Watch our history unfold
Silvester Electrical has been around for half a century.
Graham Silvester was born in Kereone, went to Kereone School and then Morrinsville College leaving in the late 1960s. He thought he might be a builder, but it was his woodwork teacher at school who suggested he consider being either an electrician or plumber. So, taking the advice of his teacher he embarked on a career that would eventually become a family affair with, each in their turn, wife Lynne, son Damian and daughter in law Michelle all becoming involved in the company.
After leaving school, he applied for an apprenticeship with Malcolm Smith who was a local sparkie and was working for Malcolm with another electrician, Jim Elliott. Graham had only been with the fi rm for about six months when Malcolm was killed in a car accident. After his death, Jim and another electrician in town John Gray, bought Malcolm's business and combined it with John's to form Elliott and Gray Limited. Graham was absorbed into the new enterprise, along with another employee Paddy Powell, and stayed working there for about six years.
The new company did a fair bit of work for Burmester's Bakery in town. After Burmester's burnt down in 1974, John Gray wanted to sell his share of the business to concentrate on other ventures including reconstituting the bakery equipment that had been damaged in the fi re. Graham and Paddy made a successful off er to buy the business renaming it Elliott and Gray (1976) Limited.
The company stayed with that name for several years, but as Graham explains it, "It was always a problem because people would ring up wanting to speak to either Mr Elliott or Mr Gray. One of our vehicles had been involved in an accident at the time and needed to be repainted, so we thought it was as good a time as any to rename the company Silvester and Powell Electrical Limited."
After nine years or so, Paddy decided to leave and Graham assumed control of the business, later renaming it to the now more familiar Silvester Electrical Limited.
While Paddy was still involved in the company, it operated out of a garage at the back of Hawke Motors, which occupied the site where the Warehouse currently sits. "When we moved in, the garage fl oor was just dirt so we had to pour a concrete floor," said Graham. "We were there for a few years, and then Tom Laurent, a milking machine fitter and DeLaval agent, built a new building where Annah S, sits. His workshop was right on the corner (of Thames and Allen Streets) and we were there for a number of years."
"That's the building I remember as a kid," said Graham's son, Damian, who is now director of the company and, like his dad, an electrician by trade.
"Paddy and I had bought a section off a plumber called Bill Mickell," continued Graham, which is the current location of the business today on Studholme Street. The section remained vacant for a while, but after Paddy and Graham went their own ways, Graham designed and built the building that the company occupies today.
"We inherited an apprentice when we took over Elliott and Gray," said Graham, and over the years the company, in its various iterations, has trained at least 40 apprentices. "There has always been two or three (apprentices) at any one time with the business," said Lynne.
And there has been a fair few changes in the way the business runs. "It has always been a 24 hour, seven day a week proposition," said Graham, "and in those days, before mobile phones, someone had to be home all the time in case a customer needed an electrician."
"Because so many of our customers operated 24 hours, it meant that for 40 years or so, Graham was always on call and couldn't relax," said Lynne. "But he was always concerned about his customers and didn't want to let anyone down."
"We had a woman answering the phones from her own home and when she fi nished for the day, she would flick a switch that diverted the phones to either our house or Paddy's. I attached bells to the outside of the house so even if I was working outside, I could still hear the phone ringing."
"We also had to write every invoice using the Electrical Contractors Association hand book which had the prices in it of everything we charged. We would spend evenings writing up invoices at home and delivering them to Stephen Lindasy, our accountant, who would send them out to customers. Almost everything was done by hand, with customer information being kept on index cards. Later, we used microfiche to keep our pricing records."
Graham and Lynne were married in 1977. "The fi rst time we met was at a dance at the old War Memorial hall where the library is today," said Lynne. Once they were married, Lynne pitched in by answering the phone at home after hours. She was working at the medical centre in town and studying for a degree in management before going on to work for the Leask group as a business manager. About 30 years ago, after having children, she started to work for Silvester Electrical.
Technology has aff ected the way the business runs. "Well before there were cell phones," said Graham, "we had RTs (radio telephones) in the van but were often otherwise uncontactable. Later we had pagers which helped and eventually I bought a mobile phone which was about the size of a concrete block and had to be carried around in a bag."
There are several projects the company has been involved with over the years that still stand out for Graham. The fi rst was when the overhead power lines that ran the length of the main street were placed underground. "The Chamber of Commerce had put lighting under the verandas on shop fronts. Once a week I had to drive down the main street at night checking that the lights were working properly. They had all been fed from the overhead power lines, and when they went underground, I had to ensure that the lights kept working so I put in a couple of power boxes with time clocks in them to turn the lights on and off." There were two points of supply for the shop front lighting – one where the BNZ is now, which was a bike shop at the time, and one outside Wrightson's.
Another big project occurred when refrigerated vats on farms became more common. "We used to start at one end of a road and work our way to the other making sure the electricity for the vats was connected. It was a huge job and there were hundreds of milking sheds that had to be checked. Unfortunately, for many farmers, the switch boards in the sheds were too small for extra fuses, so we often had to install new boards. The dairy company paid for the vats, but the farmer paid for the board and they would tell us to go ahead and do the work because we were 'johnny on the spot.'"
A third project that Graham took a great deal of satisfaction from was the major alterations done at New World when it was owned by George Burton. The work had to be done at night, and representatives from Foodstuff s in Auckland told Graham the job was too big for him and his company to undertake. "But George told them he had faith in me," said Graham, "and he was sure I could do the job. So, I worked all day with my own business and then worked at night at New World. It was hard work and I didn't see the kids awake for six weeks, but at the end of the project the Foodstuff s rep shook my hand and said we had done very well."
The company expanded in November 2022 when it purchased Electrico which, as Damian describes it, basically doubled the size of Silvester overnight, but it did give the company a presence in all three towns in the Matamata-Piako area.
Damian finished his apprenticeship about 15 years ago and bought into the company ten years ago. The job has changed a lot in that time, he said, and a good amount of his effort is spent managing Silvester's. He provides technical support to the other electricians, but even now still enjoys putting on the tool belt himself. "He still loves the hands on stuff," said Michelle, with Lynne adding that he has always been a good problem solver, something Graham understands. "It always gives you such a buzz when you get to solve a problem for a customer," he said.
And it is that desire to keep their customers satisfied that has kept the business going, said Lynne. "Happy clients and providing a good service has always been important to us," she said. "Without customers, you've got nothing," added Graham, who said that some of their current customers are the third generation of a family to use their services.
Being involved in the community is something Graham and Lynne have always thought was important. For 25 years, Silvester's sponsored a pre-season 15 a side tournament at Kereone Rugby and Graham has given his time freely each year working on events like the A & P Show and the Fireworks Extravaganza.
Anyone passing the town's Christmas tree while it was being put up or taken down will, almost certainly, have seen Graham halfway up its frame making sure the electrical side of things were running smoothly. He has also provided his time and input to other projects wiring various locations like the upstairs lounge at the Westpac Events Centre, the Information Centre and the Plunket rooms, as well as providing sponsorship and advertising for a host of other events. "The town has been good to me," said Graham, "so I like to give something back when I can."
Michelle's role means she gets to manage the HR and PR aspects of the company, including its social media profile, and make sure that staff are looked after. She met Damian about six months after he first started at the company and was initially employed part time towards the end of 2022 to handle administration tasks. The internal culture at Silvester's that drives customer satisfaction is something she is passionate about.
So, what of the next 50 years for the company? Graham and Lynne are delighted that Michelle and Damian are committed to off ering the same level of service and professionalism to their customers that they established and making sure that the values of the organisation still lie at the heart of everything Silvester's do.
