Standing at the highest point on this rural Waimauku property, Iydden Wood is clearly proud of the place.

Below the 40-year-old is his company’s work of the past eight years – work that makes this part of his Dirtworks operation look to me kind of like a landscaper…..but on an enormous scale.

There’s a least a kilometre of wide, sweeping, heavy-duty concrete roads (almost 200-millimetre-thick). And, directly in front, a whole valley now being given a massive makeover. 

And, whereas your typical landscape company might run a ute or light truck, a little digger and maybe a Bobcat mini excavator, the property below us is crawling with 20 to 30-tonne earthmoving machines owned by Iydden’s business….

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