It seemed a natural thing to do for Dave Milina to take up stonemasonry after a short stint working in shearing gangs and dairy farms. His maternal great grandfather Duncan McCallum was a stonemason from Skipness, a small fishing village in Argyllshire, Scotland who came to New Zealand in 1908 and was initially employed as the stonemason to complete the dome at the top of the Auckland Town Hall clock tower. A job contractors were struggling to complete. He then went on to be involved in the stonework in many important buildings in Auckland. And in 1929 at the start of the depression he was employed as foreman of the stonemasons on the Auckland Zoo in a project established to absorb some of the many unemployed at the time.

Dave's paternal great grandfather Frank Milina and his grandfather Nikola were also stonemasons working in the village of Lumbarda, in Korcula, Croatia. Dave's father Frank, worked with both his father and grandfather in the quarry in Lumbarda from the age of 10. He arrived in New Zealand at the age of 16 and with his father (Nikola) who had immigrated 3 years earlier, worked on brick and stonework.

Dave worked with his father for 10 years which gave him a sound base of masonry understanding. Stonework of a pretty varied nature was the bread and butter for Dave for many years, with a sizeable amount of landscaping added. But, he has expanded and diversified his skills at a fairly rapid pace to encompass Tatonka, a unique 4 x 4 all terrain salvage vehicle.