Michael Webster

Michael Webster of Whitby, Porirua City, born ca 1966, is an electrician by trade but achieved front-page status as a prize-winning builder in April 2007.

He had built his latest home after some practice renovating an earlier home in the 1980s.

The self-styled workaholic won the North Island final to reach the national finals of a "Jack of All Trades" competition sponsored by Mitre-10. Competitors had to demonstrate a wide variety of building-related skills. The finals were to be screened by TVNZ in June, at which time the finalists would first learn who has won top prize of $100,000.

The local weekly newspaper article, by Michael Kopp, topped the front page under the heading "The doghouse that Jack built", with a photo of Michael and the family dog looking into the kennel that he built as "practice" for the final (and later sold over the Internet).