Four of the Smith family’s brothers wound up at the top of their fields in the engineering industry. The fifth became a politician. You have to wonder: does National MP Nick Smith ever think about what might have been?
The five Smith brothers have engineering in the blood. The source can be traced back to John C Smith, an Australian farmer and contractor who established a drainlaying and bridge building company in Christchurch and Rangiora in 1964. Smith built the company up before his 1991 retirement, showing his sons the ropes before they went off on their separate, yet related, paths.
Nick decided to try something altogether different and became a successful politician but the others stayed in the industry. Of the brothers – Nick, Albert, Daniel, Tim and Peter – it’s Albert’s business interests that arguably have the most reach.
His Universal Cranes business, which he began in 1990 before moving to Australia in 2002, is one of Australia’s most successful crane companies. With about 600 employees and 150 cranes, Universal Cranes has several branches throughout Queensland and operates around Australia. It’s usually well within the top 10 on Cranes and Lifting’s list of Australia’s most powerful crane operators. It also has overseas operations, including an outpost in New Caledonia.
Albert is also the president of the Smithbridge Group, which is heavily involved in construction on the US-territory of Guam. It’s understood to benefit heavily from US government contracts.
He also has business interests in New Zealand, including 80% of the Auckland and Waikato crane businesses. He also holds a 30% interest in his brother Tim’s company, Smith Crane and Construction. With 110 cranes, 170 staff and branches in Auckland, Queenstown and Invercargill, Smith Cranes is the country’s largest crane hire company and also operates the biggest fleet of tower cranes.
Tim has been in the news recently, although usually for being on the receiving end of unfortunate business situations. In March, a High Court injunction forced one of his company’s cranes to stay on a construction site after the construction company – Arrow International – went into voluntary administration. He also spoke out after the collapse of the Mainzeal construction company, telling media he was left owed over $1 million. He’d also been burned by the collapse of other finance companies, although he said his business was big enough to absorb the blows.
Peter Smith has been a consulting engineer in Wellington for over 45 years. He was president of the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering from 2016 to 2018, during which time he was named a distinguished fellow by Engineering New Zealand. He was involved in the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission in 2011 and 2012.
2018: $250 million