Mr McKenzie, now director of fast-growing Dunedin-based company ClickSystems, has had a long-time interest in design.
He recalled how he was studying technical drawing at school and his family was living in an ''old rumpty house'' at Hinds in Mid Canterbury.
He decided to design a new house for a school project in year 12, got an A-plus for the assignment and, when he took it home, his father said they had better build it. Since then, he had always been associated with design and building ''one way or another''.
Latterly, he spent seven years at printing company Wickliffe and then another seven years at Southern Colour Print, before concentrating on his own business which has seen major growth over the past few years.
ClickSystems started back in 2006 as more of a graphics company before getting into steel framing.
The business has since diversified and growth was largely being driven by demands to service the construction industry in Christchurch, with the city's rebuilding work.
Until December last year, Mr McKenzie and a small team were working from his Dunedin home. Due to the growth, ClickSystems shifted to premises in Kaikorai Valley Rd, with a team of six, but quickly outgrew the space. Now, the business has moved again, this time to larger premises in Macandrew Rd and employs19 staff.
Two engineers have been employed, along with a former building inspector to ensure the consent process was dealt with correctly, and a landscape architect has also joined the team.
Recruiting staff was a major issue for Mr McKenzie, as the skills the company was after were very much in demand. He was keen to find another four architectural detailers, saying he was turning work away at the moment.
A lot of large housing companies were using the services of ClickSystems, along with individual clients. The company was also involved in large, private subdivisions in Christchurch.
While the fast growth of the company had its challenges, in some ways it was a lot easier, Mr McKenzie said.
He had initially gone from being production manager at Southern Colour Print, in charge of about 40 staff, to being in a small team where he had to do ''a bit of everything''.
''I'm able to plug all the gaps with proper staff now,'' he said.
Things had changed in the past couple of years. Whereas he used to have to find the work first and then the staff to do the job, it was now the other way around.
Looking to the future, he reckoned reaching about 25 staff was probably a good-sized team. He was also conscious that if things started to ''drop off'', they would need to take on more customers to spread the customer base and to continue to increase their market share.
While the plan had always been to do what the company was currently doing, the Christchurch earthquakes had ''really moved it along''.
Mr McKenzie had considered moving the business to Christchurch, but decided against it. Being in Dunedin was a more stable environment, Otago Polytechnic was producing good graduates, and Christchurch could be easily serviced from the South, thanks to modern technology.
Sales manager Chris Aubin said the pace in Christchurch was ''frenetic'' and it was better to be detached. Several years ago and pre-earthquakes, Mr McKenzie said they identified that compliance was going to tighten up, particularly following leaky homes issues, and the industry was going to have to be more professional.
The company specialised in knowing what the rules and regulations were, which gave people confidence, he said.
Mr Aubin said ClickSystems was a forward-thinking company and there was a good team environment. The range of ethnicities involved also made it a very interesting workplace.
There was a real international flavour which included French, Iranian, Thai, Korean and Japanese employees.
The latest addition to the team, Japanese architect Hiroshi Kitahara, specialised in designing small-space apartments, which was valuable given there was an increased focus in Christchurch for higher-density housing, he said.
