| 85 HOTY: HarbourCity Building Company Sue Russell Top result for bespoke builders The 155sqm home was transformed from a 1980’s townhouse into a very stylish, highly liveable central city seaside oasis. BUILDING Orewa-based business HarbourCity Building Company was established in 2011, though owners and operators Ian Inglis, Jules Lee and Karen Glenister, share a history working in the construction sector that tracks back many years earlier. “We like working with each other and have complementary skill sets” is how Ian simply puts it. His conversation with Business North, begins by prefacing that Harbour City Building Company are in no way shape or form a group or volume housing business. Every building project undertaken is bespoke and that’s just the way the directors like it. Jules looks after management of building sites while Karen manages the scheduling and trade coordination. Ian takes care of contracts and costings and between the three of them, they have established a reputation for delivering real quality and a very positive building experience for their clients. Projects begin with quite a bit of discussion with the owners, engineers and designers, given a considerable amount of work is high-quality large-scale renovations and alterations. “We have also undertaken quite a few fire repairs. Everything we do is different. There’s a lot of dialogue involved especially with the renovation work. These days we’re finding more and more that people want to stay in their home but want to change it to more suit their current lifestyle and situation and this is where our experience and understanding of all that is involved, comes to the fore.” But equally, Ian says, they are very capable of building Architectural and/or more modest homes and light commercial work is also within their operational ability. Strong working relationships have been forged with contractors and sub-trades over many years and this makes for a more streamlined and cohesive timeline to completion and gives consistency in standards. HarbourCity Building Company concentrates most of its builds north of the Harbour Bridge, however one project south of the Bridge at Pt Chevalier proved to be a very enjoyable, engaging and rewarding build. Owned and occupied by an architect, the full renovation, on each of its two levels, required a lot of planning and preparation. “Having the owner living in the massively redesigned and upgraded home, meant a lot of discussion about timing. When we were working on the ground level, he moved upstairs and then shifted downstairs while we moved up. It all went very well.” Others recognised the quality of the work as well and in this year’s Auckland Master Builders House of the Year award the home took out Regional Gold Award in the Renovation to $750,000 category. The 155sqm home has been transformed from a tired, dated 80’s townhouse into a very stylish, highly liveable central city seaside oasis. And when we talk big change that’s just what we mean with a new roof, windows, skylights, cladding, interior and landscaping. “One of the elements I really like is the amount of light that is flooding inside through the skylights.” Exterior cladding is bold with a mix of horizontal dark-stained cedar weatherboard and pale vertical cedar, wrapped around with hardwood decking. Not only did the project receive the gold but it also was selected by Judges to be in the Top 100, an exclusive cluster of building projects that qualify for national recognition. “Getting into the Top 100 Club was a pleasant surprise and an added bonus,” Ian says. He believes there’s a whole lot of scope for older homes in Auckland to be transformed and revitalised. And underpinning that, he says, is an understanding that the best builds rely on certain pre-conditions. “The most important thing when you are building is to trust who you are dealing with. You have to get the relationship sorted right from the very start. We like to sit down with owners and really talk it through. “Communication is very important and making sure that everyone understands the processes involved in specifying and constructing the various building elements that combine to make a building, is essential. “As people we have high levels of integrity and are always striving to get the best result possible around these processes, which are likewise key to attaining the expectations outlined in the initial scope of works and preliminary discussions.” There are lots of decisions to be made in building modern buildings of any size and description – some regulatory, some specification, some architectural details, and so communication is a vital ingredient in any successful build. A R C H I T E C T S WWW.STUDIOFOX.CO.NZ WINDOWS & DOORS North Shore & Rodney ENHANCING THE WAY YOU LIVE. DESIGNER QUALITY ALUMINIUM JOINERY SINCE 1954 AND WHAT WE PRIDE OURSELVES MOST ON IS OUR SERVICE. 0800 RYLOCK (795 625) | SALES@RYLOCKAUCKLANDNORTH.CO.NZ
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