Mander & Co Ltd is a plumbing, gas fitting and bathroom specialist based in Johnsonville, Wellington, trusted for over 70 years. The company was originally formed in 1946 by Howard Mander and has operated from the same Bassett Road site since its inception. It is currently owned by Gavin and Debbie Chambers, with Gavin serving as Managing Director, continuing the family business tradition alongside their son George. Mander & Co Ltd is a proud member of NZ Master Plumbers, with both Graeme and Gavin having served as Association President, and Graeme also serving a term as National President.
The company offers a full range of services for residential, commercial and industrial sites, including plumbing service and renovation work, gasfitting, hot water sales and service, gas heating, bathroom design, drainlaying and roof repairs, along with full project management for jobs of any size. Mander & Co Ltd services all areas of Wellington, south of Porirua, and Lower Hutt, and undertakes work for embassies, multi-storey buildings, offices, educational facilities and retirement homes, among other clients. The office and workshop are open Monday to Friday from 7:30am to 5:00pm, with a pre-arranged emergency service available outside those hours via the office phone system.
For more than 70 years, Mander & Co Ltd has operated from the same site on Bassett Road in Johnsonville, Wellington — a rare continuity for a trades business that speaks to genuine staying power. Originally formed in 1946 by Howard Mander, the company has remained a family business through multiple generations, now owned by Gavin and Debbie Chambers, with their son George also part of the team.
The Mander family connection runs deep. Howard's son Graeme and Gavin Chambers owned the business together for a couple of decades before it passed to Gavin and Debbie. Both Graeme and Gavin have been actively involved in NZ Master Plumbers at a local level, each serving as Association President, with Graeme also serving a term as National President — a level of industry involvement that reflects the seriousness with which the company treats its trade credentials.
Mander & Co Ltd covers the full spectrum of plumbing and related trade work: plumbing service and renovation for any building, gasfitting covering the supply, installation and servicing of all appliances, and hot water sales and service across all makes and models, whether electric, gas or solar. Gas heating sales and servicing round out the appliance side of the business, covering all types of gas fires.
Beyond core plumbing and gas work, the company also handles drainlaying and roof repairs, and offers ongoing maintenance services for homes, buildings and industrial sites. For larger jobs, Mander & Co Ltd provides full project management, coordinating other tradesmen, tenants or neighbours as needed — taking the hassle out of managing a renovation from a client's side.
One of the company's specific specialities is bathroom design and renovation, helping clients with design and product selection to create a finished bathroom, then managing the project through to completion. Past projects have included full 1960s bathroom upgrades — removing walls to convert entrances into larger showers, polishing original timber floors, and installing wall-hung vanities, back-to-wall toilet suites and modern fittings like towel warmers and mirror cabinets.
Mander & Co Ltd's project history extends beyond standard bathroom and plumbing work. One notable project involved a sewer lifting station installed under four townhouses in a complex sitting below the public drain, replacing a failing macerator pump housed in a cracked, leaking concrete chamber. The company managed the project end-to-end — from design through plumbing and drainage installation, coordinating the electrician, and final system commissioning — with electronic warning systems now in place to flag any issues for prompt servicing.
The company services all areas of Wellington, south of Porirua, and Lower Hutt, and undertakes work for a wide range of clients including embassies, multi-storey buildings, offices, educational facilities and retirement homes. This breadth of client base reflects the trust built up over decades of consistent service.
Mander & Co Ltd's office and workshop are open Monday to Friday from 7:30am to 5:00pm, with callers during business hours assisted in a professional, courteous manner. Outside these hours, the company operates a pre-arranged emergency service through its office phone system, ensuring clients facing an urgent plumbing or gas issue aren't left without support. The workshop itself is kept clean and tidy, equipped to fabricate components as needed for customer jobs, reflecting the same care the team extends to client properties — treating each site, whether a home or business, the way they would their own.
With decades of family ownership, a full range of trade services, and a reputation built through Master Plumbers involvement at both local and national levels, Mander & Co Ltd remains a long-standing name in Wellington's plumbing and gas fitting trade.