Kia ora, we would love you to meet...
Mike Tautalanoa 🇹🇴
Mike is our Managing Director and head builder. He is a proud Tongan that loves his family, his Church, any and every sport, and is passionate about his craft.
Mike struggled in school, from the outset, English was his second language, and as he say’s “School was just a place to eat lunch with my mates and play rugby”. When Mike was 16 his transitional teacher took him to the office and gave him a few course brochures and asked him what interested him, he chose carpentry. The next day he was enrolled at MIT in Otara. That was the start of what has been a 28-year building career. “I will be forever grateful for a teacher that identified that although I was struggling in the education system, I still had a lot to offer”
“One of the reasons I wanted to go out on my own was to be able to employ local and invest in the upcoming builders of Aotearoa. My apprenticeship experience as a 17-year-old, hardworking but shy young man, was marred with racism and abuse. I didn’t realise it at the time but looking back on those early years, I tolerated behaviour that was unacceptable.”
"Having FirstKings Construction enables me to create a much more positive and encouraging experience for other young apprentice builders, It is really important to my wife and I to foster a positive, open working environment for our team. To make sure they know we care about their health (physical and mental) their whanau and their well being”.
Check out more information about FirstKings Construction here or contact the team.
