Building a fale for the community: Savelio and the project that means the most

Leo Savelio's parents grew up in Samoa with a fale beside their home. The communal space was where the family gathered, shared meals, relaxed out of the heat and spent time together. Now the Samoan builder is building one himself, for St Anne's Catholic School and Parish in Manurewa and the wider community around it.

The first sods have just been turned on The Fale. For Leo and his company, HP Builds, it marks the start of a project that has been a long time in the making, and a chance to prove what a Pasifika-led team can achieve.

Leo's path into building started through rugby. As a schoolboy he picked up weekend and school holiday work, and when he turned 19 and was playing for College Rifles, people at the club got him hooked on building.

He qualified as a builder and built a strong reputation through his work, so much so that people in the industry encouraged him to start his own business.

He started out working alongside a colleague and they both made the decision to get into business together.

Having both of them on the tools, though, made it hard to keep the next job coming in. So they made a call: one of them would step back to handle the admin and chase leads.

And that was Leo.

These days Leo's role is business development. He still jumps on the tools now and then to teach the boys a few things, but his focus is winning the work.

Leo first came across Oyonnx about four years ago. Rather than simply chasing more work, he wanted a business strong enough behind the scenes to support growth.

He had spent thousands of dollars on networking over the years. With Oyonnx's Steve Misa, it clicked from day one and they’ve since built a solid relationship based on trust and loyalty.

“And that’s everything, to be honest,” Leo says. “We check in with each other. It felt like a good relationship from the start, and Oyonnx has put a lot of opportunities in front of me.”

Since then Oyonnx has supported HP Builds with strategy, HR and business development. More recently, Leo has brought his accounting to Oyonnx too, supporting them with financial management, compliance and growth.

“Raiyaz Ahmed has been awesome,” he says.

With Oyonnx's support, Leo has changed how HP Builds operates. Rather than carrying a large workforce, the business now subcontracts much of its work and keeps a tight, capable core team.

Leo believes that hands-on experience is what makes a good main contractor.

HP Builds’ work ranges from decks and renovations to insurance work and new builds for Wolfbrook and GJ Gardner Homes. The company is also one of Monte Cecilia Housing Trust's main contractors for repairs and maintenance, managing a portfolio of its properties.

Leo came to The Fale project at St Anne's less than a year ago. As a devout Catholic and a De La Salle College old boy, he felt a strong personal connection from the start.

“It's a privilege to serve my community,” he says.

He worked with his engineer and architect to rework the structure and cut labour and material.

Then he took the idea further. He brought the project to Oyonnx and LM4 Group with a proposal: rather than bringing in outside crews, why not bring together Pasifika businesses from across the Oyonnx network to deliver it?

“It's a great opportunity to show that we can do this ourselves. We don't have to be one of the big construction companies. It's a big point to prove. Everyone from the architect to the drainlayer is Pasifika.”

Oyonnx sat down with Leo in the early stages to understand the project, map out what it needed and identify where the wider network could help. Leo had the building side under control but needed support with earthworks, administration and project resources.

Through Oyonnx and LM4 Group, those pieces have come together as one coordinated package. HP Builds leads as the builder, supported by AJ Drainage and Westcourt Contractors, another Oyonnx client.

And while the build carries deep meaning for the Samoan community, Leo is clear that it belongs to everyone.

“We get to build this for the wider community, not just the Samoan community,” he says.

Oyonnx's network has also opened doors in the insurance maintenance sector. HP Builds is now developing opportunities to carry out maintenance work and price larger insurance-related projects, creating another revenue stream and helping Leo diversify the business.

Leo's ambitions don't stop at being a main contractor. He owns land and wants to move into developing it himself, becoming an investor and developer rather than the builder brought in by someone else.

He also has a bigger goal. He wants to use that success to start his own charity, helping young people into apprenticeships.

It's a fitting ambition for someone who found his own way into the trade through the people around him at a rugby club. With Oyonnx behind him, and a fale rising for his community, Leo Savelio is building a lot more than buildings.