Professional Builder Profile Interview: Jeff Carter of Southstar Trails in New Zealand
This has become one of my favorite interview series. Not only do I love startups and inspirational stories behind them, but am smack dab on the front end of getting my own startup off the ground ... Trail Builder Magazine. Therefore, stories of those who jumped both feet into starting their own trail building companies resonate on a deep level with me.
I’ve been journaling every morning for a long time. Just this morning, as I journaled, I reflected on my startup journey with the magazine. Sure, we all bring a few skills and experiences into startups, but from then on, it’s learning everything else on the fly. For trail builders, much of the learning curve is less about the trails themselves but instead related to business things ... bidding on projects, filing taxes, getting the right kind of insurance, paying employees, and so much more.
In our latest interview with those who’ve made trail building their career, we hear from Jeff Carter, Director and Trail Designer for Southstar Trails, based in Rotorua, New Zealand. Let’s jump into this ...
Sean: What are you currently doing?
Jeff: I’m at the Taiwan airport on my way back to New Zealand after a winter visit to Japan. I met with a trail client and also did some snowboarding. It reminded me how close snowboarding feels to mountain biking, especially some of thegully runouts in places like Rutsusu. You’re flying along a path, curving artfully around trees, maintaining speed and momentum, pumping through dips and over rollers. Some of the best trails I’ve ridden have been designed by snowboarders.
Sean: What prompted you to take the plunge in launching out and starting your own trail building company?
Jeff: Southstar started out as a tour company in 2000. After running a summer of tours, I quickly realized we didn’t have enough trails in New Zealand, especially in the easy/intermediate grades. As a school kid, I grew up building our own trails on Mt Pirongia. We were just scratching around using basic garden tools, one track was made with just some secateurs. After studying engineering at Canterbury uni I got a job developing a 4X track and singletrack trail network at CastleRock Adventure.
Sarah and I had our first daughter, Ruby, and moved to Rotorua. I remember we were trying to decide whether to move to Rotorua or Taupo. At that stage, they both had about 30km of trails, but Rotorua had a way better vibe in the MTB community, so we moved there. Now Rotorua is up around 250km of trail, and Taupo has maybe 50km - Bike Taupo has really strangled the trail development there.
While living in Rotorua, I was appointed the club trail development manager and then president, and eventually went on to be the president of MTBNZ. At one of the MTBNZ meetings, we were talking about developing athletes and what was holding mountain biking back in New Zealand, and I made the comment that every town and city in the country needed a network of trails. That was the eureka moment when I realized I needed to start a trail building company to make that happen.
Sean: What’s been the craziest story or a-ha moment so far?
Jeff: My friend James Dodds was teaching a MTB skills clinic in Wellington and got approached about guiding some tourists in Rotorua. He showed them our home trails, some of which we had built together, and they were pumped. They asked James if he could bring a 6-man trail crew to Patagonia, Chile, to start work on some private trails there. I went on the first trip, which led to the creation of NZ Trail Solutions. Over the next 4 years we sent over 400 kiwi trail builders to projects for that client in Chile, Portugal, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico and Australia. James and I designed thousands of km of trail right across the grade spectrum.
Unfortunately, James passed away in a hunting accident during that time. The Dodzy Skills Park at the entrance to the Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua is named after him and the legacy he created. Another legacy of that period is the opportunity it created for kiwi riders to work, save, and fund international campaigns. Riders like Wyn Masters, Jamie Nicol, and Joe Nation all worked on these projects. Lastly, the Wairoa Gorge MTB Park near Nelson, NZ, was handbuilt by 50 full-time trail crew. It’s an incredible place to ride, the property was gifted to the NZ government Department of Conservation and is now administered by the Nelson MTB Club.
Sean: What was the biggest obstacle you faced when starting?
Jeff: NZ Trail Solutions continued for another year after James passed. The international contracts ended, and it was time to use all that experience and knowledge to build trails around New Zealand. I bought a 1.7t CAT digger with a custom 180deg tilt hitch and started Southstar Trails.
When I started Southstar Trails there was no other MTB trail building crews, so I had to create the demand. Now, about 15 trail building companies in NZ are vying for work. It’s tough to compete on price against local crews not paying accommodation and travel costs. In Rotorua, the trail construction is dominated by a not-for-profit Trust. I don’t even hear about a lot of the projects around the country. But actually, I don’t mind that; it means there are lots of trails getting built and maintained. After 15 odd years, that goal from the MTBNZ meeting of building trails in every town and city has largely come true. Sure, there’s lots more still to be built, but now it’s possible to run a MTB tour company without having to drive far. Plus, it brings a huge smile to my face to see riders ripping turns and popping jumps everywhere I travel.
Sean: What is one thing you wish you knew when you started?
Jeff: There are a lot of opinions about trails, there will be riders who are stoked and other riders who will say horrible things about the trail your team has just spent hundreds of hours creating. You need a thick skin. What I’m trying to say is, don’t get disillusioned; just keep doing the best work you can and realize you can’t please everyone. Sure, take constructive feedback on board and improve your craft, but don’t let the haters keep you awake at night.
Sean: What advice would you give to someone thinking of venturing out to start their own trail building company?
Jeff: The trail construction market is getting crowded now, so new builders need to find a niche you can get excited about and excel at. There are trail builders that specialize in dirt jumps, timber work, or rock work like waterway crossings and retaining walls, handbuilt enduro tracks, freeride jumps, digger-built flow, asphalt pump tracks, school bike tracks, race tracks, and whatever spins your wheels. There are also opportunities in park management, maintenance, and trail auditing. You have to look 10 years ahead; imagine you’ve got a body of work that you’ve done and what you will be most proud of.
Put your invoices in on time, check that you get paid on time, and pay your staff fairly. Don’t undervalue your time or equipment investments. You need to make enough profit to receive a reasonable return on the investment in equipment and save enough to eventually replace it. Small businesses fail all the time, typically because the owner isn’t sticking to the formula they base their budget or quote on. If there are changes to the scope of work, or the job will take longer than budget, make sure you contact the client, and they can approve any extra costs or pause the project while they find additional funding.
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That concludes our interview. If you have a story to tell, click the button below and drop me an email.
Interview by: Sean Benesh Photos: Supplied by Jeff Carter
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sean Benesh
Sean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Trail Builder Mag. He is also the Communications Director for the Northwest Trail Alliance in Portland, Oregon. While in grad school, he worked as a mountain biking guide in Southern Arizona. Sean also spends time in the classroom as a digital media instructor at Warner Pacific University.
