Home building changing with the times

A successful Kiwi company is breaking stereotypes with their top-quality, sustainable, architecturally designed dwellings - built offsite and delivered.

Having successfully navigated the uncertainty of the past few years - and its effects on Kiwi businesses, Lee Turner, founder and director of Elevate Homes based in Cambridge, feels confident that he and his team will continue playing a key role in moving towards a more efficient way of house building in New Zealand.

With over 20 years working in the construction industry and running multi-award winning architectural firm Turner Road Architecture since 2006, Turner and wife Kristin, the company’s marketing manager, already realised that the advantages of prebuilding homes off-site in the 21st century were undeniably significant.

“We felt this particular market at that time catered for relatively cheap, unimaginative builds, but we wanted to apply the concept to a higher-end, where people were looking for a quality, design focused approach - while enjoying the benefits of offsite construction and the added bonus of having an established architectural team on hand to take care of the house and onsite design and council consents.”

“So, we literally tried it out - building a three-bedroom model that matched our vision at the back of our office and, luckily, it was a success. Otherwise, we had planned to buy a section, and live in it ourselves!”

With a commitment to innovative and contemporary designs, award-winning Elevate Homes has successfully extended that initial model to much larger homes and now caters for a wide range of clients - from people wanting a stylish lock-up-and-leave holiday house, retirees looking for a smart, energy-efficient home, to families looking for spacious, multi-room, family-friendly living.

Photo / Supplied.

Elevate homes have become renowned for being beautifully appointed, cleverly designed and surprisingly spacious. Turner says, “People will often remark, when visiting our show homes, that the internal spaces are much larger than they expected, and they admire the high level of finish. The generous storage in the homes also seems to be a big talking point!”

He says that the bottom line in Elevate Homes’ success is its ability to streamline the whole design and construction process - from start to finish, including concept design, building consent, construction and delivery.

First, clients choose a floor plan from Elevate’s range of house models and a roof style. As most clients want to stamp their own personality on their new home, a meeting with the in-house architectural team to chat through their house ideas and aspirations, is often the next step. The Elevate Homes team then prepare a custom concept floor plan and elevations, a full price estimate and a preliminary site plan.

At this point, Elevate Homes will have also been in touch with the house transporter to consult on the feasibility and cost of transport.

The company has developed close relationships with transport companies, who are generally able to move the completed home safely to a nominated site – something highlighted by Lee and Kristin’s appearance in both seasons of the hugely successful TVNZ ‘Moving Houses’ series, fronted by Clarke Gayford.

“We thought they would just show a quick glimpse of what we do, but it turned out to be much more than that. In the episode one of our homes was delivered by barge to Waiheke Island, while our clients were based in Canada for the entire building process. It made people aware that buying a relocatable new build, is a really viable solution these days – especially for those living elsewhere, trying to build in a remote location with limited access to builders and tradespeople,” says Turner.

Photo / Supplied.

Another Elevate Homes’ client, Vicki Meech, echoes this sentiment. Her section was an hour from the nearest city centre and trying to find tradespeople in the area had become incredibly tricky and expensive. So signing up with Elevate Homes made sense, Vicki says. “We live 4 hours away from Cambridge however we were kept regularly updated with photos and emails. We were able to just get on with life and leave our build in Elevates' capable hands. It was an incredibly straight- forward and enjoyable process from start to finish.”

The actual construction of a buyer’s new home takes place at Elevate Homes manufacturing facility in Cambridge. Building in this controlled environment and careful planning means the construction process is more streamlined and reduces downtime and material wastage.

“Sustainability is high on our agenda. Our recycled soft plastic waste goes to the producers of SaveBoard. It’s a rigid air barrier product and is a low-carbon alternative to plasterboard which we will be using in all of our homes, going forward,” says Turner. “We recycle all of our plasterboard offcuts and metal too, which also significantly reduces construction waste going into landfill.”

“What’s more, with our construction process all in one place there is less waste and greater re-use of materials and with fewer vehicles coming and going than on a traditional construction site, noise, congestion, dust and carbon emissions are also minimised.”

Aware of current uncertainties and buyers’ concerns, Turner says that Elevate Homes is always upfront and transparent about the process and costs.

“We find this approach has always set us in good stead and is part of the reason we have solid, enduring relationships with many of our past and current clients. Being a family-run, local business we are strong on relationships and working with integrity is fundamental.”

Turner says that recent weather events have highlighted the advantages of building off-site. Getting around the issues of material and labour shortages as a result of high demand in affected areas and with the promise of faster house delivery, there is already considerable interest from homeowners in Hawkes Bay and other impacted regions, as they wait for funding for new homes.

“At the end of the day, we are a company that takes great satisfaction in delivering an excellent product and experience, during the build and well after its completion.”

“We know building can be seen as a stressful process, so we put a lot of effort in involving our clients in the ‘fun‘ stuff and keeping them in the loop with regular photos, chats and emails – while keeping the inevitable headaches and hassles firmly in our court.”

“It really makes our day, when clients leave, after their final home inspection, with a big smile – excited about having their lovely new home delivered but also a wee bit sad that the journey is coming to an end,” says Turner.

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