104 | Combining heritage, function Downright Construction underpin their building skills with good communication. Downright Construction T T Virginia Wright BUILDING Auckland based Downright Construction’s two directors Dan Hawk-Mills and Dillon O’Leary pride themselves on being a dedicated company which is highly focused on each project. Both Dan and Dillon are qualified builders, and while Dan works initially with clients and their architect (or an architect provided by Downright Construction) to go through details of concept and design, Dillon gets involved at the quoting stage, ensuring everything is feasible and running the build himself to make sure it’s delivered as planned. Dan lends a hand as required and is often on site with his laptop ready to assist if he’s needed. The team typically focuses on one major project at a time, occasionally taking on smaller tasks to fill scheduling gaps, always ensuring the primary build remains the top priority. That focused attention paid off earlier in the year with a win at this year’s House of the Year Awards. Downright Construction worked closely with Novacon Consulting, the clients, and interior designer Mal Corboy, and LTD Architectural design studio to successfully build and deliver a $3.5 million home from the ground up while meeting the fixed deadline that was part of the deal. “We did everything including the site prep and the foundations all the way through, and even some of the landscaping, so it was the full package,” says Dillon. A full package that went on to win gold at the $2 - $4 million New Build category at the 2025 Auckland, Northland and Coromandel Registered Master Builders House of the Year Awards as the industry recognised the level of skill involved in achieving the clients’ dream. Downright Construction underpin their building skills with good communication and there were plenty of on-site meetings to make sure everyone understood what they were trying to achieve: a 300sqm high-end home with all the traditional features of a 1920’s bungalow, built to today’s standards, and designed to marry that heritage appeal with the ease of modern living; the build to be completed within 12 months. “It had a lot of different older style finishings and a lot of pieces to the puzzle,” explains Dillon. “Big architraves and skirting boards, internal fretwork, panelling in all of the bedrooms, wainscotting squares down the hallway, dado rails throughout to give that traditional colour separation which works well with a 3.2 metre high stud, as opposed to the usual 2.4m; a lot of timber fretwork internally, and bespoke timber joinery throughout, including the windows with leadlight sashes all custom made to fit the era.” The clients had planned on renovating the original bungalow but financially it made more sense to have that relocated and build new; to have the advantage of no leaky windows or old floorboards but instead double glazed windows, good insulation and central heating all included as Downright Construction skillfully responded to the inherent challenge of crafting a brand new house to look and feel like it had always been there. It was, as Dillon pointed out, a team effort with everyone taking pride in achieving something special and working together to give the clients a brand-new heritage build with all the warmth and convenience of contemporary living; exactly the sort of result Downright Construction work hard to deliver whether it’s a smaller renovation or a multi-million-dollar new build. Proudly supporting Downright Construction
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