner-operators has been in the job for 16 years.
“I started with the association on October 8, 2007. I’ve indicated I’m happy to use the almost 17 years of experience in a part-time capacity if anyone is interested,” he said this week.
Sector observers noted that in the time he has worked in his role, the sector had doubled in size. If he picks a village to live in, where will it be?
The association has had some strong opposition lately with the outspoken mainlander Brian Peat of Mosgiel putting the case strongly for village residents along with Jon Duffy of Consumer NZ and a stampede of others.
Pleasing big and small end of town
Big-time investors’ industry body the Property Council and private landlords’ advocate the Auckland Property Investors Association [APIA] expressed satisfaction with the new Government last week.
The Property Council welcomed Thursday’s announcement of speeding significant project consents and removing barriers to greater overseas investment in build-to-rent housing.
The changes will streamline the consenting pathway for overseas investors to buy land for new build-to-rent development, it said. Council research shows with the right policy settings in place, the 550 member companies, including our largest residential and commercial property developers and investors, could deliver up to 25,000 build-to-rent homes in the next decade, the council said.
The council’s build-to-rent tracker, to be launched on March 21, will reveal the real numbers in the sector now dominated by Kiwi Property Group and Simplicity.
APIA welcomed new measures to end emergency housing and reform tenancy law.
It said the Labour Government’s “heavy-handed approach to removing the 90-day no-fault termination has significantly reduced the acceptable margin of error for vetting tenants”.
Sarina Gibbon, APIA general manager, said: “This myopic attitude towards the security of tenure is forcing landlords to over-compensate by only renting to picture-perfect tenants, leaving those with a chequered past literally out in the cold.”
More balanced tenancy law would reduce inadvertent discrimination against some tenants and give them a chance to secure a home in the private market, she said.
“Reinstating no-fault termination is an obvious solution, but I get that talks of reinstatement can be incredibly unsettling for tenants. I would like to see a more nuanced policy solution that will encourage landlords to take a chance on imperfect but fundamentally good tenants.”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
