What to know
before you build

As Registered Master Builders, we can offer a 10-Year Master Build Guarantee on every new home we build. It’s your choice whether to take it out, and there is an additional cost if you do. Read the full guarantee details on the Master Builders website.

Yes. We work with clients who arrive with plans already drawn up as well as those who want us involved from the design stage. If your plans meet building consent standards, we can put together a detailed, transparent estimate for a custom home on your own land. Because material and sub-trade pricing keeps moving, we work to detailed estimates rather than a locked fixed price — you see what sits behind every number, and we keep you posted as the figures firm up.

Not as a flat rate, no. Every project is unique, where the slope of your section, the size and style you're after, and your building materials all shift the number. That’s why we estimate each project in detail once we've seen your plans and site rather than working off a per-square-metre figure. An early consultancy conversation about an architecturally-designed home in the Coromandel with our team will help you get a realistic sense of the costs before you commit to anything.

It’s a builder who holds membership with the Registered Master Builders Association, New Zealand’s building industry body. We have met strict guidelines and passed intense business scrutiny, covering building experience, trade qualifications, workmanship references, and financial responsibility.

As members since 2005, it’s what allows us to offer the 10-Year Master Build Guarantee on every new home we build.

It depends, while we have built several homes in the Franklin area, projects outside the Coromandel are considered case by case. Just ask us.

Get in touch through the enquiry form or call Craig directly at 027 222 2286 to arrange a meeting. Whether your consent is granted or you're still at the sketch stage, an early conversation with a house builder in Whitianga costs nothing.

Yes. We can take on home renovations of all sizes in Whitianga and across the wider Coromandel. Our residential renovation services follow the same process as a new build, with an optional Master Build Guarantee.

It depends on the site, the consent process and the scope. A steep coastal section or a full renovation runs longer than a straightforward build on flat, consented land. We set out a realistic programme once your plans are priced, and you will have it in writing before the contract is signed.

Yes, and it's most of what we do. Coastal Coromandel sections come with slope, access and drainage challenges a flat suburban site never sees. We've built across Pauanui, Whitianga, and the wider eastern Coromandel on sites other builders would rather not touch.

Either works. Most of our work starts with plans someone else has already drawn, and if they meet building consent standards we'll price them in detail. If you haven't got that far yet, we'll work alongside your architect or designer from an early stage, or point you to our consultancy service for input before anything is finalised.

Yes. We'd rather be with you from conception to completion, but plenty of clients bring us in partway: build-only on plans already drawn, or picking up a job that has stalled with another builder. We'll join at whatever stage of your custom home construction in Whitianga.

No. Consultancy is a standalone service. You can bring us in for a single site visit or keep us alongside your architect through the whole design, and the advice is yours to use with whichever builder you choose.

Plenty of clients use us for consultancy only, while others go on to have us build. Either way works for us.

Not at all, it’s actually the best time to call. A short conversation before you sign anything can save far more than it costs. we can walk a prospective site with you, flag what the slope, soil or exposure will do to a coastal build budget, and tell you what a section will quietly cost before you are committed to it. Most of our best outcomes start with a call at this stage, not after the plans are drawn.

Yes, and it is one of the most common ways clients use us. You do not need to choose between an independent building consultant and your own architect: we sit alongside the design team you already have, pricing and pressure-testing the drawings as they develop rather than replacing anyone on it.

It depends on how much of the work you want us across. A single site visit or plan review is priced differently to ongoing support through a full design, so the fairest way to answer is with a quote scoped to where you are at. Get in touch and Craig will talk you through the likely cost for your project before anything starts.

We walk the section with you, or on your behalf if you are not local, read the drawings against what the land is actually doing, and mark up anything that will be difficult, expensive, or both. You get the findings in writing afterwards, with the trade-offs and rough cost implications spelled out, not just a verbal opinion on site.

A building consultant advises before and during design: what a section or a drawing will cost to build, and what to change while it is still cheap to change. A project manager runs the build itself once consent is granted, coordinating the trades, council and timeline. Many clients use us for both, but you are welcome to use our residential building consultancy on its own and manage or contract the build separately.

Yes. We can provide project management services on its own, or for a build that our crew isn’t swinging the hammer on. You get the same single point of contact and the same programme discipline either way.

We provide regular reporting, in writing, with photographs, so you can see where the job is at without being on site. Whether you’re in New Zealand or overseas, Craig is the one person you call when you want a straight answer, and that doesn’t change throughout the life of the project.

We flag a variation the moment it appears, with the cost and the reason attached, rather than letting it surface as a surprise at the end. Budget and programme are tracked in the same place, so you always know where both stand before you're asked to approve anything. Nothing is saved up for the final invoice.

Yes. Consent applications, council inspections, and code compliance are all booked, tracked and attended on your behalf as part of the job, not billed as extras along the way.

We can. While we mostly run high-end residential builds on the eastern Coromandel, the same approach scales up, from commercial construction project management through to project management services for civil engineering projects where a site needs that kind of input. If you have work like that in mind, get in touch and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a fit.

Yes. Renovation project management in Whitianga and across the eastern Coromandel runs on the same programme as a new build. We handle consultancy, consent, trades, and budget held to one plan, with the added work of sequencing around whatever part of the house you’re still living in.

The clearest sign is an earthquake-prone rating from your council, but plenty of owners come to us with less than that: a builder’s comment, an insurer’s question, or just an older building on this coast that has never been assessed.

If you’re unsure, the answer starts with a seismic assessment from a chartered professional engineer, not a guess from us or anyone else. We can arrange that assessment and talk you through what the report means once it lands.

Yes. Our commercial building strengthening work in the Coromandel follows the same approach as it is for a home: engineer-led assessment, an engineer's design, and staged construction that keeps a business trading while the work happens around it.

Often, yes. It depends on what the engineer's design calls for and how the building is laid out. We stage the work around tenants or a family living there wherever the building and the engineer allow it. We'll tell you honestly at pricing stage if a particular job can't be done that way.

We do. Long-standing relationships with chartered professional engineers are one of the reasons clients come to us for seismic strengthening services and earthquake strengthening services rather than assembling the team themselves. If you already have an engineer and a report, we will price and build to their design.

A chartered professional engineer inspects the building and rates it against the current New Zealand standard for earthquake-prone buildings, then reports on what that rating means and what you're required to do about it, and by when. It's the starting point for every seismic strengthening of buildings project we take on, and we organise the earthquake-prone building assessment for you rather than leaving you to find your own way through it.

Yes. Most of our seismic retrofitting work is based around Whitianga, but our structural strengthening contractors take on projects right across the eastern Coromandel, from Hahei to Tairua. Get in touch with where the building is and we'll tell you honestly whether it's within reach.