| 109 T T Virginia Wright Enjoying the problem solving aspect The team take on jobs ranging anywhere from $20,000 to $750,000. Summit Construction BUILDING Unlike many builders, who prefer the clean slate offered by a new build, Mike Dear started his company Summit Construction in 2021 with the clear idea of only doing renovations, enjoying the additional problem solving that comes with a renovation. “That’s what I did throughout my whole apprenticeship, and they’re often more difficult than the new builds,” Mike says. “I thought, why not give it a whirl, and if we can make the hard ones easy, surely that’s going to work.” With four years of fine-tuning the systems and processes behind them, Summit Construction is going from strength to strength. Mike is well aware that with a renovation, “95% of clients don’t know where to start. They know they want an additional bedroom or a new bathroom, but they don’t know what it will look like or what it will cost. They don’t know anything about consent, planning, architects, or what geotech is, and once they’ve got that all figured out they don’t know what colour they want or what vanity they want and two different units have two different prices, so there’s a lot to work through.” Based in Christchurch, Mike completed his apprenticeship in 2018 and he’s grateful for the broad set of skills he emerged with. Having started his business doing everything himself, he now has a team of eight, including Grace Bishop, who runs things behind the scenes, and two apprentices, one of whom is already a qualified plumber, “which is really handy, because we were having lots of problems with plumbers so we have brought it in house, which eliminated that issue. When he’s not plumbing he’s an apprentice builder so it’s working really well,” says Mike. Whereas a new build starts with a clean canvas to work with, which helps to keep everything straight and true from the start, a renovation often means the opposite. “First of all, you’ve got to make the renovation fit in with the building so it looks like one seamless project. Then, if it was built back in the 1900s, 1960s say, you’re dealing with all sorts of problems once you open the structure, which you’ve got to convey simply and clearly to the client. We have lots of conversations like ‘Hey, we’ve discovered that your foundation was built not according to plans and slightly in the wrong place. We couldn’t have predicted that. Here’s the problem we’ve got, this is how we can fix it, and this is what it will cost.’” To manage that side of things, Summit Construction combines depth of experience with the latest estimating software. It permits them to send clients a detailed estimate using up to 70 categories as part of their initial process: everything from sub-floor framing to door hardware. Once accepted, any changes to scope are recorded as a variation that is discussed and approved with clients and subcontractors,” explains Mike The team take on jobs ranging anywhere from $20,000 to $750,000, and work to the sort of high standard that won them two silvers in the Master Builder House of the Year 2024 Awards: one for a house extension in the under $500,000 category, seamlessly adding 26sqm of kitchen area to a 100-year-old house in Merivale, the other for a full renovation and extension on a rundown house in Bryndwr in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 category. The industry awards recognise how far Mike and his company have come, but for him it’s the clients that count. “It’s really rewarding when you’ve done that initial meeting with a new client when they have no idea where to start, then fast forward a number of months when we are having the final walk through when everything’s complete Phone: 03 983 5500 waterfordpress.co.nz Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. DO OUR READERS KNOW YOU EXIST? AWARD WINNING RENOVATION BUILDERS ARCHITECTURAL RENOVATION SPECIALISTS IN CHRISTCHURCH summitconstruction.co.nz 151 Ferry Rd, Chch 03 374 3333 admin@hamptons.co.nz facebook.com/itmhamptons NOBODY SPEAKS BUILDER LIKE ITM. PROUDLY ASSOCIATEDWITH RMHOMES PROUDLY SUPPORTINGSUMMITCONSTRUCTION LTD
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=