Hi, my name is Daniel Hemus, and I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a Housing Development Manager, and father living in Auckland, New Zealand.

I am a Christian and active member of City Impact Church, and volunteer in Kid's Church helping inspire the kids to be all that they can be.

In regard to my career in the construction industry, I started out doing 10 years in building supplies working in a timber yard, then delivery driver, then sales support, and finally as a sales rep (5 years).

I was then approached by one of my clients to come and help coordinate their multiple high-end builds as they were expanding their construction business.

After this I became more involved in the office and management of the construction company. Then with a concrete cutting and drilling business and another building and development business.

I also worked part-time at a small church in Warkworth.

While working for the church I ended up juggling a few part-time roles doing admin work, church work and also doing handyman work which involved installing insulation, gardening, painting, and then on the tools as a hammer hand for a builder.

I then decided to look elsewhere for full-time work and got a commercial sales role for Atlas Concrete. After being in this role for 14 months I applied and was promoted to Depot Manager looking after the Takapuna concrete plant and store for Atlas Concrete. I stayed in this role for 3 years before deciding to buy a franchise business (Maintain To Profit Auckland Central) doing property maintenance and renovations.

The business purchase was a “no-brainer” for me as it was a great fit with all my previous experience in the building and construction industry. It was a great stepping stone, and after 3 ½ years I sold this business and purchased a construction business.

I had the construction company (Goldline Construction) for 3 ½ years taking it from a failing business model in the architectural space, and I pivoted to doing Design & Build specialising in building Minor Dwellings and Granny Flats.

Through some unfortunate circumstances I had to close the construction business down.

I then got a job as a Project Manager working for GJ Gardner Homes Rodney East & Mangawhai Franchise.

After 3 years and 9 months at GJ Gardner Homes I was approached and asked to apply for the Housing Adequacy Development Manager role at Habitat for Humanity Northern Region. I applied and was offered the role and now here I am in what I tell people is my dream job.

At Habitat I get to put all my construction knowledge and experience into action where I help run a team of builders and handymen doing repairs and renovations for the not so fortunate people. We fix homes for the ones who struggle to afford it.

Part of my role is to help Habitat to launch a commercial/business arm to do profitable work for the general public which will in turn help fund the charitable work we do so we can become more self-sustainable.

Watch this space as we launch into Repairs and Maintenance, Renovation Works and Design & Build of Granny Flats.