102 | BUILDING Warwick Gair Builders Auckand Hedge & Garden Groomers Ltd E: auckgardengroomers@gmail.com P: 021 207 2608 W: www.aucklandhedgeandgardengroomers.co.nz Contact for a free quote T T Virginia Wright A cohesive blend of old and new A new pool and extensive landscaping completed the transformation. When Warwick and Theresa Gair first established Warwick Gair Builders in 1978, they lived in Devonport, surrounded by old villas and character bungalows, so the area provided a lot of their early work, along with the well-established suburbs of Remuera, Ponsonby and Herne Bay. Their son Alastair started his apprenticeship with them in 1997, and officially bought the business from them in 2022 although they remained active in its day-to-day running. Alastair taking over as managing director signaled the start of a growth period for the company as they took on more work and expanded to meet it. They currently run a crew of around 20 builders plus two quality contract crews they have longstanding relationships with to call on when needed. While they do plenty of high-end new builds, well over half their projects involve equally high-end, extensive renovations and alterations, which is where they have gained a strong reputation over the nearly 50 years they have been building. Those years of experience mean Alastair and his team are rarely taken by surprise during the day-to-day problem-solving that is part and parcel of renovation work. A strong project manager and foreman, coupled with a long-established sub-trade base, and good relationships with the architects, engineers, and consultants they regularly work with, means issues are solved as they arise with a minimum of disruption. “It’s a different skillset, and we’ve got a name for it because it’s something we’re good at.” says Alastair. “The secret is to know how to tie the old in with the new, and how to do it in a way that looks good and doesn’t take forever as well. With high-end renovations, it’s knowing where to draw the line with the old and the new, not going back too far so you’ve got nothing left, but making it look cohesive, which is our sweet spot.” Working with villas often means working with a heritage overlay and strict guidelines as to what they can do, whereas a character bungalow has fewer restrictions. A typical approach often involves keeping the part of the house that faces the street in character, while transforming the back end into something more modern, as was the case with a recent project in Mt Eden. The early 1900s’ reasonably dilapidated bungalow had undergone a number of renovations with mixed results before Warwick Gair Builder’s clients bought it. Alastair and his team’s involvement came after the clients had gone through a lot of conceptual work with Pac Studio to achieve a modern design at the back of the house. “It was a modern extension of the back and then a full renovation of the rest of the house. There wasn’t any part of the house that wasn’t touched, including a number of the foundations. The beautiful part of it is that the front of the house kept the same feel but as you walk down the hall it starts transforming into a modern home,” says Alastair. They brought back some conformity through the rooms at the front of the house, keeping the same decorative trim and ceilings in each room, while retaining the high stud and keeping the original windows with new sashes and double-glazing. A new pool and extensive landscaping completed the transformation. On that job, as on all their jobs, communication was key, with constant on-site meetings to keep the clients fully informed as issues inevitably arose and were resolved quickly and efficiently. Communication and high-quality workmanship are two essential ingredients for Warwick Gair Builders’ success, and the Mt Eden project proved no exception. For the clients, it’s now a character bungalow with all the conveniences of modern living, and it stands out for Alastair as one of his favourite projects – exactly the sort of successful build that Warwick Gair Builders’ reputation has been built on.
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