108 | Surf’s up for Raglan builder One of Mathers Builders’ recently completed projects was a 450sqm, four-bedroom multi-level home. Mathers Builders T T Hugh de Lacy BUILDING Famous for having one of the longest left-handed breaks in the surfing world, along with other attractions, Raglan is drawing people to live there on the rugged Waikato west coast, and generating steady demand for Mathers Builders’ quality, high-end architectural builds. Mathers Builders was founded in 2011 by Luke Mathers from the bones of the original company, MJ Mathers Builders, founded by his father Mark Mathers. Mark was building large architectural homes on tricky Raglan sites throughout the 1980s and early 1990s before travelling to Auckland to work 10-day stints there, followed by four days off back in Raglan, creating a name for himself and landing good-earning jobs. Son Luke started as an apprentice to his father in 1998, doing renovations and farm buildings round the town and with the odd job away. In the early 2000s, Luke was taken on as foreman at the large-scale Borabora Nui resort in French Polynesia for six months, before returning to Raglan to complete his apprenticeship, then heading off to London and Europe chasing the surf. In London, he got into residential renovations that led into concrete formwork for high-rise commercial buildings. Home again in 2006, Luke went back to work for his father, who had since started a side business that took him off the job more and more frequently, leading to Luke taking the reins of the building company and changing its name to Mathers Builders. The company works from a yard with a large workshop and a forklift, the latter proving highly valuable in an area where there are no Hiabs. “We were doing a heap of renos, bringing old farm houses back up to scratch, with the odd new-home build thrown in,” Luke says. “Over time we got more and more new homes. The last few years have seen us in the high end of residential builds, which has been awesome, working with a lot of new products, heaps of custom components, a lot of New Zealand-grown timber, all with architects pushing the limits of what’s possible.” Luke says such builds involve multi-level homes with a mix of timber and concrete, in-situ concrete features, glass roofs, largescale aluminium canopies, bulk structural steel, big laminated beams, triple-glazed European windows and large New Zealand-made timber joinery, and crane work. “Everything has to be perfect to get the effect of the detailing right.” One of Mathers Builders’ recently completed projects was a 450sqm, four-bedroom multi-level home with an internal garden and a glass roof, “and it required a lot of custom architectural flair, which kept the brain thinking outside the square constantly,” Luke says. The company then launched straight into another upmarket home, a 330sqm, two-storey dwelling with three bedrooms and two offices, pushing the limits with structural steel and a lot of detailed timber work and in-situ concrete construction. Luke’s building crew of four includes two tradesmen that completed their apprenticeships with him, “and they’ve stuck with me for about 15 years now,” he says. Proudly supporting Mathers Builders Ltd. 021 181 6776 jared.barron@esteticadesign.co.nz www.instagram.com/esteticadesignlimited landscape architecture - construction - stone masonry estetica Scafpro are proud to support Mathers Builders Ltd Proudly supporting Mathers Builders Ltd 0800 548 366 info@liveelectrical.co.nz 62 Commerce Street, Frankton Hamilton
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