History

The inaugural Sydenham Joinery site was on Waller Terrace, a tiny street that runs behind Hagley High School in the central city. Original owners Bernie Hunt and John Baker were both qualified joiners who had been made redundant by Sydenham Timber, and they decided to strike out on their own in the year of 1983.

Funnily enough, their very first employee also happened to be called John Baker. To prevent confusion, he was promptly dubbed ‘John Baker Jnr’, and forty years later he still hasn’t been able to shake the title!

Grant, who hails from a long line of joiners, joined the firm in 2002 as a fresh-faced 18-year-old with just a pre-course in drafting to his name. He walked in off the street and asked Bernie for a job, was offered a four-year apprenticeship and the rest is history. Richard, who was already a qualified tradesman, took a position with Sydenham Joinery as an installer just a year later.

In 2016, after 23 years at the helm, Bernie decided to focus on a separate arm of the business specialising in aged care centres, so Grant and Richard made the decision to buy the operation from him. From that day on their goal has been to continue carrying the baton of quality craftmanship that Sydenham Joinery was renowned for.

Over time, with Grant and Richard regularly taking on new apprentices, staff numbers at the factory increased from just 12 to 28, and with the purchase of some new state-of-the-art machinery in 2016 the original building was starting to feel decidedly crowded!

The decision to shift Sydenham Joinery to its current location in Dalziel Place has enabled the business to spread its wings, and while we are technically no longer in the suburb of Sydenham, we can proudly say that we have retained all of our original clients, some of whom have been with the company for almost forty years. The extra space has allowed for the regular addition of new builders, architects, and homeowners to the Sydenham family, and we are genuinely honoured to be a part of such a highly-regarded institution in our home city of Christchurch.