| 77 VIVED Construction Virginia Wright Going ‘above and beyond’ VIVED stands for Viable, Innovative, Versatile, Ecological, Design. BUILDING Shanon Agar (34yrs) was a qualified builder working in the building company he co-owned while at the same time studying architectural design when he worked out that there simply wasn’t enough time to do both. He then set up his own design and build company on Auckland’s North Shore called VIVED, with the intention of focusing on passive, high-performance homes, and collaborating with architects to remedy what he had found to be a frustrating flaw in the way builders and architects worked together. “Throughout my building career I’ve seen time and time again that architects are really good at what they do but that a lot of designs need to be thought about from both sides of the fence. “What we do at VIVED is we have an architectural designer and a builder working together from the beginning of a project, so we have absolute confidence in the design. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of taking a good design feature like say a big timber sliding door and thinking through how best to make it work in practical terms so there’s no unnecessary elements that don’t actually add to the design itself,” says Shanon. They’re currently doing renovations and new builds with their sights set on building passive and high-performance homes with budgets between one and five million dollars. Whatever the scale of the job, VIVED’s interest is in introducing more high performance and more sustainable materials to their building systems without breaking the bank. On a traditional build it might be as simple as choosing to use a more environmentally friendly insulation such as Mammoth which is made from recycled plastic bottles. “It’s high performance, it’s a solid dense product that doesn’t condense or deteriorate over time and it can be recycled itself,” says Shanon. At the other end of the scale are fully passive homes, like the house VIVED are currently working on the design for. They are designed to be a fully sealed unit, with among other things, deeper walls carrying more insulation, triple glazing and carefully planned window placements to moderate the sun’s influence winter and summer. They’re built to maintain a temperature of between 18 to 25 degrees all year round with little heating or cooling, passively in other words. The name VIVED stands for Viable, Innovative, Versatile, Ecological, Design. What that boils down to as far as Shanon is concerned is always looking for better ways of doing things: better for the client, for the building and for the planet. Their approach is resonating and after four years of returning and new clients, thanks to word-of-mouth referrals, helped by glowing Google reviews, Shanon has a steady stream of emails from people looking for a builder. “They’ve looked at our previous jobs and they’ve looked at reviews. Our pricing’s normally around the middle of the road when comparing it to other companies. “We go above and beyond. Even when there are unforeseeable complications we’ll see it through. We’re willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done,” he says. High quality electrical, audio-visual, solar, air conditioning, data and security services www.vividelectrical.co.nz • Maintenance & Servicing • New Build & Renovations • Commercial Fitouts • Gasfitting 0800 25 35 69 info@deluxeplumbing.co.nz deluxeplumbing.co.nz • Commercial Fitouts • Gasfitting • Maintenance & Servicing • New Builds & Renovations Your challenge, our advice, your satisfaction P L UMB I NG & GAS The owner of Deluxe Plumbing and Gas Ltd. Matthew Morrison is always up for a challenge. That’s one of the reasons that he decided to set up his own plumbing and gas company ive years ago at the age of 24. “You can be the best plumber and gas- itter but you’ve got to learn all about the business side of things. You’ve got to get clients and keep clients, and that’s been a challenge that I’ve enjoyed,’ says Matthew. He started on his own, working with a business mentor, knowing he wanted to build his own team with a reputation for good skills and hard work. Clients seemed to like what he had to o er and within a year the business was lourishing. Five years later they’re a team of seven, including two o ice sta , servicing all of Auckland fromWellsford to Mt. Wellington. Their 70% referral rate which no doubt owes a lot to Matthew’s clear focus on the three things Deluxe Plumbing and Gas believe are important. “Communication is one, operational excellence is two, and three is professionalism.” Matthew believes their extensive use of an online software platform serves both their communication and their operational excellence. “It makes sure everything is scheduled and that nothing is forgotten. It keeps accurate track of everything to do with a job without a paper trail, Deluxe Plumbing and Gas Ltd. and ensures we’re both transparent and accountable. We still communicate directly with our clients but the software gives us all the back up we need in terms of systems and processes,” explains Matthew. The software keeps track of every job: detailed job descriptions, all materials used, all the labour that goes into the job and so on, complete with photos. It does, the scheduling, the quoting and eventually the invoicing. All the invoices include detailed information about the job so the client knows exactly where their money is being spent. Whether it’s a commercial itout, some maintenance and servicing, a new build or renovation, gas itting or an emergency needing some speedy attention, Deluxe Plumbing and Gas not only take the job on but pride themselves on seeing it through to the end, problem-solving as required, and guaranteeing all their work. They’re a friendly team who enjoy each other’s company outside of work as well as on the job. “We respect each others’ opinions and listen to each other, there are no high horses,” says Matthew. Deluxe Plumbing & Gas believe communication is the key to professionalism, they know who their clients are, and work hard to deliver quality, e icient and dependable service every time.
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