Are villas worth the effort?

Kiwis have traditionally loved doing up houses. But lately, agents report, home buyers are less and less keen to take on a renovation project, with most preferring a house that is all done and move-in ready.

So we asked the experts: which era of building is the most difficult to renovate: Villas or bungalows? Art deco or 1940s? 1950s and state houses? Or mid-century and 1970s homes?

Their answer is surprisingly simple.

“The older the building the harder it is to renovate,” says New Zealand Renovation Company managing director Darrel Assink, who has been in the industry fifteen years.

He says that the more difficult the process becomes, the higher the cost of renovating and villas and bungalows are the most expensive to renovate.

Villas were the most popular house design in 1880s and bungalows were a dominant style in 1920s. With plenty of stock in the closest suburbs to Auckland CBD - Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Mt Eden and Mt Albert - villas have become the most popular housing types for renovations since the 1980s.

Assink says sourcing materials to match the original era of the building is the costly task.

“If people want to keep the character, want to match the original moulds and trims, kauri floors, want to keep the ceiling height and other bits and pieces that are custom made,” he says.

"You can’t go down to your Bunnings or Mitre 10 and buy mouldings and trims, you have to bring in specialists, and that’s where it becomes costly.”

On top of maintaining the character when renovating you also will need to update services from low-pressure water system, old wiring and piles, and add insulation to the building, Assink says.

He adds that the older the building, the harder it is to comply with the current building code.

So, how come if they are so expensive to renovate, villas are always so hot on the property market?

Lover of villas, serial renovator Hamish Mackenzie, of Auckland, says they are full of class and mystique.

He restored three villas for himself over the last 20 years and has now switched from commercial project management to running his own renovation business, Villaxation.

“Villas have high ceilings, the double hung windows, verandas which all provide a great atmosphere. And I like the traditional feel of the neighbourhoods.”

The hard work of renovations is worth it, he says, as it increases the value of an already well sought-after property.

“They’ve served families for 100 years and there’s no reason why they can’t do it for another 100 years.”

Mackenzie has been upgrading the villa in Mt Eden since buying it five years ago. His latest project is adding a master bedroom to the property, after adding a living room, a walk-in wardrobe and a second bathroom and a garage to the original three-bedroom villa. He also created a third level with a tower for an office space and a library.

He says the most challenging part of his project, apart from getting resource consent, was building the tower and doing-up the bathrooms.

“There’s always a lot of cost in the bathroom and plumbing under the floor,” he says.

Villas do not have a lot of ground clearance as they were built a lot closer to the ground than the current building code allows.

“Some villas can have literally no crawling space and it can cause some issues.”

Another major task is insulating the walls, floors and ceiling in the building which is typically constructed without insulation.

“Anything to do with the weather integrity should be done earlier rather than later, such as insulation and roofing,” Mackenzie says.