| 101 BUILDING Kelly Konstruct T T Sue Russell Got the lower North Island covered Kelly Konstruct have been involved in some wonderful projects. Whanganui-based Kelly Konstruct established in 2017, and provides building services across residential, light commercial and rural situations. James Kelly started his building apprenticeship in 2003 and always intended to establish his own company when the time was right. Today, the company has a team of seven, including James and work can extend over the lower North Island, though usually there’s enough in and around home-base to keep the crew engaged. Wife and business partner Velocette takes care of accounts administration and currently there are three apprentices employed, at various stages of completing their training. James no longer swings the hammer, spending his time on all the paper work, health and safety, pricing work, ordering materials and generally ensuring the builders on the ground have everything they need. “We can have up to five projects of various sizes and stages on the go at any one time and its more cost effective for me to be organising the work and meeting clients.” Kelly Konstruct have been involved in some wonderful projects, including building their own new home in Okoia, about 12km from Whanganui. The home carries a real wow factor with careful thought put into every design element. When Business Central spoke with James the project was internally complete with about 80% of the external also built. Inspiration for the beautiful home came from a visit to Queenstown where James and Velocette saw a couple of inspiring homes. “Our home is built on a hill and the design works really well for the lay of the land. A basement garage made perfect sense given this situation.” A custom balustrade leads to the 4 car basement, while the wooden ceiling has hidden fixtures, meaning no nails are visible. Interior doors are all forest green with black handles, making a real statement. The concrete dining room floor is coloured black oxide with hand-picked white stones scattered through it. “As we both like to cook our kitchen has two of everything. All appliances are integrated eliminating the need to clean above the range hoods or children’s fingerprints from the fridge door,” says Velocette. A hidden pantry is home to the dish washer, freezer, a separate bench and sink while the stunning splash back is a local artists photograph depicting the iconic ‘one tree hill’ on the Parapara Highway. For the first 10 years of building James worked in the commercial sector. He says he enjoys the variety of undertaking a mix of new builds and renovations in a variety of situations, even including working for fertiliser companies who are automating their facilities. “We started doing that work back in 2019/20. They are interesting jobs coming with very large foundations to handle the equipment and product.” James believes that while there is somewhat of a lull in the building sector at this time, there’s still plenty of future opportunities and 0800 4 SCAFIT (0800 4 722 348) www.scafit.co.nz • Scaffolding • Enclosures • Safety Nets • Mobiles • Fencing • Formwork ALL YOUR ELECTRICAL NEEDS, BIG AND SMALL. 027 226 1902 x@boothelectrical.co.nz www.boothelectrical.co.nz ELECTRICAL | MAINTENANCE | INSTALLATION 27 Heads Road,Wanganui | 06 343 1401 A/Hrs 027 572 4422 | www.actiondrainage.co.nz Asbestos, Plumbing, & Drainage Specialists Residential & Commercial • Asbestos Removal • Groundworks • Drainage • Plumbing depending on how busy he becomes, he will consider increasing the size of the team. “My team have unique skills and such a great attitude. Their professionalism and teamwork are truly commendable and are the foundation of our business. We have inspirational clients whose feedback and support have been the foundation of our success.”
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