Case study: How Construction Contracts Limited found their voice after 30 years of letting their work speak for itself.

With over 30 years in business, Construction Contracts Limited is one of Wellington’s most well-established civil construction companies. Their relentless focus on delivering quality work, and their investment in their people and their equipment has seen them grow into a leading player in the market, working on projects like Transmission Gully, the Arras Tunnel, and the Christchurch rebuild.

But even businesses as well established as CCL can find themselves hit by unfavourable market conditions and suddenly needing to market themselves.

Here's how FryerHQ helped CCL find their voice and tell their story to reconnect with customers and win new work.

Why CCL needed to rethink their approach to marketing

For most of their history, the CCL team didn't even think about marketing. They were kept busy with a reputation for quality delivery preceding them, and work knocking at their door.  Then the market changed.

With Wellington Water and the local councils as key clients, the legislative changes to Three Waters brought substantial uncertainty and caused water projects in the Capital to stall. And impending local government elections, and Wellington's dire economic conditions, didn't help either. The result; a sudden and sustained drop in the level of projects kicking off in Wellington.  What’s more, all this change meant the strong relationships CCL had formed with local Councils and Wellington Water were lost as staff came and went from these organisations.

For the first time in their history, CCL realised they needed to do something different, marketing.   

Their introduction to FryerHQ had come earlier in the year, when their drilling fluids supplier, Blick, had launched a new range of drilling fluids. As Blick's marketing partner, FryerHQ knew for the products to be successful, customers needed to have complete trust in them. After all, when you’re drilling with machinery worth millions of dollars, in often hazardous situations, you need full confidence in your tools. Creating case studies showcasing the fluids in action was the logical way to build that trust.

Blick and CCL teamed up to use the new Blick fluids on a project on Rata Street, Naenae. The phenomenal results led to a case study both Blick and CCL loved.  So, when CCL reached the point of needing marketing support themselves, reaching out to FryerHQ felt like the natural next step.

Building the message foundations first

Like many business owners, David was upfront that marketing was not his area. He thought they simply needed a few case studies and a brochure to help introduce themselves. Marie encouraged him to pause and build the foundations first so the work would have a clear message and showcase their strengths.

“We could have just jumped into telling some stories, and no doubt they would have been interesting enough,” said Marie. “But a little bit of prep up front really does make a huge difference to the end result.”

Through a few workshops, they clarified CCL’s target market and what mattered most to those customers. Then they identified three strengths that truly set CCL apart: the high quality of their work, strong operational capability, and a genuine commitment to going above and beyond for their customers and community. Finally, these strengths were matched to real examples, and the projects that best demonstrated them were selected to be told through case studies.

As David reflected, “I didn't know what to expect, but I knew I wanted something professional, and I did not want to spend a lot of time or money. Your process worked really well for us. It was good value for money, and we got a great result.”

Changing perceptions through customer stories

One of the strengths identified during these workshops was CCL’s genuine focus on going above and beyond. When we started drilling into this further (sorry, couldn't resist the drilling pun), we uncovered a long list of examples that showed what this really looked like in practice. There was the time the team repairing a broken footpath after seeing someone injure themselves near a work site. Or working with a local wedding venue to schedule drilling hours around their appointments so potential customers wouldn't be put off by the noise. Or when they introduced liquid nitrogen into the mix to freeze wastewater pipes and avoid costly draining or wastewater flowing into the environment. There were also countless situations where the team worked through Wellington’s harsh winter weather, often at night, to minimise disruption for local residents.

Any business can say they go above and beyond. But showing real, tangible examples of doing it, through these case studies is what makes the statement credible and meaningful to potential customers.

“You were able to get different perspectives from our team and our customers than I might” David said. “Sometimes the team just tell me the good news, but you helped uncover the challenges they faced, which made for more interesting stories.”

The results for Construction Contracts Limited

The final outputs included a new company brochure and a suite of case studies that clearly showcased the quality of CCL's work, and the results they deliver. These are now being used in tenders, capability conversations and council engagement with positive feedback. Most notably, CCL recently won the first stage of Levin's wastewater upgrade, a highly competitive tender for a project worth $110M over the next 20 years. And of course, a case study for this project has already been developed.

David is constantly busy, balancing bids, overseeing projects and managing his team, so creating a streamlined process was essential. Today, he knows he can flick FryerHQ a quick note with the name of a project and the team lead and expect a case study to land in his inbox soon after. Because Marie knows the business well, she takes care of everything. A short call with the CCL team, an interview with the customer, all approvals, and the design of the final piece in CCL’s branding. The result is a clear, credible story that brings the key messages to life without adding to David’s workload.

As David put it, “You made it easy for us by doing all the interviews with the team and customers and bringing it all together into interesting stories. I don't have the time to do that.”

Since the first case study, CCL have reflected on all the ways they engage with customers and how they can bring the same professional look to life across everything. Proposal documents have been updated, and the case studies have been turned into feature artwork showcased throughout their Wellington office.

And the case studies don't just help with new clients. As we realised through the project, just because there were long-standing relationships with organisations like Wellington Water, it didn't mean we could assume they knew what made CCL special. Employees come and go in those organisations, and it's important to stay closely connected, and continue to showcase the work the CCL team do. Every new case study provides an opportunity to reconnect with existing customers as well as introduce themselves to new ones.

“What you created helps us educate new people at our existing customers about what we do too. I'd definitely recommend FryerHQ. It was a good experience and a great result."

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Keen to showcase your business like CCL did?

If you’d like someone to take the work off your plate and deliver case studies your team will actually use, I can help. Check out my case study packages or get in touch to talk through what you need.

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