| 77 Tasman - Dean Building and Renovations BUILDING Passive homes a focus for business Hugh de lacy Micky Dean, of Blenheim-based Dean Building and Renovations, is targeting the market for energy efficient homes. The growing market for passive homes is the target of the recent Blenheim startup Dean Building and Renovations, run out of Blenheim by Micky Dean and wife Tash. The Deans launched their company in 2019, initially taking on mostly renovation and alterations work until they became established enough to focus on their target market of energy-efficient homes, with their first completions in that sector coming on-stream in about 12 months time. Micky and Tash were “just about childhood sweethearts,” Micky says, and their marriage in 2011 was “a natural progression” from that. At the time Micky was still in the New Zealand Army where he had completed a carpentry apprenticeship and worked on humanitarian projects throughout the Pacific. Micky had more than 13 years in the Army’s Engineering Corps before switching to the Air Force for 18 mon6ths, working as a fabrication engineer. He then moved into the private sector with the Palmerston North branch of Versatile, building sheds and garages, and a few months each in a couple of other companies, before moving to Marlborough and taking the big leap with Tash into their own company. Dean Building and Renovations’ first work was alterations and additions arising initially from pre-purchase building inspections that Micky performed. The process of eventually specialising in passive houses began early on with the company joining eHaus, a New Zealand network promoting residential building and design under the German PassivHaus principles. EHaus was established in 2010 by former Rolls Royce mechanical engineer Jon Iliffe, master-builder Baden Brown and his wife Glenda as financial director, and they have since built up a nationwide network of passive house builders, architects and designers. “EHaus was New Zealand’s first passive house design and build company and we could see they were heading in the same direction as us, building more comfortable, lower maintenance and energy-efficient houses along German lines,” Micky says. The burgeoning Marlborough residential building market is proving particularly receptive to the passive home concept, and Micky and Tash are planning a steady expansion round it. “The demand for passive building is growing fast, and that’s not just in Marlborough but throughout the country,” Micky says. “The New Zealand Building Standards are clearly headed in the passive house direction, and we want to be at the head of that field.” The Deans have also developed a relationship with Builders’ Crack, a similar nation-wide company that sources conventional work for its associated builders. About 10% of the Deans’ current business has come through Builders’ Crack. Currently Dean Building and Renovations has just Micky and one other worker on the ground, and immediate expansion is being stalled by the difficulty in finding additional high-quality staff. “Finding staff is the biggest challenge to expanding the business but, like everywhere else in the country we’re also threatened by shortages of materials, especially Gib board,” Micky says. “Ordering materials way in advance of the need for them, with the help of our national associations, has so far prevented any delays though.” PH 0800 080 096 OR 021 264 8235 “The painters you can trust” Premier PAINTING FOR ALL YOUR RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL RENOVATION NEEDS e: steve@premierpainting.co.nz www.premierpainting.co.nz • Interior & Exterior Painting • Gib Stopping • Roof Spraying • Wallpapering • Industrial Coatings Covering Blenheim Marlborough / Kaikoura Regions PH: 03 578 5374 SMART GLASS SOLUTIONS | 44 Main St, Blenheim e: office@marlboroughglass.co.nz | www.marlboroughglass.co.nz
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