On Sunday, Lachlan Chatfield won the coveted Golden Hammer Award in Wellington.
He was named New Zealand’s top panelbeating apprentice at the 2025 Collision Repair Association’s Apprentice of the Year Awards.
Now fully qualified, Mr Chatfield, who is employed fulltime at Harrow Motor Body Works, said the win was “unexpected”.
“I feel good, I didn’t see it coming at all … it was a shock when I found out.”
As part of the award, Mr Chatfield flew to Auckland last year with three other finalists to demonstrate his practical skills where he scored highly across four categories.
He completed all three and a-half years of his apprenticeship at Harrow Motor Body Works, who he said definitely taught him well.
“Everyone’s real stoked [for me]. They probably didn’t see it coming either,” he said.
Harrow Motor Body Works director Steven De Graaf said everyone in the business was happy for Mr Chatfield.
“We’ve had a lot of apprentices over the years. We’ve been going for over 60 years and to actually get recognition for one of our better ones is great.”
He said Mr Chatfield had been a “bit of a standout”.
“He’s keen to learn, happy to help people out, and actually listens — we’re very proud.”
Harrow Motor Body Works also won an award for its “commitment to training”, the second year in a row it had done so.
