Meet our Dealers: Dominator Waikato Director Melt Bekker
Originally from a farming family in South Africa, Dominator Waikato Dealer Melt Bekker can trace his family history back to the 17th century. Those deeply-rooted ties couldn't stop him from leaving the place he called home to start afresh with his young family in New Zealand, though a love of wide open spaces and farming has stayed with him and Melt relishes days meeting locals in the Waikato high country. We caught up with Melt to talk about his dealership in Hamilton.
It was circa 1997 when Melt and his brother competed in an international “Skills at Arms” test match in Australia, where they took out second place. While on the road, they came across a young woman walking alone in the countryside and Melt requested his local companions to stop and pick her up for safety’s sake. The revelation that generally, people can walk alongside the road safely in other countries was a key catalyst in Melt and his wife’s decision to leave South Africa. They eventually chose New Zealand and in 1999, brought their sons Arno and Jako (eight and six years old at the time) to settle in the Waikato.
Once here, Melt found his feet working for Fonterra after a number of other roles like concrete precasting, working in a steel factory and driving an airport shuttle. A former geneticist, Melt started in the laboratory, becoming the lab's business manager five years later, then after landing a role as business manager for another lab, he moved on to manage Asure Quality’s Auckland lab, growing the team from 200-odd to over 500 staff.
Eventually, Melt transitioned into semi-retirement. Looking for something to keep him occupied, Melt spent time helping out his wife Madelize, a publisher specialising in Education Design, on a major project. Once the project was completed in 2020, Melt says he “Got bored, started looking around for a business and found Dominator. I’d never installed a garage door before but I enjoy working with my hands, I’m quite practical. So I learned to install garage doors.” Melt purchased Dominator Waikato, which had been running for about 20 years at the time.
Above, Valero is always a popular option for Dominator Waikato customers. A recent install showcases the wide, smooth panels beautifully in contrast with vertical wood panelling.
With the business already established, the approach was to bring top-notch service into the mix. “We have a good brand and a good product so our focus is on bringing a fresh approach to the service we offer our customers," Melt says. “We aim for word-of-mouth recommendations and so far it’s quite successful. We want people to talk about Dominator when they talk to each other. ‘If I’ve got a problem with my garage door, I’ll call Dominator’. We have a five-year plan and two years in, we can see we’re well on track.”
Melt is proud of the team he's put together, most of whom are new to the garage door business and have varied backgrounds unrelated to the building industry. Starting with the installations team, Ryan used to be a dental instrument technician back home in the USA, where his father once owned a garage door installation business. Mahaki has an arts degree and the dream to open his own tattoo parlour and Saul is currently studying for a diploma in Health & Safety. Aaron has recently joined the team and Melt’s son Jako is soon to begin training on installations.
Company originals Louie, an IT specialist and Dave from a banking background, are joined by Donna in the office. Operations Manager Simon who has worked long-term with the business, has an arts degree and Richie, who specialises in servicing, has been working with garage doors for around 30 years.
Respectful of his team and their various skills and interests, Melt tells us, “All of them have that practical side and were looking for something different to do. I’m impressed by their enthusiasm for the product and their passion for providing great service. I trust them to make decisions in the customer’s interest”. When problems occur as they do in any business, Melt’s team will find solutions. “They will study, make enquiries and prepare before taking on a tricky task,” he says.
Recently installed Futura garage doors look just as good alongside brick as they do with linear cladding.
The services offered by Dominator Waikato include sectional, roller, tilt and Flex-A-Door® installation, servicing, replacement, repairs & maintenance, along with after-market insulation and cedar doors. Though Richie is the main service person and manufactures the tilt doors, the rest of the team are also trained in servicing doors, so they fill in where appropriate. “We train everyone across the spectrum so they all get the full picture - not just putting doors in. We are fortunate that our people are interested in understanding the nature of garage doors and how best to do the job”. Information is shared to benefit the team as a whole. “If they learn about what the issues are when they visit sites, they’ll also learn to avoid those issues when they’re installing,” says Melt.
Staff members wear a uniform on site and almost everyone drives a Dominator-branded Toyota ute (the service vehicle is a van) for ease of access. “We often go to rural properties and the utes are less likely to get stuck in difficult spots.”
Dominator Waikato’s customers are roughly fifty per cent group home builders. The other 50% comprises private customers, insurance work, retirement village contracts and a contract with Kāinga Ora. The latter requires a quick response - sometimes within 4 hours - keeping the team on their toes. When asked about the Dominator products most popular with his customers, Melt says that Valero is often the choice for new houses and large developments and Futura, Dominator's best value option, is very popular elsewhere. “It seems that the local market is happy with a good quality garage door that opens and closes whenever they need it to, rather than buying a door with all available accessories. That said, insulation is very popular. But generally, they just want a quality door installed, with good service to follow.”
Competition is lively in the area with all of the big brands having an established presence. “We just focus on the service side, keeping a high level of service is our point of difference. That’s the way we drive it,” says Melt. “One advantage we have is that even though we are competing against each other in the marketplace, we know the other business owners and if someone’s running short on parts, we help each other out, get in contact and buy stuff from each other. We compete fiercely out in the market but we’re human outside of that,” he adds.
Flat-panelled Valero works beautifully in dark and light colours. Recently installed by Dominator Waikato.
Melt’s tasks include payroll, sales and all the overflow work. “Anything the team doesn’t get to, I pick up,” he tells us. “I do sales for private customers, liaising with Home Group Builders, problem resolution”. He’s always happy to muck in and help where needed. “I do like to instal the odd roller door from time to time to keep in practice and sometimes I’ll go out to the site and help the guys install a big door. I can still install 3 - 4 roller doors myself in a day if I have to,” he tells us. “I love getting out and meeting people. We have such interesting customers, from car collectors to home brewers, CEOs of major companies, and gang members. I enjoy learning about their passions and building a rapport with all of them. A lot of our customers are farmers and seeing I grew up on a farm and have been a farmer I just love getting out in the countryside. On a day like today, what more could you want than a view all the way to the sea while you install a garage door?”
Sometimes Melt meets people on the move to a retirement village, packing up a lifetime of memories and preparing to leave their houses. “They need to make sure the garage door is serviced before they move out. We might be chatting and I’ll say, ‘Yes I know the unit you’re moving into. We’ve installed the door there, if there are any issues just let us know’. It helps their confidence when they’ve talked about the new place and they’re reassured that it’s all going to be fine when they’re going through such a big change in their lives”.
Farm-style Futura.
In speaking with Melt, it’s easy to see how his calm demeanour would be an advantage in shooting competitions. We wondered what it was like for Melt taking over the business in 2020 during COVID. “Well, it’s never a good time and if I didn’t do it I might look back and say I should have, so I decided to do it and whichever way it goes we’ll manage it. I think there’s an advantage when you’re a bit longer in the tooth you know that as things have their ups and downs you need to run your business accordingly. There are always downturns in business, but it’ll turn the other way again at some stage. The challenge is getting through the downturn - you have to get back to the basics. So we just knuckle down and do our best”.
Doing their best has worked very well for the team at Dominator Waikato thus far - they took out the National Sales Award and the National Health & Safety Award at the 2020 National Dealer Awards.
“We don’t focus too much on accolades, we just focus on our service. So much so that when we won the awards it was a big surprise, I didn’t read the email and one of the office people opened it. ‘Hey guys, we’ve won an award, actually we’ve won two awards!’ We never do things for kudos, we do it because we want to get it right for our customers and ourselves, but it was nice to get the awards and know that we are doing something right”.
Being part of the wider B&D group has helped Melt to his feet in the industry. “We get a lot of support from B&D, we just call the 0800 number if we need it. The other dealers are always very supportive in sharing knowledge and experience, which is really nice. We’re fortunate there’s no political agenda. We just want to install doors, and we share problem-solving between us,” he says.
For the coming year, showroom, office and storage upgrades are in planning at Dominator Waikato. Currently the showroom at 4A Devon Road, Frankton features an interactive Milano sectional garage door in the colour Ironsand with a Smart Opener, Auto Lock and insulation. The office and showroom are open from 8 am - 5 pm Monday to Friday and customers are welcome to drop by to make themselves familiar with the various products on display. Louie, Donna or Dave will be happy to help you.
The last word from scientist-turned-garage door professional Melt is, “We have a good product and brand so the business should be successful, it's up to us to make it happen”.
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