| 79 T T Hugh de Lacy Kerikeri showhome a head-turner The 247sqm show-home includes four bedrooms plus office and is clad in Integra Rockcote and Linea Oblique. Navigation Homes - Far North BUILDING A handsome four-bedroom-plus-office show-home in Tareha Place is underwriting demand for the Kerikeri franchise of nationwide residential construction group Navigation Homes, bought just a year ago by husband and wife team Andrew and Siobhan Ritchie. The 247m2 show-home, clad in Integra Rockcote and Linea Oblique, has helped the Ritchies crank the local franchise up to building three to four houses a year, with Andrew still on the tools much of the time, and Siobhan running the office from the show-home. Navigation Homes Kerikeri boasts a staff of four qualified tradesmen besides Andrew to meet demand driven by a steady population drift from Auckland to the Far North. The show-home was built in 2022 to a design by Kerikeri architect Martin Gvardijancic of the Fat Hippo consultancy, to a floor plan prepared by Andrew. The show-home is leased from Neil Simpson from whom the Ritchies bought the Navigation Homes franchise in March 2023, and under whom Andrew did his carpentry apprenticeship, coming out of his time in 2010. Andrew did the pre-trade carpentry course at Northland Polytechnic in 2006 before launching into his apprenticeship under Neil the following year. Siobhan is from a banking background and, besides working from Wednesday to Friday in the show-home, she’s a mother of three and a personal fitness coach at a local gym – “Her happy place,” Andrew says. As well as the Kerikeri franchise, Navigation Homes operates others in Pukekohe, where the head office is sited, Waikato, Tauranga, Christchurch and Queenstown, with a range of more than a hundred designs and 500 completions over its 40-plus years of existence. It also has franchises in Wellington, Palmerston North and on the North Shore which are currently vacant, and the design styles it offers include Compass, Nautical, Remarkable, Bungalow and Villa. The Kerikeri franchise deals mostly with larger homes, like the show-home, and is currently building one house of 362m2, a second of 355m2 and two others of 212m2 each. “Most of our clients are people who have sold up in Auckland and come to the Far North for the peace and quiet, though one house we’re currently building is for a client from Wellington, and another for people who moving to New Zealand from England,” Andrew says. “The houses are mostly for permanent living, rather than holiday homes, and the population drift means there’s a steady market here.” The show-home will eventually be sold, and Ritchie is working on plans for a new one to replace it. “The show-home is the key to our marketing locally, but we get strong back-up from Navigation Homes, and the other great advantages of their franchise system are their buying power and the reputation they’ve built up over the years,” Andrew says. He’s happy with the size of his business as it is, and has no plans to expand it just yet. “The important thing for me is to keep the quality high rather than go for quantity, and at our present size I’m able to do just that.” “The show-home is the key to our marketing locally, but we get strong back-up from Navigation Homes ...” Ultimate Kitchens specialises in providing designer kitchens, shop fit-outs, interiors, bathrooms and bespoke furniture. Creating exquisite spaces across New Zealand. 394 Kerikeri Road, Kerikeri www.ultimatekitchens.nz | (09) 945 6478 admin@ultimatekitchens.nz Proudly Supporting Navigation Homes • Box and Place Floors • Driveways • Patios • Paths • Concrete Cutting • Grind & Polished Concrete 021 036 7830 Info.mustangconcrete@gmail.com Bay Aluminium · Windows · Sl iding Doors · Hinged Doors · Bi fold Doors · Wardobe Doors · Replacement Windows · Commercial Shopfronts · Residential Series · Achitectural Series · Metro Series · Thermal Heart Suites FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT US ON Phone 09 407 4747 Address 16 Mill Lane, PO Box 153, KeriKeri Email sales@bayaluminium.co.nz Proud to support Navigation Homes Residential & Commercial Flooring. Including; carpet, vinyl, wood, laminate, and vinyl planking. 09 401 7146 | carpetsoncobham.co.nz
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