110 | New builds are climbing Callaghan Construction concentrates on residential work. T T Virginia Wright Elevation Homes all about happy homeowners Callaghan Construction T T Hugh de Lacy BUILDING Elevation Homes The building industry has run into a vastly different environment from the one it inhabited in the past couple of years, but Finn Callaghan and his Callagan Construction company of Taranaki have rolled with the punches and are set for a recovery in the market towards the end of this year. It wasn’t always easy for Finn to find suitably qualified builders to join the company he founded in early 2018, but after growing his clientele and reputation he managed to crank it up to a staff of eight in 2023 in the face of a booming residential construction market. That market has gone backwards ever since, and Finn is now down to a staff of four, but the big difference is he’s now getting almost weekly calls from builders to join the company. The number of big new builds is climbing as the year progresses, and by the end of it Finn’s workforce is expected to bounce back to at least eight with a succession of new builds, renovations, extensions and re-clads lined up. Now a Licensed Building Practitioner, Finn stumbled into the construction industry at the age of 19 when he landed a job repiling homes in the Wellington area. “I never intended to become a builder, but once I got into it I was hooked: the weeks and months of hard work to transform something into a permanent structure serving people another 50 to 100 years gave me immense satisfaction,” he says. He worked as at a repiler for about three years, moved back home to Taranaki, and landed a carpentry apprenticeship with the small family business Stanley Gray, going on to complete his time with Pepper Construction in 2016 and later that year becoming a foreman for Custom Construction. And if it seems a bit sudden for him to launch his own building company only 18 months later, it was because Finn had always taken on more responsibility than most, always first to volunteer for challenging projects. “That was the driver for me to take control of my personal fortunes and integrate myself into the local construction industry.” Callaghan Construction concentrates on residential work including new home builds, but especially renovations, and it’s also been involved as a sub-contractor on multiple commercial projects around the region. Finn says his major focus as a building contractor is working to upskill his staff, especially the two young apprentices he is currently training, and maintaining the skills within the business. Dayna and Regan Bailey established their Waikanae construction company Elevation Homes in 2019. They offer a combination of building knowledge, with a belief in communication underpinned by detailed administration, that results in happy homeowners. As Dayna puts it “we’re not interested in handing over keys to a family’s new home and being called back three months later because the flooring’s lifting.” Regan’s 17 years of building and successful navigation of the rigorous and ongoing checks required to become a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) mean that Elevation Homes is part of New Zealand Certified Builders. This in turn means they can offer the standardised contracts which protect both the builders and their clients and the Halo 10-year guarantee. “What we bring to the market is that we are owner-operated and Regan does all of the pricing and contracts. The benefit to the client is that he knows about buildability and how different materials behave. “We quote at least 90% of our projects including the sub-contractors, so we ensure that everyone involves fully understands the scope of the project including everything we know about both the build and the land. It gives us and our clients confidence in the pricing, and that we have engaged the right sub-contractor for the job who’s an expert in their own field,” explains Dayna. The Baileys put a good deal of time into due diligence knowing that despite doing everything they can in terms of research such as geo-tech reports, planning permits and consenting requirements, bumps in the road are almost inevitable. “Timing delays are the most common but I think our ability to see the problem and come up with a solution to address it and fix it right away is one of the things that sets us apart. We keep our project numbers low so that we’ve got the time to turn over every stone before the build and then manage each build to achieve that,” says Dayna. They intentionally keep their staff numbers lean and their overheads low so that they’re not recovering those costs out of their builds. Regan runs the building sites and they have two qualified builders and two apprentices on staff. They don’t sub out their builds not wanting to lose the control over quality and scheduling that taking full responsibility gives them. They generally run two jobs at a time and being well aware that when you don’t have builders on site you’re not really progressing they manage their scheduling accordingly, including working closely with their sub-contractors. “We’ve worked really hard to cultivate a core group of contractors and we do not like to swap contractors. They become like part of our family and we trust them both to do their due diligence for their quoting and pricing, and to deliver on site, and by using those same contractors for all of our builds they are also invested in the outcome we’re after for our clients,” says Dayna. Using construction management software to schedule everything allows Elevation Homes to ’plan everything all the time,’ says Dayna with a laugh. “We communicate all the time about everything with everyone, so we make sure that with subcontractors everything’s on their radar, and we stay on top of things.” In an industry fraught with anecdotes about flawed builds or incomplete builds Dayna and Regan are determined to maintain their track record of thrilled owners happy to sing their praises to others. “Regan and I build for quality. We’re custom design builders and we just actually thoroughly enjoy building and thoroughly enjoy building family homes.” Being well aware that no family uses their home in the same way their goal right from their first meeting is to understand how a particular family uses their home. Then Regans puts his extensive knowledge about buildability and pricing to work with the architectural design process to turn their clients’ thoughts and ideas into the home they will love to live in . SERVICES INCLUDING: Renovations New builds Bathrooms Reclads Sleep outs & Tiny Homes Maintenance & Repairs 027 823 7181 | finn@callaghanconstruction.nz PlaceMakers® haweraorders@placemakers.co.nz flowlineplasteringltd@gmail.com @ owline.plastering Proud to work with Elevation Homes Whether you have kitchen ideas of your own, or you don't know where to begin, Kitchen Creators in Paraparaumu will design, manufacture and install your new designer kitchen from start to finish. Custom-designed kitchens to fit your home perfectly. ∙ Design ∙ Manufacture ∙ Installation www.kitchencreators.co.nz 144 Kapiti Road, Paraparaumu 04 298 2421 Kitchen Creators are proud to support Elevation Homes quality builds with quality joinery.
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