Past Presidents: Andrew Cave

In its 20-year history, FCANZ has benefited from the wisdom, guidance and dedication of six different Presidents. WIRED’s Rosa Watson talked to four of them about the challenges of setting up an incorporated society from scratch, gaining traction with members and corporate partners, their individual focuses as President, and the satisfaction of contributing to the Association’s success.

Andrew Cave

FCANZ President, 2009 - 2011

Getting the accredited fencer programme up and running was a huge achievement, Andrew Cave remembers from his time as president of the FCANZ Board.

Andrew took over from Simon Fuller in 2009, wanting to help move the organisation forward.

“Simon was stepping down, and I felt I could jump in there and try to fill his shoes. He’d done a pretty impressive job. I just wanted to help move FCANZ forward. (And) I think I was the only one on the committee who was keen to take the role on.

He says it was incredibly busy being on the Board while also running a business.

“We were doing it all. We were all fencers on the Board, and I can remember I was strongly pushing to get other business leaders, or at least one person, onto the Board who was high up in business and understood all the business side of things.

“We were guys that were just out fencing and doing it for ourselves, and really, we probably didn’t know a hell of a lot about running an association.”

He says a main priority in the early days was drumming up corporate support.

“We had Wiremark as our strategic partner, but trying to get other businesses on Board was hard work. Because it was in its early days – we weren’t proven.”

At the time, fencing was seen as a fill-in job during off-season work, he says.

“So, you’re trying to get credibility for what we were doing and trying to achieve.”

Getting the accredited fencer programme up and running was a big step, setting the standards that fencers had to meet.

“That was a pretty big thing, getting that moving. Getting the professionalism in there. Other trades had apprenticeships; fencing had nothing. So, it was our type of apprenticeship, and that was pretty rewarding getting that sorted.”

To achieve this, it required getting NZQA qualifications that lined up. The Board worked closely with a territory training college to put the standards in place with NZQA support behind it.

Andrew was the “guinea pig” for the programme, becoming the first FCANZ Accredited Fencer.

“We decided to go that way because we could all work together on it and get the systems in place. And it was pretty quickly adopted after that with all the members.”

Over the years, it was added to, and an extra higher-level qualification was established.

He says a highlight of his time on the board was networking with other fencing contractors in an open manner.

“It broke the ice. It made it easy, I think, for contractors to talk to other contractors about issues they might have been having and to get ideas. It really helps people and businesses to grow.”

He says this remains as important today as it was then.

“Every industry needs an association behind it to support those businesses that are in that industry.”

“I left the industry some years ago, but my understanding is the Association is still going strong and improving year on year, and still just helping business owners to improve their standards, not just in fencing, but their business skills and making it more professional.”

Today, he runs an earthmoving and civil contracting business at Woodville, in the Tararua District. He says he took a lot of the experience he gained in the fencing industry with him.

“A lot of the skills I learnt then, with dealing with clients and pricing jobs, it all flows through. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, the basics are all the same.”

He takes great satisfaction in seeing FCANZ where it is today.

“It’s awesome really, thinking back on the past and what we all did.

“We were all very fresh at it, new to association rules, how all that worked, or how we worked together as a committee.

Andrew in his fencing days

“It is definitely very rewarding seeing that it’s still going, that it didn’t sort of just peter out into the distance and disappear.

“It’s a credit to all the other past presidents, Board and committee members that have been involved.

“I think this year, with the 20 years they have been an incorporated society, it’s pretty impressive. It’s great to see that it’s still going.

“I’d certainly love to see it go another 20 years. I certainly don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t.”

The industry has become much more professional over the last 20 years, and it is a credit to everybody involved with FCANZ, he says.

“Getting fencing businesses more professional is helping grow the industry.

“That support from the Association will be needed heading into the future to help move the industry further ahead.”

Published in WIRED issue 81/June 2026 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ

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