100 | A triumph of detail and design Mike Perrin Builders built this 740sqm home which featured on Grand Designs New Zealand. Mike Perrin Builders T T Kelly Deeks BUILDING The eventual completion of Mike Perrin Builders’ biggest and most complex project has left Mike with confirmation of his capabilities and having built it during the post-Covid boom with materials shortages, labour shortages, and prices rising by the week, those capabilities were certainly put to the test. Mike Perrin Builders built a 740sqm home for the owners of Kerikeri’s Packhouse Market, Warrick and Judy Hyland. Warrick is a builder and cabinet maker who had built his and Judy’s home when they relocated from Auckland to Kerikeri in 2005. With their six children and multiple grandchildren regularly coming to stay, it was clear they needed a bigger home, and they decided to build the biggest home they could on a budget. Warrick was not to be actively involved in the build as the couple had a lot on their plates with their hospitality business, and the home had to be finished in time for the whole family to come and stay for Christmas. Mike met the couple on site in December 2019 while the site cut was underway, but consenting issues pushed his start date out until October 2020. It was then he found out the project was set to be featured on Grand Designs New Zealand. “A lot of the challenges on this project were price-based because straight after Covid, demand went mental,” he says. “Our local Carters had given me a heads up that there was going to be a crisis on products so we bought a lot of materials way in advance of when we needed them. “We had $40,000-odd of cedar sitting in the Packhouse for a whole year, but we saved about $30,000-odd by buying it early.” The construction team didn’t get so lucky with all the materials. Warrick had put the roof on himself and was now heavily involved in his build. He was even building the home’s three kitchens and five bathrooms, as well as tables, doors, cabinetry, and windows. “Everything was bigger, longer, and heavier, and a lot of it was five metres high...” Once the roof was on, the team ran out of the traditionally easy to get 70mmx35mm ceiling battens and no more were available. “We had to get 70mmx45mm and Warrick cut them all down in his workshop.” Apart from materials issues and a fivemonth site shut down while Warrick and Judy sold their existing home to continue to fund the build, the rest of this project ran smoothly for Mike Perrin Builders. After 25 years on the tools, he has seen and done most things before, but the scale of this project was off the charts. “Everything was bigger, longer, and heavier, and a lot of it was five metres high. With a project of this size, there is a lot that could go wrong.” And he had a deadline to meet for Grand Designs New Zealand, which was set to air in October 2022. Mike had had to let one of his two builders go during the site shut down so now it was up to him and one other to finish the home, with Warrick also doing the work of three men. “It was a massive job for us, it would have been a massive job for a whole gang of builders.” The result was a large-scale triumph of detail, texture, and immaculate finishing and now that Mike knows what he’s capable of, he is going to stick to the simple jobs for the time being. Proud supporters of Mike Perrin Builders 021 413 052 ripzit@hotmail.com
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