About Us

1964, Liverpool born Pete Kinsella responded to an advertisement in the UK Daily Telegraph for 'Instrument Makers' to train at the Wild Heerbrugg factory in Switzerland (now renamed Leica).  After completing his training, in 1967 Pete and his wife Anne moved to New Zealand, to establish a service department for the New Zealand Wild Heerbrugg agents 'Dental and Medical'.  

1973 Pete left 'Dental and Medical' and joined fellow instrument maker Geoff Hunter in Korokoro Wellington, to form 'Hunter Kinsella Instruments'.

1975 On the death of Geoff Hunter, Pete Kinsella closed the Korokoro office and moved the company into the CBD, reopening as 'Trig Surveying Instrument Co.' in a small office in 'Oak Park House' at 2 Oak Park Avenue, off the top of Vivian Street.  As the company grew, it slowly took over the whole ground floor of the building.

1986 'Trig Surveying Instrument Co.' and Auckland based 'Geodetic Instruments' acquired the exclusive New Zealand agency for 'Topcon' surveying equipment, which broadened Trig's product range to include Lasers and Total Stations, along with other brands such as Myzox Japan, to offer a full range of accessories and solutions. 

1989 Kevin Stevens joined the company to train as a service technician.  Over the next few years, Kevin become involved with all aspects of the company's operation, including sales and marketing.  During this time, the company continued to expand it's product range, so the name was shortened to 'Trig Instruments' which better reflected the varied range of instruments and equipment offered. 

1995 Running out of space and in a building that was flagged to be demolished to make way for Wellington’s long awaited motorway extension, the company moved to a new, custom built premises in Ngauranga, just north of the Wellington CBD.

2000 On Pete Kinsella’s retirement, Kevin and his wife Liz purchased the company, with Kevin taking over the role of Managing Director. Since that time, the company has continued to grow, employing more staff and expanding it’s product range and services offered.

2016, Trig Instruments became the exclusive New Zealand distributor for Horizon Singapore's range of GNSS and Total Station survey instruments and from Norway, the DigPilot range of 2D and 3D machine control solutions.

2019, Trig Instruments became the exclusive New Zealand distributor for Stonex, Italy's high-end range of GNSS, Total Station and laser scanner survey solutions. 

2020 was a challenging year for New Zealand, with the Covid-19 pandemic, but it also brought a lot of infrastructure work, which enabled Trig Instruments to pick up the agency for 'Hemisphere Machine Control systems', which sat perfectly alongside the existing range, to offer a full gamut of solutions to the civil and contracting sector.

2023 Trig Instruments celebrates it's 50th birthday!  We celebrated the occasion with a move! After 28 years in Ngauranga, Trig Instruments relocated to a new location, 13 minutes away, in Seaview.  With more space and a new building better suited to the growth of the company, Trig Instruments continues to be New Zealand’s longest established survey equipment supplier, with a long, proud tradition of offering the best range, products, prices and service in the industry. 

The future for Trig Instruments looks very bright indeed, with continued growth in all areas of our business.  For that we thank our loyal staff, suppliers around the globe, and most importantly our customers, who have grown with our business and continue as always, to be our focus.