| 93 T T Hugh de Lacy Giving clients confidence to be bold Home renovations and additions sare the main focus of Hamilton’s Apex Construction. Apex Construction “The most important thing Apex Construction offers them is the confidence to make the decisions they need to, thereby minimising the stress and delivering a happy outcome - a home they like more than they did before we started work on it.” BUILDING Maybe it’s because he started out in that most finicky of trades, boat-building, or maybe he is just a tiger for punishment, but Chris Fowlie actually relishes the peculiar stresses that come with the home-renovation business. So, with friend since school-days Luke Robinson, who has a Bachelor of Electronic Commerce to go with a carpentry apprenticeship, Chris formed Hamilton company Apex Construction 13 years ago to specifically target the home renovation and additions market. Renos are not the company’s only specialty: it also has about 20% of its business tied up in new homes – with a little residential development work on the side – while shop and office fit-outs take up a further 15% of its time. But it’s the home renovations and additions sector that are the main focus of the company. Chris and Luke’s mantra is to make the whole renovation process as smooth as possible for the home-owner, given that it is inevitably a stressful time. “Of course, house renovations are potentially hugely unsettling to the client: their house is probably the largest investment they’ll make in their lives, and they’re still living in it while the renovation work is going on and we’ve got our staff working around them,” Chris says. “The most important thing Apex Construction offers them is the confidence to make the decisions they need to, thereby minimising the stress and delivering a happy outcome - a home they like more than they did before we started work on it. “Often the client is afraid their ideas might look silly to outsiders, and we can reassure them and point out ways to achieve the effect they want in a manner that is practical and looks good. We tell our clients to be bold: ‘You’re building this for yourself, not for anyone else’.” Chris says he loves the problem-solving required in renovations, and he and the clients are helped in the design side of things by Courtney Paul, Apex Construction’s in-house designer. The houses the company renovates can be as old as the early 1900s, or as young as any built since, but a typical project might involve a 1920s’ villa or a 1930s’ California bungalow complete with rimu framing and weatherboards. Sometimes, that requires the sympathetic combining of old and new, as was the case with a bungalow that Apex Construction preserved in its original state at the road frontage, while out the back, out of sight of the road, it built a high steel-framed, glass-fronted structure looking out onto a swimming pool. “You walk through a 1930s’ front door, and see straight out to the glassed-in area at the back – the best of both worlds,” Chris says. Apex Construction also loves new builds, Chris says, because they offer the opportunity to work with the client and designer at the concept stage to help both parties to keep the project within budget and use its years of experience to throw in a few ideas. We are proud to support Apex Construction Battens • Supply • Fix • Stop • Paint Residential + Commercial Industrial + Heatpumps Inspections + Renovations Proud to support Apex Construction Servicing Hamilton, Cambridge and the greater Waikato - 0800 497 353 | admin@xpelectrical.co.nz | xpelectrical.co.nz
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