Working the Te Haara Magic

Villawood maintenance guru Phil Te Haara will tell you it’s what you don’t see that means he and his crew have done a good job.

A clean, tidy estate is one that welcomes residents and buyers alike and Phil’s bailiwick, from Clyde to Barwon Heads, has seen him sprucing Villawood’s boldest and best across Melbourne for the past 11 years.

“There’s 13 estates on my books right now and we’re maintaining all the vacant land, lots and nature strips, entrances and open green spaces – keeping the land all nice and tidy, keeping things clean and green,” he says.

“We replace all the flags, check all the boundaries, herbicide spray where required, carry out Bobcat and tip-truck work. We remove a lot of material, do builder waste clean-ups.

“I organise other contractors when required, like water trucks, street sweepers, fencing, truck and Bobcat site cleans and minor landscaping.

“There are always people dumping rubbish, we’re always quick to get in and clean up before people notice.

“People coming to buy don’t want to see rubbish. We’ll move it quickly – or maybe catch the guy who’s dumping.”

As custodian of Villawood’s Melbourne and Geelong communities, Phil maintains a crew of seven with another three on call when work ramp up with new releases, weather, events or any of myriad other factors.

“I’ve served my apprenticeship. Now I know what we need and where. I can’t take a week off because the grass keeps growing,” he laughs with his trademark Te Haara good humour.”

So the Te Haara crew maintain schedule checks across all Villawood’s communities, mowing, repairing, removing, doing “whatever’s needed”, checking with development managers, eyeballing everything.

Phil’s recently superseded a couple of his ute and tandem trailer fixtures with new Iveco tray trucks to transport some seven mowers, bobcat and other gear.
The trucks also come in handy for other work that pops up – from picking up and delivering the large steel sculptures sent over from Villawood sculptor Folko Kooper in Tasmania, cubby houses, pallets of wine, brochures, books, topsoil and garden bed mulch, sales office furniture. Phil says they’re a godsend.

“I’m fine-tuning, streamlining, and making some more space for us at the factory ,” he says, again the grin and chuckle in his voice.

Phil’s operations are headquartered at Laverton, not far from Point Cook’s award-winning Alamanda, where he started with Villawood doing some fencing work.

“It’s really exploded since then,” he says. “Now I have my wife Monique and two sons, Tyrone and Taniora, and brother-in-law Adrian, working with me.

“It’s a family business with the rest of the crew also related. We all reside in Wyndham.”

Given the nature of their work, it’s not surprising to find a few surprises on the job, too. Snakes, birds galore, old man kangaroos grazing on vacant lots between houses … even new buyers setting up picnics on their block.

“I love this work,” says Phil. “It gets me outdoor. I like working the company, Rory and Tony are great bosses, down to earth and it flows down through all the managers and office staff. It’s great how they develop and what they do for families and community.”

Phil Te Haara and his crew at Villawood’s Armstrong Mount Duneed.