Good Wood goes from pest control to lockdown desks

Callum McDonald with one of his kitset desks he sells through his company Good Wood.

From bad pests to good wood, Callum McDonald is putting lockdown to good use.

Last year, Callum's passion to protect our native wildlife led to his start up company Good Wood, a wood product company specialising in building and supplying wildlife protection products.

"I've always been keen on helping the wildlife of New Zealand. This has been a great way for me to give back to the environment."

Callum says starting Good Wood has been a steep learning curve, beginning as an 'after work hours' venture, before moving last year into providing traps to councils and local trusts such as Cape Sanctuary.

Good Wood works with customers to provide standard and bespoke solutions, allowing them to innovate and increase the protection they're offering our wildlife, he says.

"Kiwi ingenuity is threaded into conservation and facilitating this innovation creates more effective control. In the conservation industry, I am always aiming to offer better value or money because this allows our conservation trusts to do even more amazing work in protecting our flora and fauna."

Callum says he is thankful to have had such a strong support network, with help from two mentors who have been successful in business.

"My mentors are top blokes - their attitudes and hard work ethics are qualities I strive to emulate. We're now working with a handful of trusts and councils across New Zealand."

Even better, the 18mm untreated radiata pine plywood is sourced in Hawke's Bay.

"Keeping it local is all part of giving back and keeping the business lean through its early stages."

With Callum's war on pests raging in the background, the Covid-19 threat posed a new challenge. Working from home in lockdown, he says flatmate Katie needed a desk. So with a degree in engineering under his belt, Callum got to work.

"I whipped up a design, cut it out on the CNC machine and it fitted together first pop. I uploaded a few pictures to social media and on our website - now people are buying them and loving their new desks for working from home. It's aptly named The Katie Desk."

Callum says the kitset desks can be assembled in under five minutes and are perfect for people working from home.

"It's super simple to put together. If your space is limited in your house, you can take it apart later on and store it under your bed."

Feedback has so far been very positive, with customers enjoying the simple slot together assembly, with only four shapes which make up the desk.

"They love the natural wood too."

Businesses wanting to buy desks to help their employees working from home have also shown interest.

"I'm happy to work with businesses on bulk deals to minimise freight and make it easy."

Callum describes Good Wood as an agile company - it's not all about pests and desks.

"We can design and build prototypes quickly. We have large supply capability for big businesses. We helped out one of the largest apple packhouses in New Zealand with dividers so they could pass their MPI Audit and continue working. These dividers will be critical for operating at level 3 and probably into the future too."

While Callum's goal for this year is to make sure as many people as possible can comfortably work from home, his overarching goal is to protect our native wildlife for future generations of New Zealanders.

"I want to help ensure that rare and endangered birds like the kiwi, dotterels or our kakapo, can be enjoyed forever."

For sizes, prices and delivery options visit www.goodwood.nz