Business South March 2021

98 | Canterbury - James Hunt Residential Russell Fredric James Hunt Residential specialises in renovating and restoring older houses. BUILDING A s a builder who specialises in renovat- ing and restoring older houses, the owner of James Hunt Residential loves to see new life being breathed into some of New Zealand’s colonial beauties. Owned and run by James and his wife Cath- ryn, the business is based in the small Canter- bury town of Sheffield, about 40 kilometres west of Christchurch. While James followed a familiar path of an employee taking a leap of faith and starting his own business, he was keen to carve out his own direction and specialising in renovations clearly marks out the business from much of the competition. “I wanted to go in a different direction, I wasn’t finding where I wanted to go with other companies,” James says. “Being out in the country there was a lot of work going on in Christchurch, but out here I can work in the countryside and meet other like-minded people. The market is more home improvement, there’s not mass new-builds. “We are focusing on the older houses, pre- 1960’s villas and bungalows, we can tackle all those projects.” James Hunt Residential is involved in the full process from the beginning, rather than just being one of several individual sub-trades and James enjoys this personal touch. This specialisation has led to sourcing ma- terials such as filigree embellishments specific to colonial style villas built in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. “We can source all the mouldings to make a renovation look authentic or if we need to manufacture something we’ve got the skills and tools to make it look right.” James has undertaken this type of work Breathing life into heritage homes throughout his building career; for about three years he worked for a company that built replica villas and before that he worked for a company in Auckland that completed major renovations on old villas. “My experience has been in them and I enjoy every time I work on an old house. “It’s a real satisfaction, you can stand back and look at the job and it looks amazing. It actually feels like you’re crafting something.” Based on his experience and developing this niche has led James to be able to offer a fixed price quote for renovations which cre- ates confidence from clients and an assurance they are not effectively writing a blank cheque for a project. A big difference with century old houses is that they were built to allow for good air flow to keep the framing dry. “If you build without creating any ventilation in the house like with modern techniques, you could end up having issues so you have to come up with alternative ways of ventilation to meet the current building code.” Despite his love of older houses, James also undertakes new builds and can provide a full design and build service or build from plans provided. “We are focusing on the older houses, pre-1960’s villas and bungalows, we can tackle all those projects.” MalvernWaste Solutions • Domestic Waste Services • Bulk Waste Skips • Specialist Cardboard Recycling Proud to be locally owned & operated and supporting local builders like James Hunt Residential 03 318 7407 www.mws.co.nz MalvernWasteSolutions . . . DARFIELD You can now conveniently get your Farm Shed Buildings from the same place you get your building gear for your farm, right here at Darfield ITM. We supply quality building materials for rural, utility or light industrial building at competitive prices. Heartland Sheds only uses the highest quality of materials combined with design principles that make their sheds truly engineered to perform under all conditions. Proud to support James Hunt Residential ITM DARFIELD: Ph: 03 318 74 74 | www.darfielditm.co.nz HEARTLAND SHEDS: 85 North Terrace, Darfield | 0800 887 474 info@heartlandsheds.co.nz | www.heartlandsheds.co.nz GABLE SHEDS | CLASSIC LEAN-TO SHEDS | AMERICAN BARNS Chartered Consulting Structural Engineer “Engineering that keeps your builder happy” • Residential • Commercial and low rise industrial • Seismic assessment and strengthening • Rural bridges • Temporary works design • FRP composites design • Bespoke engineering design julius@torlessestructural.kiwi PO Box 222, Kirwee