72 | T T Hugh de Lacy Preparing next generation of builders Three Stars Construction aims to build two or three houses a year in the $500,000 to $700,000 price range in Dunedin. Three Stars Construction BUILDING PLACEMAKERS DUNEDIN & MOSGIEL PLACEMAKERSDUNEDIN & MOSGIEL 50 BURNS ST & 34 CARNCROSS ST (03) 466 4617 PROUDLY SUPPORTING THREE STARS CONSTRUCTION Alan Stringer Ar Architect MArch(Prof.) p: 027 359 0737 e: alan@asarchitect.co.nz chitect. Authentic and e ective architecture arises from close collaboration between you and me. You will find me relatable, reliable, and fun to workwith, because I make complexities simple; I listen carefully and translate our ideas to functional, practical, and superbly aractive built environments, which make you feel good on the inside. Alan Stringer Architect @alanstringerarchitect Need a boundary surveyed, property subdivided, consent or land development advice? Dunedin (03) 477 4783 Chris Milburn Mosgiel (03) 489 7107 Tyler Hager Balclutha (03) 418 0470 Haydon McLeary Oamaru (021) 199 8671 Doug Barton terramark.co.nz Two Dunedin businessmen with a long history of working in the building industry are behind a recently formed building company bent on leaving a legacy of business and construction skills with the next generation of builders. Three Stars Construction was launched by Deon Aldridge and James Crooks in 2021, providing land and house packages, and building architecturally designed practical, bespoke homes in the Edinburgh of the South. James is the hands-on builder keeping things humming at the site while Deon looks after much of the business side of things. With two qualified builders on the staff, and the principals’ own input, Three Stars Construction aims to build two or three houses a year in the $500,000 to $700,000 price range in Dunedin, and to handle major renovations when asked. “We don’t call ourselves a housing company,” Deon says. “We engage with many people who have previously built with a housing company and decide to build again, only this time with their own choice of section, and with a qualified architect instead of picking a model house design from a book. “They sometimes buy their own section and then want their ‘own’ house designed with an experienced builder guiding them while working collaboratively with the Three Stars choice of qualified architect, Alan Stringer. “Despite being young at barely 30 years of age, Alan is full of fabulous up-to-date ideas – yet he still uses a pencil! “He’s a millennial who honours the past while designing houses that are better than ever before.” Three Stars Construction also purchases sections, offering them as a package deal to clients who want to build their special home, and the company has accordingly acquired the first two sections to be released in Stage 15 of the successful Highland Park sub-division in Mosgiel, south of Dunedin. Deon and James met as teenagers when Deon was working in a Southland lignite mine and James was a new apprentice building concrete pads, retaining walls and sheds there. Some years later Deon became heavily involved in the aluminium joinery industry, remaining in it for the next two decades, but for the last 15 years he has been a business consultant, training sales people and managers, often from businesses associated with the building industry. James, from a well-known Southland farming family, has remained committed to the building industry since a period of playing rugby in Australia and travelling the world, winding up at one stage in the mid-nineties in England where he worked on a house with a $20 million construction budget. Back in Dunedin, James went on to build more than 80 homes and light commercial buildings, as well as completing numerous renovations and extensions. He owned two local housing franchises, and in 2019 won the Master Builders’ Southern Region House of the Year Gold Reserve Award for New Homes in the $450,000-$750,000 range. Deon and James shared different business activities on and off over the years, with both of them being involved in hundreds of construction projects in Otago, Southland and Central Otago. In 2020 they made the decision to join forces in establishing Three Stars Construction. “What we’re wanting to do is more than just increase the housing stock in Dunedin, but also prepare the next generation of builders,” Deon says. “James is a very respected builder and I’m a fairly well-known business consultant, and we want to bring the next generation through as not just great builders but as great business-people as well.”
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